First name origin & meaning: German: Noble warrior First name variations: Algar, Allgar, Elgar, Elger Last name origins & meanings:
- English: from one or more Middle English personal names
variously written Alger, Algar, Alcher,
Aucher, etc. These represent a falling together of at least
three different Continental Germanic and Old English names:
Adalgar ‘noble spear’ (Old English Æ{dh}elgār),
Albgar ‘elf spear’ (Old English Ælfgār), and
Aldgar ‘old spear’ (Old English (E)aldgār). The
Continental Germanic forms were brought to England from France by the
Normans. Compare the French cognate Auger. In Norfolk and
northern England, the source is probably the Old Norse name
Álfgeirr ‘elf spear’. The modern English surname is found
mainly in East Anglia.
- German: from a reduced form of the Germanic
personal name Adalgar (see 1 above).
- Abiezer Alger was a merchant in Easton, MA, in the 18th century,
who had many prominent descendants.
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