Head to head · Girls' names
Alexis vs Amaia
#554 vs #554 in 2025
Alexis and Amaia share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#554). 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
On the charts, Alexis leads 3 measures of 6; Amaia leads 1.
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
- 1930s: Alexis #4331, Amaia — — Alexis higher
- 1940s: Alexis #1116, Amaia — — Alexis higher
- 1950s: Alexis #657, Amaia — — Alexis higher
- 1960s: Alexis #802, Amaia — — Alexis higher
- 1970s: Alexis #382, Amaia — — Alexis higher
- 1980s: Alexis #119, Amaia — — Alexis higher
- 1990s: Alexis #24, Amaia #8488 — Alexis higher
- 2000s: Alexis #11, Amaia #2576 — Alexis higher
- 2010s: Alexis #95, Amaia #1576 — Alexis higher
- 2020s: Alexis #419, Amaia #603 — Alexis higher
Alexis stood higher in every recorded decade — 10 of 10.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alexis | Amaia |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | #4331 | — |
| 1940s | #1116 | — |
| 1950s | #657 | — |
| 1960s | #802 | — |
| 1970s | #382 | — |
| 1980s | #119 | — |
| 1990s | #24 | #8488 |
| 2000s | #11 | #2576 |
| 2010s | #95 | #1576 |
| 2020s | #419 | #603 |
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
Alexis
defender, helper
From the Greek verb alexein, to ward off or defend. The same verb sits at the front of Alexander, which pairs it with aner, 'man'.
Alexios → Alexius → Alexis
How it traveled
The name begins as Greek Alexios, latinized to Alexius and borne by several emperors of Byzantium, among them Alexios I Komnenos in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The legend of Saint Alexius, the beggar who lived unrecognised beneath his family's staircase, spread the name across medieval Europe in sermons and vernacular poems.
Amaia
In Basque, "the end"; also read as the Castilian place name Amaya
Two serious readings compete. The Basque word amaia means "end" or "conclusion", and that is the reading most Basque name lists give. The other traces the name to Peña Amaya in the province of Burgos, an ancient hilltop stronghold whose name is older than Spanish and not itself translated. Neither reading has pushed the other out.
Amaya (Peña Amaya, Castile) → Amaya (heroine of Navarro Villoslada's 1879 novel) → Amaia (Basque spelling)
How it traveled
The name owes its modern life to a book: Francisco Navarro Villoslada's historical novel "Amaya, o los vascos en el siglo VIII", published in 1879, whose heroine gave Spanish and Basque families a name they had not been using. Through the twentieth century it spread across the Basque Country and the rest of Spain, where the Castilian spelling Amaya and the Basque spelling Amaia have run side by side ever since.
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
Alexis
uh-LEK-sis
In French the stress moves to the end and the final s goes silent: uh-lek-SEE. Both are correct for their language, and families with French ties often keep the French sound.
- Alex — The default short form for both boys and girls, and long established as a given name in its own right.
- Lexi — Informal, used mostly for girls; also registered on its own as a given name.
- Lex — Short and unisex, used more often by and for older speakers and in surname-style address.
- Sasha — The Russian diminutive of Aleksei and Aleksandr; used in Slavic families and, in English, as an independent name.
- Also Al.
Amaia
ah-MY-ah
In Basque and Spanish it is three syllables, ah-MAH-ya, with the stress in the middle and every vowel sounded. American speakers most often say ah-MY-ah, and ah-MAY-ah turns up too. All three are in real use, so it helps to decide which one you want and say it first.
- Maia — The most natural short form in English, and a well-established given name in its own right.
- Ama — Family-level, informal; also an independent given name in parts of West Africa.
- Mai — Informal and clipped; stands alone as a given name in Japanese and Vietnamese.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Alexis if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAlexis is stepping back from its peak
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Alex, Lexi and Lex
- a name that feels very nowAlexis is stepping back from its peak
Choose Amaia if you want…
- a name on the way upup 11 places on the charts in five years
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 84% for Alexis
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
Alexis
Strengths
- Recognized spelling in English — people write it correctly on the first hearing, without a spelling-out.
- An unbroken record from Byzantine Greek through medieval Latin and French to modern English.
- Several settled short forms already in use: Alex, Lexi, Lex.
To consider
- In the United States this spelling is given almost equally to boys and girls, so a boy named Alexis will meet forms, teachers and strangers who assume otherwise. In France, Russia and much of southern Europe the assumption runs the other way.
- It sits inside a crowded family — Alexa, Alexia, Alexus, Alexandra, Alexander — and Alexis is sometimes heard or written as one of those. The short form Alex belongs to all of them.
- Alexa is now also a household voice assistant, and the two names are near enough that the joke will occasionally surface, usually from adults rather than children.
Amaia
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds once heard: five letters, no silent letters, no doubled consonants.
- The Amaya spelling is already known in the US, so people can place the name even when they meet this version for the first time.
- Works without translation in Basque, Spanish and English, and sits easily alongside Maya, Amara and Amelia.
To consider
- Amaya is the more widely recognized spelling in the US, so Amaia will be respelled with a y fairly often — a lifelong small correction rather than a real obstacle.
- Pronunciation genuinely varies: ah-MY-ah, ah-MAH-ya and ah-MAY-ah are all heard. Families who want the Basque three-syllable version usually end up saying so on the first introduction.
- The Basque reading, "the end", strikes some people as an odd thing to name a child. It is worth knowing before a relative looks it up, and the place-name reading is equally defensible.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Alexis
84%chance Alexis feels dated by 2040
Alexis is coming down from a big peak (#3 in 1999). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Amaia
40%chance Amaia feels dated by 2040
Amaia sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
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 Alexis and Amaia in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Alexis and Amaia?
Put both to the vote.
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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
- Names of the '80s and '90s, currently resting
- Classics hiding in plain sight
- Generation Z names (born 1997–2012)
- all guides
Where Alexis and Amaia each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alexis or Amaia — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alexis or Amaia?
- They tie in 2025: Alexis ranked #554 with 547 babies; Amaia ranked #554 with 547 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alexis or Amaia?
- Amaia. Over the last five years Alexis moved down 243 places; Amaia moved up 11 places.
- Which is the older name, Alexis or Amaia?
- Alexis entered the US charts in 1931; Amaia entered the US charts in 1993. On the American record, Alexis is the older name.
- How many people are named Alexis and Amaia?
- About 339,000 people named Alexis are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 5,500 people named Amaia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alexiss or Amaias in the classroom?
- Alexis will almost certainly be the only one in school. Amaia 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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