Alford
Usually a locational surname meaning “from Alford,” originally referring to places by an old ford.
The #1,140 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 10,034 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Alford is a habitational surname from places called Alford, especially in Lincolnshire and Somerset. The name is generally explained as Old English elements meaning “old ford” or “elder ford,” referring to a river crossing. Early records show spellings such as Aldeford, which fit this place-name origin.
History
The surname appears in medieval records as a locational byname, for example in forms like John de Aldeford. Bardsley and Lower both connect it with English places named Alford, especially in Lincolnshire and Somerset. It later spread through England and into later English-speaking populations, where it remained a fairly straightforward place-based surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
There is more than one English place called Alford, so different Alford families may have taken the surname independently.
From the historical record
“and probably Assender. ALFORD. Parishes in cos. Lincoln and Somerset. ALFRED. The personal name. Very common in Domesd. and later, as Alured. ALFREY. Probably a corruption of Alfred ; or it may be local, though I cannot discover any place so designated. The name belongs, I think, almost exclusively to Sussex. "The…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom