Alexis
Greek alexein, “to defend”; a man’s name in Greek and Russian before an American girl’s name.
Popularity, 1880–2025
Long a boys' name, it flipped to girls in the 1980s, when Joan Collins played the scheming Alexis Carrington on the hit soap Dynasty.
Alexis first shows up in the national records in 1882. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American girls in 31 different years between 1982 and 2015. It spent 8 years inside the top 10. Its biggest year was 1998, when 19,778 newborn girls received the name, ranking it No. 6 nationally. Its best ranking came in 1999, at No. 3. In 2025 it ranked No. 554 for girls. The name has also seen real use for boys: 68,075 of the 412,632 Americans given the name since 1880.
Related names
Other spellings on record: Alexus (18,875), Alexys (4,544), Alexsis (1,454), Alexes (839), Alexas (787), Alexiss (548) (total births since 1880)
Explore Alexis interactively →By the decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 5 | No. 4331 |
| 1940s | 1,330 | No. 493 |
| 1950s | 2,028 | No. 524 |
| 1960s | 1,666 | No. 696 |
| 1970s | 6,052 | No. 248 |
| 1980s | 26,321 | No. 83 |
| 1990s | 131,199 | No. 3 |
| 2000s | 130,834 | No. 5 |
| 2010s | 40,416 | No. 16 |
| 2020s | 4,706 | No. 311 |
Births and rank shown for girls, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.
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Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.