Head to head · Girls' names
Alexandra vs Andrea
#237 vs #235 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Andrea is a whisker ahead (#235 vs #237 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Andrea leads 5 measures of 6; Alexandra leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Alexandra —, Andrea #885 — Andrea higher
- 1890s: Alexandra #1344, Andrea #887 — Andrea higher
- 1900s: Alexandra #1431, Andrea #891 — Andrea higher
- 1910s: Alexandra #1163, Andrea #801 — Andrea higher
- 1920s: Alexandra #1299, Andrea #678 — Andrea higher
- 1930s: Alexandra #1152, Andrea #506 — Andrea higher
- 1940s: Alexandra #735, Andrea #164 — Andrea higher
- 1950s: Alexandra #745, Andrea #133 — Andrea higher
- 1960s: Alexandra #573, Andrea #75 — Andrea higher
- 1970s: Alexandra #332, Andrea #30 — Andrea higher
- 1980s: Alexandra #126, Andrea #32 — Andrea higher
- 1990s: Alexandra #30, Andrea #51 — Alexandra higher
- 2000s: Alexandra #44, Andrea #61 — Alexandra higher
- 2010s: Alexandra #98, Andrea #115 — Alexandra higher
- 2020s: Alexandra #193, Andrea #179 — Andrea higher
Andrea stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Andrea took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alexandra | Andrea |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #885 |
| 1890s | #1344 | #887 |
| 1900s | #1431 | #891 |
| 1910s | #1163 | #801 |
| 1920s | #1299 | #678 |
| 1930s | #1152 | #506 |
| 1940s | #735 | #164 |
| 1950s | #745 | #133 |
| 1960s | #573 | #75 |
| 1970s | #332 | #30 |
| 1980s | #126 | #32 |
| 1990s | #30 | #51 |
| 2000s | #44 | #61 |
| 2010s | #98 | #115 |
| 2020s | #193 | #179 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Alexandra
Defender of men
The Greek elements are a verb about defending and the word for men. The reading is not disputed. What is disputed is how old the name is, because a form of it appears in records from a civilization that predates classical Greece.
Alexandros → Alexandra
How it traveled
A Hittite treaty names a king of Wilusa called Alaksandu — a Greek-sounding name on the western edge of Anatolia, in a city most scholars now identify with Troy, several centuries before Homer. Whether that man has anything to do with the Alexandros who appears in the Iliad as another name for Paris is one of the better arguments in Bronze Age history and is not settled.
Andrea
Manly, brave — from Greek andreios, from anēr, andros, 'man'
The English feminine Andrea was formed from Andrew, which descends from the same Greek root.
Andreas (Greek) → Andreas (Latin) → Andrew → Andrea
How it traveled
The Greek Andreas comes from andreios, 'manly, brave', built on anēr, 'man', and it spread across Christendom with the apostle Andrew. Latin carried it into Italian as Andrea, which is still a man's name in Italy — a fact that surprises many English speakers on their first trip there.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Alexandra
al-ig-ZAN-druh
Four syllables with the stress on the third. Every European language stresses it in the same place.
- Alex — The front clipped, unisex and understood everywhere.
- Sasha — The Russian short form, which keeps nothing of the original sound.
- Lexi — Cut from the middle, and a complete name in current American use.
Andrea
AN-dree-uh
Also widely said ahn-DRAY-uh in American English, and both are standard — many bearers answer to either. In Italian it is ahn-DREH-ah, with the stress on the middle.
- Andi — The most common short form in American use; also given on its own to some children.
- Andie — Same sound, softer spelling; used informally and occasionally as a standalone name.
- Drea — Takes the second half instead of the first; informal, and mostly a younger-generation habit.
- Andy — Shared with Andrew and Andrews everywhere; informal, and read by many as a boy's short form first.
- Also Andreíta.
Who has carried each name
Alexandra
Alexandra Daddario (b. 1986) — The White Lotus Emmy nominee
Alexandra David-Néel (b. 1868) — Explorer who snuck into the forbidden city of Lhasa in 1924
Andrea
Andrea Ghez (b. 1965) — Nobel-winning astronomer who proved our galaxy has a giant black hole
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Alexandra if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAlexandra is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itAlexandra runs 4 syllables, Andrea 3
- a name that feels very nowAlexandra is stepping back from its peak
Choose Andrea if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesAndrea is 3 syllables to Alexandra's 4
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Andi, Andie and Drea
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 25% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 80% for Alexandra
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Alexandra
Strengths
- It is understood in every European language with almost no change of spelling.
- It carries an unusually large set of short forms with very different registers.
- The meaning is settled and strong.
To consider
- It is long, and a short form will do most of the work.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
- It has been well used for a long time, so she may not be the only one.
Andrea
Strengths
- Spelled the same way in English, Spanish, Italian, German and much of Central Europe — no translation, no respelling at a border.
- Several established short forms already in circulation: Andi, Andie, Drea.
- A spelling almost everyone can write on first hearing, with no silent letters or optional h.
To consider
- Two pronunciations are both correct, AN-dree-uh and ahn-DRAY-uh, which means a lifetime of gentle correcting — or of accepting whichever one a stranger reaches for.
- In Italy, Andrea is a man's name and always has been. That rarely causes trouble in the United States, but it can produce a raised eyebrow on a form abroad.
- The name is still strongly represented among adults in their forties, so it may read as a grown woman's name for a while before it reads as a child's. Names of that age tend to come back around.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Alexandra
80%chance Alexandra feels dated by 2040
Alexandra is coming down from a big peak (#26 in 1995). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Andrea
25%chance Andrea feels dated by 2040
Andrea peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Alexandra and Andrea in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Alexandra and Andrea?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Alexandra and Andrea — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alexandra or Andrea — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alexandra or Andrea?
- Andrea, in 2025: Andrea ranked #235 with 1,317 babies; Alexandra ranked #237 with 1,314 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alexandra or Andrea?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Alexandra moved down 99 places; Andrea moved down 86 places.
- Which is the older name, Alexandra or Andrea?
- Alexandra entered the US charts in 1894; Andrea entered the US charts in 1881. On the American record, Andrea is the older name.
- How many people are named Alexandra and Andrea?
- About 240,000 people named Alexandra are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 417,000 people named Andrea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alexandras or Andreas in the classroom?
- Alexandra will almost certainly be the only one in school. Andrea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Alexandra, Andrea and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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