Alexa
Feminine · “defender of men”
Alexa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 131,551 girls against 284 boys since 1880.
Alexa is the compact end of a very long Greek name — Alexandros, worn by kings and saints and half the map of the eastern Mediterranean. It has been clipped this way for generations, and the short form has stood on its own in English-language records for well over a century. Two crisp syllables around one bright consonant cluster: ah-LEK-sah.
How old is the name Alexa?
Alexa first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Alexa alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 130,000 people named Alexa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alexa most popular?
Alexa peaked in 2015, reaching #32 nationally. Today it ranks #1029, 997 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Where it comes from
From Alexandros to Alexa
The story of Alexa
The parent name, Alexandros, is old Greek and appears in Homer's Iliad as a second name for Paris of Troy; its feminine, Alexandra, was used in antiquity as a title of the goddess Hera. Alexander the Great carried the masculine form across Asia in the fourth century BC, and after him it settled into Greek, Latin, Slavic and Western European naming alike, throwing off short forms in every language it entered. Alexa is one of those short forms, an English clipping of Alexandra of the same kind that gave Sandra and Sasha elsewhere. It has been recorded as an independent given name in the United States for more than a hundred years, quietly at first and then in real numbers from the late twentieth century onward.
Meaning
defender of men, from Greek Alexandros
The root pieces are alexein, to defend or ward off, and aner/andros, man. Alexa reaches that meaning through Alexandra, the feminine of Alexandros.
How the name formed
- Alexandros
- Alexandra
- Alexa
Related forms: Alexandra · Alessia · Alejandra · Alexia · Aleksandra · Alexa
Pronouncing Alexa
uh-LEK-suh
Stress on the middle syllable. Pronounced the same way in English, Spanish and Italian mouths, with only the first vowel shifting; Spanish speakers say a clearer ah at the front.
Nicknames for Alexa
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 2014 — Amazon launches the Alexa assistant
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1916
- Most girls named
- 20156,053 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #32reached in 2015
- Change vs 2023
- −50.6%243 in 2025, from 492
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.
Alexa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alexandra in Greek — related form
- Alessia in Italian — related form
- Alejandra in Spanish — related form
- Alexia in French — related form
- Aleksandra in Russian — transliteration
- Alexa in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Alexas among us
people named Alexa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 6,614 born in 2025 was named Alexa
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 Theresa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alexa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Theresa climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Theresa's path sketches the road Alexa is walking now.
Alexa is coming down from a big peak (#32 in 2015). 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 Alexa is headed
Alexa is easing off slowly — about 49% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Alexa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alexa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelling is obvious from the sound and needs no explanation in English, Spanish or Italian — useful given how strongly the name is represented in California, Texas and Florida.
- Ready-made short forms exist without any effort: Lexi, Lex, Allie.
- Belongs to the Alexander family, one of the most widely traveled name groups in Europe, with cousins in nearly every language.
- Two syllables, ending in a vowel, so it sits easily beside both short and long surnames.
- A century-plus of continuous use in American records, so it reads as familiar rather than newly minted.
- Amazon named its voice assistant Alexa, and the word now triggers devices in millions of homes. Expect jokes, and expect smart speakers in other people's houses to answer when the name is called. Some families with the name have found this genuinely wearing.
- The name is stepping back from a high point, which means a child named Alexa now will likely share the name with far more twenty-somethings than classmates.
- It sits very close to Alexis, Alexia and Alessia, so mishearings and corrections are part of the deal.
- Shortening to Alex leads to a name used widely for boys and girls both — fine if that suits, worth knowing in advance if it does not.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Alexa to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Alexa
Feminine · #1029 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alexas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 130,000 people named Alexa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alexa in 2025?
- Alexa ranks #1029 among US girl names in 2025, with 243 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alexa?
- About 1 in every 6,614 US girls born in 2025 was named Alexa — 243 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alexa with classmates?
- Alexa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Alexa's chart?
- Alexa faded after 2014 — Amazon launches the Alexa assistant.
Ranked beside Alexa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Naiari#1029 · Jolie#1029 · Ripley#1029 · Dana#1027 · Waverly#1027 · Montana#1033 · Elliot#1034 · Bernadette#1034
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alexa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alexa 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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