Alphons

Alphons
GenderMale
Origin
Word/nameGermanic languages
Meaning"Noble brave"
Popularitysee popular names

Alphons (Latinized Alphonsus, Adelphonsus, or Adefonsus) is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. In the later medieval period it became a standard name in the Hispanic and Portuguese royal families.[1]

It is derived from a Gothic name, or a conflation of several Gothic names; from *Aþalfuns, composed of the elements aþal "noble" and funs "eager, brave, ready", and perhaps influenced by names such as *Alafuns, *Adefuns and *Hildefuns. It is recorded as Adefonsus in the 9th and 10th centuries,[2] and as Adelfonsus, Adelphonsus in the 10th and 11th. The reduced form Alfonso is recorded in the late 9th century, and the Portuguese form Afonso from the early 11th[3][4] and Anfós in Catalan from the 12th century until the 15th.[5]

Variants of the name include: Alonso (Spanish), Alfonso (Spanish and Italian), Alfons (Dutch, German, Catalan, Polish, Croatian and Scandinavian), Afonso (Portuguese and Galician), Alphonse, Alfonse (French and English), etc.

Alfons

  • Alfons Almi (1904–1991), Finnish opera singer and administrator
  • Alfons van Blaaderen (born 1963), Dutch physicist
  • Alfons Geleyns (1887–1914), Belgian private
  • Alfons Goppel (1905–1991), German politician
  • Alfons Gorbach (1898–1972), Austrian politician
  • Alfons Grotowski (1833–1922), Polish engineer
  • Alfons Jēgers (1919–1999), Latvian football and hockey player
  • Alfons Karpiński (1875–1961), Polish painter
  • Prince Alfons of Liechtenstein (born 2001), Liechtensteiner financial analyst
  • Alfons Rebane (1908–1976), Estonian military commander
  • Alfons Rissberger (born 1948), German author

Alphons

  • Alphons Barb (1901–1979), Austrian academic, archaeologist, numismatist, museum director and author
  • Alphons Bellesheim (1839–1912), German church historian nicknamed "Alphons"
  • Alphons Boosten (1893–1951), Dutch architect
  • Alphons Czibulka (1842–1894), Austro-Hungarian military bandmaster, composer, pianist and conductor
  • Alphons Diepenbrock (1862–1921), Dutch composer, essayist and classicist
  • Alphons Egli (1924–2016), Swiss attorney and politician
  • Alphons Kannanthanam (born 1953), Indian civil servant, advocate and politician
  • Alphons Koechlin (1821–1893), Swiss politician and President of the Swiss Council of States
  • Alphons Leopold Mielich (1863–1929), Austrian painter
  • Alphons Orie (born 1947), Dutch jurist
  • Baron Alphons von Pawel-Rammingen (1843–1932), German noble
  • Alphons Maximilian Pfyffer von Altishofen (1834–1890), Swiss architect, hotelier and military Chief of Staff
  • Alphons Silbermann (1909–2000), German Jewish sociologist, musicologist, entrepreneur and publicist
  • Alphons Stübel (1835–1904), German geologist and naturalist
  • Alphons Timmerman (1904–1942), Belgian World War II spy for the Germans
  • Alphons Wijnen (1912–2001), Dutch officer in charge during the Rawagede massacre of Indonesian civilians

Stage name

  • Alfons, stage name of Emmanuel Peterfalvi, a French comedian

Fictional characters

See also

  • Alphonso
  • Afonso
  • Ildefonso (disambiguation)

References

  1. ^ "Alphonso" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. I (9th ed.). 1878. pp. 615–619.
  2. ^ In the genitive, Adefonsi.
  3. ^ José Pedro Machado, Dicionário Onomástico Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa
  4. ^ E. Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1856:133, 145).
  5. ^ Diccionari d'Història de Catalunya; 62nd ed.; Barcelona; 1998; ISBN 84-297-3521-6; p. 25.