Alger
A surname that most likely began as a shortened form of the old Germanic personal name Algar or Ælfgar, meaning roughly 'elf-spear.'
The #5,516 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 48,961 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually explained as a short form of older personal names such as Algar, Elgar, or Ælfgar. In Old English, the first element ælf means 'elf,' while gar means 'spear,' so the full sense is often taken as 'elf-spear.' Some 19th-century writers also connected it with related Germanic personal-name forms like Adalgar, but the English Algar/Ælfgar explanation is the one most often repeated in the historical surname literature.
History
Medieval records show Algar as both a personal name and, later, a hereditary surname form. The surname was noted in English sources from the Domesday era onward, and later spellings such as Elgar and Alger appear as the name settled into family use. In some cases, Alger may also reflect a later spelling or regional form influenced by other Germanic name traditions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A bishop of the East Angles bore the name Algar, which helped keep this old personal name visible in medieval English records.
From the historical record
“OLGER for Alger, Algar, q.v. OLIFF ] (Scand.) the Scand. Olaf = OLLIFF , \ Ancestral Relic [O.N. Oleif-r; OLLIFFEJ f. O.N. di, great-grandfather +”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)