Given name & surname
Belford
“bell; bell-shaped hill”
Belford is a surname from Old English.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Belford goes back to Old English belle, meaning “bell; bell-shaped hill.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Old English belle (“bell; bell-shaped hill”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1900. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Belford through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 229
- 229 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1921
- 17 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 1960. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 17 in 1921. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 145 as a first name in 2020; 2,357 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.
Similar names
If you love Belford, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Bedford
Bedford is a surname from Middle English, ultimately from Old English.
>99% boys
Welford
“well, spring, stream”
>99% boys
Wolford
“wolf”
>99% boys
Elworth
“enclosure”
>99% boys
Berwick
“barley”
>99% boys
Montford
“common, general, communal”
>99% boys
Burnham
“stream”
>99% boys
Woodford
“wood”
>99% boys