Alex
Feminine · “defender of men”
Alex is given to both — 9,822 girls and 286,169 boys since 1880. See Alex as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Alex clips Alexandra — defender of men — and the name is attested in Bronze Age Greek, four hundred years before Homer.
How old is the name Alex?
Alex first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Alex alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 9,500 people named Alex are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alex most popular?
Alex peaked in 1995, reaching #537 nationally. Today it ranks #2485, 1,948 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From alexein aner to Alex
The story of Alex
Alexandros appears on Mycenaean clay tablets, and Homer uses it as a second name for Paris of Troy. Alexander the Great carried it across Asia. Alexandra is the feminine, and Alex serves both sexes as a short form. It appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
defender of men
Through Alexandra, from the Greek alexein, 'to defend', and aner, andros, 'man'. The masculine appears on Linear B tablets as Alexandros, making it among the oldest continuously used names in Europe. The Greek is documented.
How the name formed
- alexein aner
- Alexandra
- Alex
Related forms: Alexandra · Alejandra · Aleksandra
Pronouncing Alex
AL-eks
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Alex
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 1995441 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #537reached in 1995
- Change vs 2023
- −29.0%71 in 2025, from 100
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.
Alex in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alexandra in English — related form
- Alejandra in Spanish — related form
- Aleksandra in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Alexs among us
people named Alex are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 22,638 born in 2025 was named Alex
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Socorro test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alex's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Socorro climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Socorro's path sketches the road Alex is walking now.
Alex 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
Where Alex is headed
Alex is easing off slowly — about 24% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Alex beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alex in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the name is attested in Bronze Age Linear B is a first-rate fact.
- Alexandra is available as a full formal version.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It reads as unisex and often as masculine.
- It is a clipping rather than a full name.
- Alexandra on the certificate keeps both registers.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Alex to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Alex
Feminine · #2485 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alexs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,500 people named Alex are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alex in 2025?
- Alex ranks #2485 among US girl names in 2025, with 71 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alex?
- About 1 in every 22,638 US girls born in 2025 was named Alex — 71 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alex with classmates?
- Alex will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alex
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kinlee#2485 · Serayah#2485 · Sariya#2485 · Caitlyn#2485 · Laiken#2485 · Briseida#2485 · Marguerite#2485 · Levi#2485
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alex? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alex and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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