Aleksey
Masculine · “defender”
Aleksey is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 571 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Alexei Romanov was the last heir to the Russian throne, a haemophiliac boy whose illness brought Rasputin into the palace and helped bring the dynasty down. He was killed with his family at Yekaterinburg in 1918, at thirteen.
How old is the name Aleksey?
Aleksey first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Aleksey alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 600 people named Aleksey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aleksey most popular?
Aleksey peaked in 2006, reaching #2979 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 3,824 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From alexein to Aleksey
The story of Aleksey
Alexios was a common Byzantine name and passed into Russian Orthodox use early; Aleksey Mikhailovich was tsar from 1645, and the name was carried by Tolstoy, by Chekhov's contemporaries and by a great many ordinary Russians. Its most tragic bearer is Alexei Nikolaevich, born in 1904, whose haemophilia was concealed from the public and whose mother's dependence on Rasputin for his treatment became a national scandal. Romanisation of the name has never settled: Aleksey, Alexei, Alexey and Aleksei all appear in English-language records. The American best year for this spelling is 2006, with post-Soviet migration.
Meaning
defender, one who wards off
From Greek alexein, to ward off or defend, the same root as Alexander and Alexis. Russian Aleksey descends from the Greek Alexios by way of Church Slavonic. The -ey ending of this spelling is the standard American transliteration of the Russian final syllable, which other systems write as -ei or -ii.
How the name formed
- alexein
- Alexios
- Aleksey
Related forms: Alexei · Alexios · Oleksiy · Aleksije
Pronouncing Aleksey
uh-lyek-SAY
Three syllables with the stress at the end. English speakers usually say uh-LEK-see, moving the weight to the middle and losing the soft l that Russian gives it.
Nicknames for Aleksey
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1995
- Most boys named
- 200637 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2979reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −20.0%12 in 2025, from 15
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Aleksey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alexei in Russian — transliteration
- Alexios in Greek — same name
- Oleksiy in Ukrainian — same name
- Aleksije in Serbian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Alekseys among us
people named Aleksey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Aleksey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Aleksey
- #6803
- Aleksey on the 2025 chart
- #858
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Aleksey went to 12 boys in 2025, but Alexei, Aleksei and Alexey are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 70, which makes it the 858th most-given boys’ name of the year — 5,945 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 24,401 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 142,340 for Aleksey itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Angelina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aleksey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Angelina climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Angelina's path sketches the road Aleksey is walking now.
Aleksey 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Aleksey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aleksey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Greek meaning and a deep Russian and Byzantine history.
- Alyosha and Alex are two short forms from two traditions.
- Marks a Russian or Ukrainian heritage clearly.
- Four transliterations circulate and none is authoritative.
- The stress belongs at the end and English speakers will move it.
- Alexei is the more familiar spelling to most Americans.
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What they receive
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Aleksey
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alekseys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Aleksey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Aleksey?
- Aleksey is one of 4 recorded spellings. Alexei is the more common one — 36 births in 2025 against 12 for Aleksey.
- How popular is the name Aleksey in 2025?
- Aleksey ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aleksey?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Aleksey — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aleksey with classmates?
- Aleksey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aleksey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aleksey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aleksey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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