Alessandra
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "defender of mankind".
Name Census estimates that about 23,727 living Americans carry the first name Alessandra. It sits at #426 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alessandra today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alessandra births was 2015 (1,141 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alessandra. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Alessandra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Alessandra is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,446 Americans
Peak year
2015
1,141 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#426
Tracked since 1943
Census
Alessandra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 20,390 people with the first name Alessandra, which placed it at #1,581 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,581
National first-name rank
People counted
20K
20,390 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
53.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alessandra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alessandra is Hispanic at 53.2%. The next largest groups are White (38.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Alessandra described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Alessandra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino53.2% · 10,851
- White38.4% · 7,838
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 653
- Two or more races3.2% · 651
- Black or African American1.8% · 360
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 37
Popularity
Alessandra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alessandra from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 9,951 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alessandra remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alessandra by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Alessandra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alessandras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Alessandra, while Idaho, Kentucky, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 538 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alessandra
The name Alessandra has its roots in the ancient Greek language, derived from the word "alexo," meaning "to defend" or "to protect." It is a feminine form of the masculine name Alessandro, which itself is a variant of the name Alexander.
The name gained popularity in the Roman Empire, where it was often associated with military leaders and warriors who were seen as defenders of their people. During this time, the name was commonly spelled as "Alexandra" in Latin.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alessandra can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Livy, who mentioned a woman named Alessandra in his account of the Punic Wars (264-146 BC).
In the Middle Ages, the name Alessandra became particularly popular in Italy, where it was often bestowed upon women from noble families. One notable historical figure was Alessandra degli Strozzi (1408-1473), a renowned poet and intellectual from Florence.
As the Renaissance period dawned, the name continued to be widely used across Italy and other parts of Europe. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Alessandra Giliani (1307-1326), an Italian poet and philosopher who was celebrated for her wit and intellect.
During the Baroque era, the name Alessandra was associated with several prominent women in the arts and literature. One such figure was Alessandra Sirani (1638-1670), an Italian painter who gained acclaim for her vivid and expressive works.
In the 19th century, the name gained popularity in other parts of Europe and the Americas. One notable figure from this period was Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi (1406-1471), an Italian writer and diarist whose letters and memoirs provided invaluable insights into the social and cultural life of Renaissance Florence.
Over the centuries, the name Alessandra has been borne by numerous other notable individuals, including the Italian actress Alessandra Martines (born 1963), the Brazilian actress and model Alessandra Negrini (born 1970), and the Italian singer-songwriter Alessandra Amoroso (born 1986).
Notable bearers
Famous people named Alessandra
People
Alessandra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alessandra as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Alessandra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alessandra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,727 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alessandra going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 14,446 US residents.
Is Alessandra a common name?
We classify Alessandra as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24,136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alessandra most popular?
The single biggest year for Alessandra was 2015, when 1,141 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alessandra is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alessandra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 20,390 people with the name Alessandra, or 6.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,581 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Alessandra in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Alessandra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alessandra appears almost entirely female. Of the 20,401 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Alessandra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alessandra is Hispanic at 53.2%. The next largest groups are White (38.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Alessandra most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alessandra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.2% (10,851 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Alessandra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alessandra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alessandra in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Alessandra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alessandra in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Alessandra can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Alessandra?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.