Alek
A masculine Slavic name meaning "defender of mankind".
Name Census estimates that about 4,509 living Americans carry the first name Alek. It is a predominantly male name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Alek today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alek births was 2007 (162 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alek. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Alek is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 86 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
4.5K
~ 1 in 76,016 Americans
Peak year
2007
162 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,964
Tracked since 1916
Gender
Gender distribution for Alek
Alek leans heavily male at 98.1% of total registrations, but 86 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Alek as a male name
- Ranked #1,964 in 2024
- 79 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (154 births)
Alek as a female name
- Ranked #15,406 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2007 (8 births)
Popularity
Alek: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alek from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,421 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Alek remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alek 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 Alek during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aleks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Alek, while Mississippi, Maryland, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 92 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alek
The name Alek has its origins in the Ancient Greek language and can be traced back to the name Alexandros, which means "defender of men" or "protector of men". This name was popular in ancient Greece and was borne by several notable historical figures, including Alexander the Great, the renowned Macedonian king and military commander who conquered much of the ancient world in the 4th century BC.
The name Alek is a shortened form of the name Alexandros, which was later Latinized as Alexander. This Latinized version became widely used throughout the Roman Empire and eventually spread to other parts of Europe and beyond. Over time, various diminutive forms of the name emerged, including Alek, Alec, and Alex.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alek can be found in the Byzantine Empire, where it was used as a variant of the name Alexander. In the 9th century AD, there was a Byzantine emperor named Alexios I Komnenos, who ruled from 1081 to 1118. His name was a Greek form of the name Alexandros, and it is possible that the diminutive form Alek was derived from this variant.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alek, including Alek Wek, a South Sudanese-British model and author who was born in 1977. Another famous Alek is Alek Sandar, a Serbian-American actor known for his roles in films like "The Bourne Identity" and "The Hitman's Bodyguard". He was born in 1972.
In the world of literature, Alek Petöfi was a renowned Hungarian poet and revolutionary who lived from 1823 to 1849. He played a significant role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and is celebrated as one of Hungary's greatest poets.
In the field of science, Alek Issigonis was a British-Turkish designer and engineer who is best known for creating the iconic Mini car. He lived from 1906 to 1988 and his innovative design revolutionized the automotive industry.
Another notable figure with the name Alek is Alek Wek, a South Sudanese-British model and author who was born in 1977. She gained international recognition as one of the first African models to achieve global success and has been a prominent advocate for diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Alek
People
Alek + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alek 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
Alek: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alek?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,509 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alek 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 76,016 US residents.
Is Alek a common name?
We classify Alek as "Rare". It ranks above 96.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,599 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alek most popular?
The single biggest year for Alek was 2007, when 162 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alek is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Alek a male name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Alek in the SSA data are male. 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.
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.