Names/A

Alex

boys’ nameSteadyCompare

Alex is ranked 205th among boys in 2024 (1,722 births). Its best rank was 47th, in 1995.

Rank in 2024
#205down 2 from 2023
Births in 2024
1,7220.10% of boys
Peak year
19937,641 births
Best rank
#47in 1995
Since 1880
294,382people given the name
Babies named Alex, by year of birthboys
02.5k5k7.5k10k18801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

284,633 boys have been named Alex in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1993, with 7,641 births — 0.39% of all boys recorded that year.

It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 128 → 205).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1994, and the 1990s alone account for 25%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 33 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 9,749 girls have also been given it, 3.3% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadeboys named Alex
1880s1,451
1890s1,448
1900s1,745
1910s7,871
1920s9,182
1930s6,306
1940s6,855
1950s8,200
1960s12,031
1970s14,004
1980s38,711
1990s70,832
2000s63,779
2010s32,591
2020s9,627

In 1993, its biggest year

Alex was the 52nd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1993 were Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Joshua and Tyler. See all of 1993.

Names that rose and fell with Alex

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.