Alyx
Feminine · “Greek alexein”
Alyx is given to both — 1,295 girls and 182 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Almost no English name ends in x, and the few that do are Latin: Max, Rex, Felix, Alex. The letter is a Roman import for two sounds at once, and English never developed a native use for it at the end of a word.
How old is the name Alyx?
Alyx first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Alyx alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 1,300 people named Alyx are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alyx most popular?
Alyx peaked in 1993, reaching #1841 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 9,076 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alexandra to Alyx
The story of Alyx
X entered the Latin alphabet from Greek as a single letter for the cluster ks, and English words that end in it are either Latin borrowings, Max, Rex, Felix, Phoenix, or common nouns of native origin where the sound was already there, six, ox, box, fox. As a name-final letter it is therefore a marker of Latin, which is why it looks formal, and why modern coinages reach for it. Alyx does something unusual for a respelling: it is shorter than the name it replaces, four letters against six for Alexis, where almost every other American respelling adds letters. The y is the standard substitution, and the result is a compact name that has to be spelled out every time.
Meaning
Greek alexein, to defend
Alyx is a respelling of Alex, the short form of Alexander and Alexandra, from Greek alexein, to ward off. The x spells the two sounds k and s together, as it does in Latin. The peak is 1993.
How the name formed
- Alexandra
- Alex
- Alyx
Related forms: Alix · Alex
Pronouncing Alyx
AL-iks
Two syllables, stress on the first. Alex, Alix and Alyx are homophones.
Nicknames for Alyx
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
- 1978
- Most girls named
- 199378 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1841reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- −42.9%8 in 2025, from 14
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.
Alyx in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alix in English — spelling variant
- Alex in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Alyxs among us
people named Alyx are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Alyx
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alyx
- #10917
- Alyx on the 2025 chart
- #928
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alyx went to 8 girls in 2025, but Alix is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 32, which makes it the 928th most-given girls’ name of the year — 9,989 places above the chart.
- Alix24
- Alyx8
About 1 girl in 50,227 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 200,908 for Alyx 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 Freedom test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alyx's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Freedom climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Freedom's path sketches the road Alyx is walking now.
Alyx 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
Alyx beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alyx in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, one of the shortest names in the family.
- It works for either sex.
- Alexandra and Alexis are both available as fuller names.
- It will be spelled out every time.
- Alex is the standard spelling.
- The 1993 peak dates this form.
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What they receive
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Alyx
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alyxs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Alyx are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alyx?
- Alyx is one of 2 recorded spellings. Alix is the more common one — 24 births in 2025 against 8 for Alyx.
- How popular is the name Alyx in 2025?
- Alyx ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alyx?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Alyx — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alyx with classmates?
- Alyx will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alyx
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alyx? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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