form of Spanish Alfonso, which is of Germanic (Visigothic) origin. It is probably a compound of adal ‘noble’ + funs ‘ready, prompt’. Alternatively, the first element may be ala ‘all’, hadu ‘struggle’, or hild ‘battle’ forms are found to support each derivation, so it is possible that several Visigothic names that were originally distinct have fallen together. The -ph- spelling is the result of classical influences (or classical pretensions). St Alphonsus was a 9th-century bishop of Astorga, who spent the last years of his life at the abbey of St Stephen de Ribas de Sil in Galicia. Alphonse has been occasionally used in the English-speaking world, especially among West Indians and African Americans. The Latinized form Alphonsus has been used in Ireland as an equivalent of the Gaelic name Anluan .