Alphonsus

Where Alphonsus comes from

Alphonsus hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1870
    Alphonsus de Guimaraens born
    (1870-1921) Brazilian writer
  2. 1883
    First appearance
    #892 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1892
    Peak, #748
    9 babies named Alphonsus — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1893
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
  5. 1959
    Alphonsus Cullinan born
    Irish Roman Catholic bishop
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Alphonsus de Guimaraens · (1870-1921) Brazilian writer, 1870–1921
  • Alphonsus Cullinan · Irish Roman Catholic bishop, born 1959
  • Alphonsus Mathias · Roman Catholic archbishop of Bangalore, 1928–2024
  • Alphonsus Augustus Sowada · American priest, 1933–2014
  • Alphonsus Liguori Penney · Catholic archbishop, 1924–2017

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.