Head to head · Girls' names
Alexandra vs Lucille
#237 vs #237 in 2025
Alexandra and Lucille share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#237). The records cannot split them; sound and story 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
The tape is even: Alexandra and Lucille each lead 2 measures of 6.
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 —, Lucille #188 — Lucille higher
- 1890s: Alexandra #1344, Lucille #105 — Lucille higher
- 1900s: Alexandra #1431, Lucille #52 — Lucille higher
- 1910s: Alexandra #1163, Lucille #30 — Lucille higher
- 1920s: Alexandra #1299, Lucille #40 — Lucille higher
- 1930s: Alexandra #1152, Lucille #84 — Lucille higher
- 1940s: Alexandra #735, Lucille #134 — Lucille higher
- 1950s: Alexandra #745, Lucille #246 — Lucille higher
- 1960s: Alexandra #573, Lucille #476 — Lucille higher
- 1970s: Alexandra #332, Lucille #988 — Alexandra higher
- 1980s: Alexandra #126, Lucille #1288 — Alexandra higher
- 1990s: Alexandra #30, Lucille #1396 — Alexandra higher
- 2000s: Alexandra #44, Lucille #871 — Alexandra higher
- 2010s: Alexandra #98, Lucille #345 — Alexandra higher
- 2020s: Alexandra #193, Lucille #271 — Alexandra higher
Lucille stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Alexandra has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alexandra | Lucille |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #188 |
| 1890s | #1344 | #105 |
| 1900s | #1431 | #52 |
| 1910s | #1163 | #30 |
| 1920s | #1299 | #40 |
| 1930s | #1152 | #84 |
| 1940s | #735 | #134 |
| 1950s | #745 | #246 |
| 1960s | #573 | #476 |
| 1970s | #332 | #988 |
| 1980s | #126 | #1288 |
| 1990s | #30 | #1396 |
| 2000s | #44 | #871 |
| 2010s | #98 | #345 |
| 2020s | #193 | #271 |
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.
Lucille
light
The Latin lux, light, is behind the whole family, and the reading is settled. Lucille is the French diminutive form that English borrowed whole.
Lucius → Lucia → Lucille
How it traveled
Lucy is the patron saint of the blind and of eye trouble, and her feast falls in mid-December, which under the old calendar was the shortest day; Scandinavian countries still mark it with candles and processions at the darkest point of the year. The connection to light is in the name itself rather than in anything she did, and the association with eyes appears to have grown out of that.
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.
Lucille
loo-SEEL
Two syllables with the weight on the second. LOO-seel, with the stress in front, is heard in some American families.
- Lucy — A near relation used as a short form; a full name in its own right.
- Cille — The back of the name used alone; heard in southern American families.
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
Lucille
Lucille Ball (b. 1911) — I Love Lucy legend, first woman to run a major TV studio
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, Lucille 2
- a newer arrivalAlexandra entered the US charts in 1894
- a name that feels very nowAlexandra is stepping back from its peak
Choose Lucille if you want…
- a name on the way upup 37 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesLucille is 2 syllables to Alexandra's 4
- a long American recordLucille was already in use when US records began in 1880
- 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.
Lucille
Strengths
- The meaning is settled and can be given in one word.
- Lucy is available as a short form and is a complete name on its own.
- It works in English, French, Spanish and Italian households with only a shift of stress.
To consider
- In America it reads as belonging to an older generation, which is either the appeal or the obstacle.
- This spelling goes overwhelmingly to girls but is recorded for boys as well, so a form will occasionally guess wrong.
- One television comedian has owned the name in American minds for seventy years.
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.
Lucille
25%chance Lucille feels dated by 2040
Lucille 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 Lucille 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 Lucille?
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 head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Long and elegant: names with room to breathe
- Names of the '80s and '90s, currently resting
- Generation Z names (born 1997–2012)
- all guides
Where Alexandra and Lucille each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alexandra or Lucille — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alexandra or Lucille?
- They tie in 2025: Alexandra ranked #237 with 1,314 babies; Lucille ranked #237 with 1,314 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alexandra or Lucille?
- Lucille. Over the last five years Alexandra moved down 99 places; Lucille moved up 37 places.
- Which is the older name, Alexandra or Lucille?
- Alexandra entered the US charts in 1894; Lucille was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Lucille is the older name.
- How many people are named Alexandra and Lucille?
- About 240,000 people named Alexandra are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 60,000 people named Lucille are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alexandras or Lucilles in the classroom?
- Alexandra will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lucille 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
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