The name Adolf is of Germanic origin and means "noble wolf." It was a popular name in Germany during the Middle Ages but fell out of favor after World War II due to its association with Adolf Hitler, the notorious dictator who ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945.
Despite this unfortunate connection, there were many notable figures named Adolf before Hitler's rise to power. For example, Adolf von Harnack was a prominent German historian and theologian in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Additionally, Adolf Butenandt was a Nobel laureate chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939.
In recent years, there has been some attempt to reclaim the name Adolf among new parents, particularly outside of Germany. However, it remains relatively rare compared to other names with Germanic origins such as Alexander or Theodore.
Overall, while the name Adolf may have some historical baggage, it is ultimately a name with a long history and meaningful significance that should not be overlooked solely due to its most infamous bearer.
The name Adolf has been given to a total of 1394 babies born in the United States between the years 1880 and 1990. The number of newborns with this name varied from year to year, with some years seeing more than 50 births while others saw less than 5.
The earliest records show that there were 6 babies named Adolf in 1880. This number remained relatively stable for the next few decades, fluctuating between 5 and 10 births per year from 1882 to 1910. However, beginning in 1911, there was a significant increase in the popularity of this name.
In 1911 alone, there were 13 births, marking a substantial rise from previous years. This trend continued throughout the early 20th century, with peaks of 56 births in 1918 and 46 births each in 1919 and 1920. Interestingly, after reaching this peak, the popularity of the name Adolf began to decline.
Between 1921 and 1933, the number of newborns named Adolf hovered around 20 to 50 per year. However, during World War II, there was another notable drop in its usage, with fewer than 20 births recorded annually between 1940 and 1945.
The post-war period saw a brief resurgence in the name's popularity, reaching as high as 12 births in some years (1959-1960). But overall, its usage remained relatively low compared to earlier decades. From the late 1970s onwards, fewer than 10 babies were named Adolf each year.
By 1990, only 5 newborns were given this name, marking a significant decrease from the heights of its popularity in the early 20th century. Nevertheless, over the course of more than a century (1880-1990), the name Adolf has been chosen by parents for their children nearly 1400 times.