Alexis
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "defender" or "helper".
Name Census estimates that about 399,596 living Americans carry the first name Alexis. It sits at #484 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Alexis today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alexis births was 1998 (22,095 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alexis. 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 Alexis with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Compared to the 2000s, recent registration numbers for Alexis have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
400K
~ 1 in 858 Americans
Peak year
1998
22,095 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#484
Tracked since 1882
Census
Alexis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 358,353 people with the first name Alexis, which placed it at #139 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
#139
National first-name rank
People counted
358K
358,353 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
118.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alexis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alexis is White at 50.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.6%) and Black (11.6%). 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 Alexis 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 Alexis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.2% · 179,918
- Hispanic or Latino30.6% · 109,755
- Black or African American11.6% · 41,738
- Two or more races5.2% · 18,653
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 6,165
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2,124
Gender
Gender distribution for Alexis
Alexis leans heavily female at 83.6% of total registrations, but 67,485 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Alexis as a male name
- Ranked #484 in 2024
- 636 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (4,175 births)
Alexis as a female name
- Ranked #506 in 2024
- 604 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (19,778 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alexis leans strongly female. 296,602 people counted with this name were female (82.8%), compared with 61,748 male bearers (17.2%).
Popularity
Alexis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alexis from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 158,859 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alexis 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 Alexis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alexis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Alexis, while Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,970 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alexis
The name Alexis originated from the Greek language and culture. It is derived from the Greek word "alexo", meaning "to defend" or "to help". The name first appeared in ancient Greece around the 5th century BC.
In ancient Greek mythology, Alexis was the name of a young man who was loved by the poet Virgil. The name is also associated with the Greek goddess Alexiara, who was known as the protector against illness and disease.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Alexis is found in the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. In his work "Symposium", Plato mentions a character named Alexis who was a young man of great beauty.
Another early historical figure with the name Alexis was Alexis Comnenus, who was a Byzantine prince and military leader in the 11th century AD. He played a significant role in the defense of the Byzantine Empire against the Seljuk Turks.
During the Renaissance period, the name Alexis gained popularity in Europe. One notable figure was Alexis Piemontese, an Italian philosopher and theologian who lived in the 15th century. He wrote several works on moral philosophy and theology.
In the 17th century, Alexis I, also known as Alexis Mikhailovich, was the Tsar of Russia from 1645 to 1676. He was known for his efforts to modernize and westernize Russia, and for his involvement in the Russo-Polish War.
Another famous historical figure with the name Alexis was Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political thinker and historian who lived in the 19th century. He is best known for his work "Democracy in America", which analyzed the American political system and society.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Alexis
People
Alexis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alexis 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
Alexis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alexis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 399,596 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alexis 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 858 US residents.
Is Alexis a common name?
We classify Alexis as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 411,469 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alexis most popular?
The single biggest year for Alexis was 1998, when 22,095 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alexis is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alexis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 358,353 people with the name Alexis, or 118.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #139 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 Alexis 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 Alexis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alexis leans strongly female. 296,602 people counted with this name were female (82.8%), compared with 61,748 male bearers (17.2%). 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 Alexis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alexis is White at 50.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.6%) and Black (11.6%). 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 Alexis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alexis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.2% (179,918 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 Alexis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alexis a female name?
Yes, 83.6% of people registered as Alexis 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 Alexis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alexis 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 Alexis 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 many people are called Alexis?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.