Aleksandr
Defender of men, warrior, derived from Greek roots.
Name Census estimates that about 1,604 living Americans carry the first name Aleksandr. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Aleksandr today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aleksandr births was 2016 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aleksandr. 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 Aleksandr with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 213,687 Americans
Peak year
2016
72 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,470
Tracked since 1971
Census
Aleksandr in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,770 people with the first name Aleksandr, which placed it at #2,500 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
#2,500
National first-name rank
People counted
9.8K
9,770 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aleksandr
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aleksandr is White at 95.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.6%) and Two or More Races (1.5%). 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 Aleksandr 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 Aleksandr at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.7% · 9,353
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 157
- Two or more races1.5% · 147
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 74
- Black or African American0.3% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 8
Popularity
Aleksandr: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aleksandr from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 570 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aleksandr remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aleksandr 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 Aleksandr during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aleksandrs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Florida, Washington recorded the most babies named Aleksandr, while Pennsylvania, Indiana, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aleksandr
The name Aleksandr is derived from the Greek name Alexandros, which means "defending men" or "protector of men." The name has its origins in ancient Greek culture and has been in use for over 2,500 years.
One of the earliest and most famous bearers of this name was Alexander the Great, the legendary Macedonian king who conquered much of the known world in the 4th century BC. His military campaigns and conquests spread Greek culture and language throughout the ancient world, including the use of the name Aleksandr.
In the Middle Ages, the name gained popularity in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and other Slavic countries. It was adopted into the Russian language as Aleksandr and became a common name among the nobility and ruling classes.
Throughout history, there have been many notable figures named Aleksandr. One of the most famous was Aleksandr Pushkin, the renowned Russian poet and playwright who lived from 1799 to 1837. His works had a profound impact on Russian literature and culture.
Another notable Aleksandr was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian novelist and historian who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970. He was known for his works that exposed the brutalities of the Soviet gulag system, such as "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "The Gulag Archipelago."
In the world of music, Aleksandr Borodin was a 19th-century Russian composer and chemist who contributed to the Romantic nationalist movement in classical music. His most famous work is the opera "Prince Igor."
Aleksandr Kerensky was a prominent Russian politician who briefly served as the head of the Russian Provisional Government in 1917 before being overthrown by the Bolsheviks.
Lastly, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, born in 1918 and died in 2008, was a Russian novelist and historian who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 for his works that exposed the brutalities of the Soviet gulag system.
These are just a few examples of the many notable figures throughout history who have borne the name Aleksandr, a name with deep roots in ancient Greek culture and a rich history spanning over two millennia.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Aleksandr
People
Aleksandr + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aleksandr 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
Aleksandr: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aleksandr?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,604 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aleksandr 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 213,687 US residents.
Is Aleksandr a common name?
We classify Aleksandr as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,629 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aleksandr most popular?
The single biggest year for Aleksandr was 2016, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aleksandr is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aleksandr in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,770 people with the name Aleksandr, or 3.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,500 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 Aleksandr 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 Aleksandr?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aleksandr appears almost entirely male. Of the 9,767 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Aleksandr?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aleksandr is White at 95.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.6%) and Two or More Races (1.5%). 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 Aleksandr most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aleksandr in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.7% (9,353 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 Aleksandr in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aleksandr a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aleksandr 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.
Is Aleksandr still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aleksandr 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 Aleksandr 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 Americans are named Aleksandr?
You can see how many people have the name Aleksandr on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.