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"Alfonso" redirects here. For other uses, see Alfonso (disambiguation).

Alphons (Latinized Alphonsus, Adelphonsus, 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.

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 century,[1] and as Adelfonsus, Adelphonsus in the 10th to 11th. The reduced form Alfonso is recorded in the late 9th century, and the Portuguese form Afonso from the early 11th.[2] [3]

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

Middle Ages[edit]

Iberian royal families[edit]


Early modern period[edit]

Modern period[edit]

Iberian/Sicilian nobility[edit]



Main article: Alphonse




As a surname[edit]

Alphonse, Alphonso, Alfonso is occasionally seen as a surname derived from the given name, the latter descending from Asturias and Cantabria.[4]


Fictional characters[edit]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ in the genitive, Adefonsi:
  2. ^ José Pedro Machado, Dicionário Onomástico Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa
  3. ^ E. Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1856:133, 145).
  4. ^