Given name & surname
Adolph
“a noble, majestic wolf”
Adolph is used as a given name and a surname. One German interpretation is “a noble, majestic wolf.”
Original GermanAdolf
Meaning & origin
What it means
One German interpretation is “a noble, majestic wolf.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is German.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Adolph through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 18,765
- 18,745 boys · 20 girls
- Most popular year
- 1917
- 681 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2023. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 673 in 1917. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 3,971 as a first name in 2020; 1,779 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Adolph’s family of names
In English usage, Adolph has a diminutive in Dolph. In English usage, Adolph shares an earlier linguistic root with Adolphus. In English usage, Adolph has a conventional equivalent in the Italian form Adolfo.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Adolph has relatives in 35 languages. Lines run from its German roots to each of them.
Germanwhere Adolph comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 14
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Adolfvariant · German, English
- Adolfovariant · Italian, Spanish
- Adolphusvariant · English, Latin
- Adolphovariant
- Adolphevariant · French
- Dolphdiminutive · English
- Aadolfvariant · Finnish
- Adalwolfvariant
Show 6 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 22
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Adolph
- Adolph MenzelGerman artist (1815–1905)
- Adolph DiesterwegGerman educator and philosopher (1790–1866)
- Adolph JoffeSoviet diplomat (1883-1927)
- Adolph Freiherr KniggeGerman writer and leading Illuminati member (1752–1796)
- Adolph ZukorHungarian-American film producer (1873–1976)
- Abdullah IbrahimSouth African pianist and composer (1934–2026)
- Dolph SchayesAmerican basketball player and coach (1928–2015)
- Adolph WagnerGerman economist (1835-1917)
- Adolph TidemandNorwegian painter (1814-1876)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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If you love Adolph, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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