View Message

I love Alfred (and a lot of other old-fashioned names). I think, though, that since some people might see it as old-man-ish, I'd pair it with a less dated name that's still common today; maybe Alfred Matthew or Alfred Gabriel.

Alfred the Great was the name of a kangaroo rat I had in first grade. Happy memories.

---

Alfred conjures up the English king who brought light and learning into Dark Age Britain. Why ever not? Nn Alf / Alfie is adorable. I also like female variants Alfreda (nn Freda? Alva?) and Elfreda (nn Elvy?).

---

I saw a dramatization of a Miss Marple story, "4:50 from Paddington." There was a family, the Crackenthorpes, and all of the children had Anglo-Saxon era names like Cedric, Alfred, Emma and I think Edmund. (If I got any of those wrong, I hope someone will correct it.) Anyway, I thought it was a charming, subtle theme for siblings.

This message was edited 9/23/2007, 3:20 PM

I think it's quite nice, though still a little old-fashioned for me. Like Rose-Berry said though, there are a lot of Alfie's running around, with some Alfreds too, so that might freshen it up again, who knows.

I personally think it's too old-fashioned to be used and is too Victorian for me even though I would have a good reason to use it as it was my Granddad's name. (I think it may have been a bit old-fashioned even when he was born but it was his father's name). There are quite a few Alfie's around at the moment though. I've been thinking a lot about this name lately. I can't decide if I like it or not. I'm thinking it would be a good way to honour my granddad without using Alfred.