Alex
Masculine · “defender of men”
Alex is given to both — 286,169 boys and 9,822 girls since 1880. See Alex as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Alex is the working end of Alexandros, a Greek name already old when Alexander the Great carried it out of Macedonia in the fourth century BC. Two syllables, a hard consonant cluster in the middle, nothing to explain at the door. It has been shortened the same way for centuries, and for a long while now it has stood on its own as a full given name in the English-speaking world.
How old is the name Alex?
Alex was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Alex alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 245,000 people named Alex are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alex most popular?
Alex peaked in 1995, reaching #47 nationally. Today it ranks #232, 185 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Where it comes from
From Alexandros to Alex
The story of Alex
Alexandros is one of the oldest names still in ordinary use: it appears in the Iliad as a second name for Paris of Troy, long before Alexander of Macedon made it famous across three continents in the fourth century BC. His conquests carried it east, where it survives in Persian and Urdu as Sikandar; the church carried it west, through saints, popes and later the tsars of Russia. Every one of those languages clipped it, and the clipped forms took root — Sasha in Russian, Olek in Polish, Alex in English. The short form began appearing as a name in its own right on English-language records rather than only as a familiar tag, which is how it is most often given in the United States today.
Meaning
defender of men
From the Greek Alexandros, joining alexein, to defend or ward off, with the stem andr-, man. The sense is protective rather than martial.
Cultural footprint
Alex Ferguson (b. 1941) — Soccer's most decorated manager
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Alexandros
- Alexander
- Alex
Related forms: Álex · Alex · Alex · Olek · Sasha · Alekos
Pronouncing Alex
AL-iks
One settled pronunciation in English, stress on the first syllable. Spelled correctly on first hearing in most languages that use the Latin alphabet.
Nicknames for Alex
High
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19957,424 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #47reached in 1995
- Change vs 2022
- −24.5%1,515 in 2025, from 2,006
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
- Álex in Spanish — spelling variant
- Alex in Portuguese — same name
- Alex in German — same name
- Olek in Polish — related form
- Sasha in Russian — related form
- Alekos in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Alexs among us
people named Alex are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,127 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 Bradley 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: Bradley climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bradley's path sketches the road Alex is walking now.
Alex is coming down from a big peak (#47 in 1995). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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 boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Already the short form, so there is nothing left to shorten against your wishes — the everyday name and the legal name can be the same.
- Spelled and said correctly on first contact across English, Spanish, Portuguese and German, which matters in a family with more than one language.
- An unbroken written record from Homeric Greek through the tsars to the present, so it has never had to be revived.
- Familiar to everyone without being crowded — a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- Formal enough on a document and informal enough on a team roster, with no register shift required.
- Alex arrives at boys through Alexander and at girls through Alexandra, Alexandria and Alexis, so on paper it signals no gender. Some families like that; others find the emails addressed to the wrong person tiresome.
- Many people will assume Alex is short for Alexander and lengthen it unasked — on forms, at doctors' offices, in introductions. Expect to correct it now and then if the full name is not what you chose.
- It is a name still strongly represented among adults now in their thirties, which means plenty of grown Alexes in the workplace and few in the kindergarten room.
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
Masculine · #232 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 245,000 people named Alex are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alex in 2025?
- Alex ranks #232 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,515 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alex?
- About 1 in every 1,127 US boys born in 2025 was named Alex — 1,515 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.
Justin#233 · Abel#231 · Simon#230 · Richard#234 · Brayden#229 · Patrick#235 · Grant#228 · Brody#236
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.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
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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