Alexandra
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "defender of mankind".
Name Census estimates that about 235,358 living Americans carry the first name Alexandra. It sits at #221 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alexandra today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alexandra births was 1993 (10,719 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alexandra. 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 Alexandra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Alexandra is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 869 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
235K
~ 1 in 1,456 Americans
Peak year
1993
10,719 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2021 SSA rank
#221
Tracked since 1894
Census
Alexandra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 229,432 people with the first name Alexandra, which placed it at #245 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
#245
National first-name rank
People counted
229K
229,432 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
76.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alexandra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alexandra is White at 64.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.3%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Alexandra 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 Alexandra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.7% · 148,455
- Hispanic or Latino26.3% · 60,432
- Two or more races4.1% · 9,297
- Black or African American2.8% · 6,334
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 4,216
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 698
Gender
Gender distribution for Alexandra
Out of the 244,997 babies given the name Alexandra since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Alexandra as a male name
- Ranked #12,219 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1989 (99 births)
Alexandra as a female name
- Ranked #221 in 2024
- 1,387 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (10,682 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alexandra appears almost entirely female. Of the 229,437 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Alexandra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alexandra from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 95,097 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alexandra 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 Alexandra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alexandras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Alexandra, while Wyoming, Vermont, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,737 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alexandra
The name Alexandra has its origins in the Greek language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is a feminine form of the Greek name "Alexandros," which means "defender of men" or "protector of mankind." The name is derived from the Greek words "alexein," meaning "to defend," and "andros," meaning "man."
One of the earliest and most famous historical references to the name Alexandra is in ancient Greek mythology. Alexandra was the name of a character who was the daughter of Priam, the king of Troy during the Trojan War. She was also known as Cassandra, the prophetess who was gifted with the ability to see the future but was cursed with never being believed.
The name Alexandra gained widespread popularity during the Hellenistic period, which followed the reign of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC). Alexander the Great himself was known for his military conquests and the spread of Greek culture throughout the ancient world. As a result, the name Alexandra became associated with strength, courage, and leadership.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Alexandra is from the 4th century BC, when Alexandra was the name of a niece of the Greek general and statesman, Antipater. Another notable Alexandra from ancient times was Alexandra Salome, a Hasmonean princess who lived in the 1st century BC and ruled over parts of ancient Judea.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Alexandra. One of the most famous was Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918), the last Tsarina of Russia and wife of Tsar Nicholas II. Another prominent Alexandra was Alexandra of Denmark (1844-1925), who became the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions as the wife of King Edward VII.
In the field of literature, Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (1872-1952) was a Russian revolutionary, writer, and diplomat who played a significant role in the Bolshevik Revolution and the early years of the Soviet Union. Alexandra David-Neel (1868-1969) was a French explorer, writer, and Buddhist scholar who became famous for her travels in Tibet and her writings on Tibetan culture.
Other notable Alexandras include Alexandra Zampetaki (1901-1982), a Greek actress and singer who was a prominent figure in the Greek cinema of the 20th century, and Alexandra Kosteniuk (born 1984), a Russian chess grandmaster who has won numerous international chess tournaments and championships.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Alexandra
People
Alexandra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alexandra 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
Alexandra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alexandra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 235,358 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alexandra 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 1,456 US residents.
Is Alexandra a common name?
We classify Alexandra as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 244,997 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alexandra most popular?
The single biggest year for Alexandra was 1993, when 10,719 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alexandra is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alexandra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 229,432 people with the name Alexandra, or 75.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #245 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 Alexandra 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 Alexandra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alexandra appears almost entirely female. Of the 229,437 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Alexandra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alexandra is White at 64.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.3%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Alexandra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alexandra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.7% (148,455 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 Alexandra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alexandra a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Alexandra 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 Alexandra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alexandra 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 Alexandra 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 are called Alexandra?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.