Alesha
A feminine name of Russian origin, a diminutive form of Alexandra meaning "defender of mankind".
Name Census estimates that about 7,145 living Americans carry the first name Alesha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alesha today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alesha births was 1990 (306 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alesha. 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 Alesha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.1K
~ 1 in 47,971 Americans
Peak year
1990
306 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1989 SSA rank
#6,966
Tracked since 1959
Census
Alesha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,369 people with the first name Alesha, which placed it at #3,329 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
#3,329
National first-name rank
People counted
6.4K
6,369 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alesha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alesha is White at 55.1%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Alesha 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 Alesha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.1% · 3,509
- Black or African American28.8% · 1,836
- Two or more races6.0% · 381
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 356
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 217
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 70
Gender
Gender distribution for Alesha
Out of the 7,540 babies given the name Alesha since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Alesha as a male name
- Ranked #6,966 in 1989
- 6 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (6 births)
Alesha as a female name
- Ranked #7,239 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (306 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alesha appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,367 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Alesha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alesha from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 2,522 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alesha 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 Alesha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aleshas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Alesha, while North Dakota, Massachusetts, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 132 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alesha
The name Alesha has its origins in the Russian language and culture, tracing back to the late 19th century. It is a diminutive form of the name Aleksandra, which is the Russian variant of the Greek name Alexandra, meaning "defender of mankind." The name Alesha gained popularity in Russia during this time and was often used as a pet form of Aleksandra.
Historically, the name Alesha has been associated with various notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded instances was Alesha Popovich, a legendary Russian bogatyr (knight-errant) who appeared in Russian bylinas (epic folk tales) from the 16th century. Another notable figure was Alesha Dimidov, a Russian writer and journalist who lived in the early 20th century and is known for his works depicting the lives of ordinary Russians.
In the realm of literature, the name Alesha is prominently featured in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel "The Brothers Karamazov," published in 1880. The character Aleksey Fyodorovich Karamazov, known as Alesha, is one of the central figures in the novel and is portrayed as a kind-hearted, spiritual young man.
Moving into the 20th century, one notable individual bearing the name Alesha was Alesha Popovich, a Soviet military commander during World War II. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his bravery and leadership in the Battle of Kursk in 1943.
Another prominent Alesha was Alesha Dimitrievich Prokopenko, a Soviet athlete who competed in gymnastics during the 1960s and 1970s. He won multiple Olympic medals, including a gold medal in the team event at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
It is worth noting that while the name Alesha is primarily associated with Russian culture, it has also been adopted in other Slavic countries, such as Ukraine and Belarus, where it may have slightly different variations in spelling or pronunciation.
People
Alesha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alesha 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
Alesha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alesha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,145 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alesha 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 47,971 US residents.
Is Alesha a common name?
We classify Alesha as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,540 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alesha most popular?
The single biggest year for Alesha was 1990, when 306 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alesha is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alesha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,369 people with the name Alesha, or 2.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,329 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 Alesha 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 Alesha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alesha appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,367 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Alesha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alesha is White at 55.1%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Alesha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alesha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.1% (3,509 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 Alesha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alesha a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Alesha 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 Alesha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alesha 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 Alesha 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 have the name Alesha?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.