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Alexander

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Alexander was given to 7,230 boys in 2025, #30 among boys’ names; 740,668 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 674,000 Americans named Alexander and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 25 years old and half are between 15 and 34.

Alexander is the #34 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.

Babies named Alexander each year, first recorded in 1880
Alexander, 1880-2025; highest in 1993.5k10k15k20k25k188019001920194019601980200020251993 peak: 20,708
Alexander, 1880-2025; highest in 1993.5k10k15k20k25k188019001920194019601980200020251993 peak: 20,708
Alexander, 1880-2025; highest in 1993.5k10k15k20k25k18801905193019551980200520251993 peak: 20,708
Alexander, 1880-2025; highest in 1993.5k10k15k20k25k18801930198020251993 peak: 20,708

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Alexander or AlexandrNames of the 1990sNames in California

Births of Alexander by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Alexander mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Alexander is “a male given name from Ancient Greek, most famously held by Alexander the Great.” Its etymology gives the senses “to defend” (ἀλέξω) and “man” (ἀνήρ).

From Middle English Alexander, Alexandre, from Latin Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to defend”) + ἀνδρ- (andr-), the stem of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”). Doublet of Alastair, Alejandro, Iskandar, Sikandar, Alessandro, and Alexandre.

/ˌælɪɡˈzændɚ/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Alexander (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Alexander?

#30 among boys’ names, 2025

Alexander fell from #8 in 2015 to #30 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 7.6 to 4.2 per 1,000.

20,708 babies in 1993, the peak

Alexander peaked in 1993, when 20,708 babies were given it (20,530 boys, #21 among boys’ names). The 7,244 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 35% of that peak.

Alexander by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20257,230#304.2
20247,547#274.4
20237,918#224.6
20228,757#175.0
20219,425#135.4
202010,268#105.9
201911,327#106.3
201812,110#116.7
201712,577#136.8
201613,446#117.1
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
201514,584#87.6
201415,449#88.0
201314,923#87.9
201215,259#98.0
201115,717#88.3
201016,769#68.7
200918,254#49.2
200818,711#69.2
200718,150#118.7
200618,235#128.9
200518,130#139.1
200417,925#159.0
200317,714#169.0
200217,718#159.1
200116,720#208.6
200017,290#208.8
199917,420#219.1
199817,466#229.1
199717,112#229.1
199617,964#229.5
199519,456#2110.2
199420,101#2210.4
199320,530#2110.5
199220,069#2310.0
199117,640#268.7
199016,194#287.9
198914,523#327.3
198813,341#347.0
198711,835#376.3
198610,609#415.8
19858,295#504.5
19846,492#543.6
19834,806#632.7
19824,593#652.5
19814,237#702.4
19803,279#911.8
19793,058#941.8
19782,738#981.7
19772,704#961.6
19762,443#1071.6
19752,439#1051.6
19742,354#1121.5
19732,259#1161.4
19722,116#1291.3
19712,358#1341.3
19702,463#1371.3
19692,012#1501.1
19681,773#1541.0
19671,454#1780.83
19661,368#1820.77
19651,321#1910.71
19641,288#2120.65
19631,308#2140.64
19621,218#2210.59
19611,227#2230.58
19601,199#2320.56
19591,166#2330.55
19581,188#2200.56
19571,264#2120.59
19561,235#2110.58
19551,170#2080.57
19541,236#2000.61
19531,262#1950.64
19521,283#1860.66
19511,212#1900.64
19501,164#1890.65
19491,185#1800.67
19481,129#1830.64
19471,081#1900.59
1946964#1880.59
1945891#1780.66
1944864#1830.63
1943924#1780.65
1942861#1840.62
1941818#1840.67
1940760#1880.66
1939723#1860.65
1938666#1930.60
1937675#1910.63
1936613#2000.59
1935702#1860.67
1934616#2000.60
1933659#1870.66
1932774#1780.74
1931795#1720.76
1930872#1680.79
1929985#1560.92
19281,048#1520.95
19271,092#1461.0
19261,150#1461.0
19251,224#1371.1
19241,381#1291.2
19231,293#1291.2
19221,359#1251.2
19211,533#1161.4
19201,474#1171.4
19191,422#1131.5
19181,591#1041.6
19171,664#971.8
19161,584#991.8
19151,432#1031.7
19141,169#981.8
1913937#981.8
1912803#971.9
1911426#941.9
1910324#1011.7
1909255#1071.6
1908246#1041.6
1907279#921.9
1906204#1051.5
1905210#1031.6
1904203#1031.6
1903195#1001.6
1902216#931.8
1901162#1021.5
1900260#931.7
1899178#971.7
1898180#1061.5
1897172#1031.5
1896232#871.9
1895199#971.7
1894199#951.7
1893218#831.9
1892202#951.7
1891172#951.7
1890202#851.8
1889185#931.7
1888237#822.0
1887180#871.8
1886206#831.9
1885205#781.9
1884236#762.1
1883187#801.8
1882225#792.0
1881209#712.1
1880211#731.9

Download Alexander’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Alexander a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Alexander has been given almost only to boys: 4,545 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Alexander: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Alexander, and how old are they?

674,000 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 91% of the 740,668 Americans ever recorded as Alexander. The median Alexander alive today is 25 years old; half are between 15 and 34.

The 2020 Census counted 556,757 people named Alexander (2,468 women and girls, 554,289 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 635,647 born in the U.S. The Census count is 12% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.

Alive today, by age

100-10922
90-99482
80-892,760
70-797,230
60-699,660
50-5919,100
40-4947,400
30-39165,000
20-29 (median)172,000
10-19160,000
0-986,500

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-19452,790
Baby Boomers1946-196415,200
Generation X1965-198032,500
Millennials1981-1996204,000
Generation Z1997-2012275,000
Generation Alpha2013-2025145,000

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).

Where are babies named Alexander born?

The states with the most babies named Alexander are California, Texas and Florida, with 35% of its births recorded by state in 2025.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateBirths 2025Rank, boysvs. national
California1,169#161.1×
Texas856#270.8×
Florida526#211.1×
New York476#191.2×
Illinois261#231.1×
New Jersey255#181.3×
North Carolina226#380.8×
Pennsylvania212#521.1×
Ohio207#500.9×
Georgia205#400.8×

Where Alexander is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Alexander is most over-represented in Connecticut: since 1910 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Connecticut1.39×
Massachusetts1.30×
New Jersey1.28×
District of Columbia1.28×
New York1.24×
Rhode Island1.18×
Florida1.15×
Illinois1.14×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Alexander with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.

Names spelled alike

Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 742,897 babies since 1880, Alexander is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7,244 of their 7,275 babies (100%), again the most given.

Alexander and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Alexander740,6687,2441993
Alexandr794121989
Alexandar681under 52000
Alixander28872005
Alexxander27162006
Alyxander19562012

Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.

Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Alexander

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Jacob990,532
Andres96,733
Grant136,669
Omar106,894
Spencer129,638
Christian473,843

Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

More about Alexander and names like it

  1. Compare Alexander and AlexandrBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 1990sAlexander peaked in 1993.
  3. California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alexander since 1910.
  4. Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Alexander: every such name, by how often it is given.
  5. The top names of 1993The year the most babies were named Alexander.
  6. The names of Generation ZMost people named Alexander alive today were born 1997-2012.
  7. Names starting with AMost given first.

Compare Alexander with another name