Origin of Name

[exessexgirl]

I wonder if anyone can give me some idea of the origin of the name Alphonso. Gt Gt Gt grandfather was b early 1800's. He was English ( I think ), his christian name was Richard,  and had the middle name of Alphonso. His grandson was b 1877, and he was also given the middle name of Alphonso. Not an English name, or is it , back in the early 1800's.  Lyn

[behindthefrogs]

It is generally thought to be of German origin meaning "ready for a fight".  However within a family it is equally likely to have come from an Italian Spanish or Portuguese origin.

[Necromancer]

Its the Italian variant of the Spanish - Alfonso, meaning "noble and ready"  - allegedly Visigoth origins.

Anyway as a middle name its somebodies Maiden name I'd guess .

[exessexgirl]

Thank you folks for the replies. We thought maybe spanish or german. Strange name to have back then. You could be right newfy.  Lyn

[Jebber]

When you get an unusual name it is always interesting to do a search of the birth index, it is surprising how often they appear. There are 1,700 Alphonsos so far transcribed in the births index.

Jebber

[exessexgirl]

Blimey Jebber 
There's me thinking it was an unusual English name. Then again, maybe my origins arn't English, and I haven't found out yet  Lyn

[Jebber]

Yes, it is surprising what at first appears to be very unusual often occurs more frequently than you would expect.

I am still waiting to come across another Polyphemus, the one in my tree is the only one that shows up in the BMDs, and I can find no other trace of it as a name, other than in Greek Mythology. it's no wonder that the poor girl used her second name of Ann.

Jebber

[Comosus]

Many Portuguese kings were called Alphonso.

The wikipedia article seems to suggest that it has strong ties to the Iberian peninsula (or at least it does to me when looking at the list of kings): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonso

Andrew

[exessexgirl]

I don't think I'm going to find out now, as this is going back to 1820  Lyn