Given name & surname
Alwin
“noble”·“friend”
Alwin is a masculine given name from Old English. It is used in English and German.
Original Old EnglishÆþelwine
Meaning & origin
What it means
Alwin is built from elements meaning “noble” and “friend”.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In German usage, Alwin is a short form of ADALWIN. In German usage, Alwin is a short form of ADELWIN.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1895. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Alwin through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 901
- 901 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1915
- 26 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #12,109 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −42%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 12,109 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 26 in 1915. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 829 as a first name in 2020; 501 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.
Alwin’s family of names
In German usage, Alwin is a short form of ADALWIN. In German usage, Alwin shares a linguistic root with the English form Alvin. In German usage, Alwin has a conventional equivalent in the Norwegian form Elvin.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Alwin has relatives in 10 languages. Lines run from its Old English roots to each of them.
Old Englishwhere Alwin comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 12
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 10
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Æþelwineolder form · Old English
- Alvincognate · English, Swedish
- ElvinNorwegian
- ElwinDanish
- AlbinPolish
- Alwinshas masculine form
- Adelwijncognate · Dutch
- AðalvinurIcelandic
Show 2 moreShow fewer
People named Alwin
- Alwin BergerGerman botanist (1871-1931)
- Alwin MittaschGerman chemist (1869-1953)
- Alwin SchockemöhleGerman equestrianborn 1937
- Alwin NeußGerman actor (1879-1935)
- Alwin SchultzGerman art historian and medievalist (1838-1909)
- Alwin KomolongPapuan association football playerborn 1994
- Alwin NikolaisAmerican choreographer (1910-1993)
- Alwin de Prinsswimmerborn 1978
- Alwin Albert HafnerSwiss priest (1930–2016)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Alwin, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Orrin
“from the river”
>99% boys
Irwin
“a friend of the wild boar”
>99% boys
Grafton
“grove”
>99% boys
Erwin
“a friend of the wild boar”
>99% boys
Olin
“filled with happiness”
>99% boys
Frampton
“enclosure; settlement, town”
>99% boys
Caldwell
“of the cold well” · “from the cold spring”
>99% boys
Manning
“daughter of Man” · “the son of the man; the son of the hero”
95% boys · 5% girls