Alfred is one of the few Old English names that continued to be used after the Norman Conquest, at least up until the 14th century. The Domesday Book lists several Alfreds as the previous "1066" (or "Saxon") landowners, as well as many Alfreds who were the new "1086" owners. Several sources attribute this ing Alfred's great popularity -- but this only looks at a small part of the story. For one thing, many of the "new" landowners were conquering Normans, who would have had little patriotic connection to a Saxon king who had ruled nearly two centuries before. Ironically, it actually appears that the name's continued use, post-Conquest, is more thanks to the Normans than the indigenous Saxon population.

The name had, in fact, spread from England to France in previous centuries and was particularly used in Brittany. The Latin form Aluredus, or Alvredus, became Alveré (Alveray) and Auveré (Auveray) in vernacular Norman-French, and these versions came to supersede England's native form. The usage of these Norman forms in Britain can be attested in the surviving surnames: Alured, Alfrey, Avery, Averay, Avory, Elvery and Elverson, which have been used since the 13th century.

For the most part, the name (in all its forms) fell out of use after the 14th century, with the exception of Alvery, which was used up to the 19th century by gentry families in Northern England, particularly Yorkshire.