Alexei
A masculine Greek name meaning "the one who defends".
Name Census estimates that about 1,422 living Americans carry the first name Alexei. It is a predominantly male name (91.9% of registrations). The average person named Alexei today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alexei births was 2021 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alexei. 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 Alexei with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 241,037 Americans
Peak year
2021
56 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,744
Tracked since 1961
Census
Alexei in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,824 people with the first name Alexei, which placed it at #5,868 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
#5,868
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,824 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alexei
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alexei is White at 68.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.9%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Alexei 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 Alexei at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.0% · 1,921
- Hispanic or Latino24.9% · 703
- Two or more races3.4% · 96
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 56
- Black or African American1.4% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Alexei
Alexei leans heavily male at 91.9% of total registrations, but 117 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Alexei as a male name
- Ranked #2,744 in 2024
- 47 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (51 births)
Alexei as a female name
- Ranked #13,680 in 2022
- 6 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1998 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alexei leans strongly male. 2,668 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 153 female bearers (5.4%).
Popularity
Alexei: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alexei from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 421 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Alexei remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alexei 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 Alexei during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alexeis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Alexei, while New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alexei
The name Alexei is a masculine given name of Russian origin. It is derived from the Greek name Alexios, which in turn comes from the Greek word "alexo" meaning "to defend" or "to protect." The name Alexei has been in use in Russia and other Slavic countries for centuries.
In the 10th century, the name Alexei gained significance after the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who ruled from 1081 to 1118. This helped popularize the name in Eastern Europe and the Orthodox Christian world. It was also the name of several Russian tsars and grand dukes, adding to its prestige and widespread use.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Alexei was Alexei Mikhailovich, who was the Tsar of Russia from 1645 to 1676. He is credited with creating the first Russian navy and expanding the Russian Empire. Another notable Alexei was Alexei Petrovich, the son of Peter the Great, who was born in 1690 and died in 1718.
In the 19th century, the name Alexei was associated with the Russian author Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, who was born in 1817 and died in 1875. He is best known for his historical novel "Prince Serebrenni" and his satirical works.
Another famous Alexei was Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin, who served as the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1980. He played a crucial role in the Soviet economy and foreign policy during the Cold War era.
In more recent times, the name Alexei has been carried by several notable figures, including the Russian businessman Alexei Anatolievich Navalny, who is a prominent opposition leader and anti-corruption activist. Alexei Yagudin, an Olympic figure skating champion from Russia, was born in 1980 and won the gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Alexei
People
Alexei + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alexei 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
Alexei: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alexei?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,422 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alexei 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 241,037 US residents.
Is Alexei a common name?
We classify Alexei as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,450 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alexei most popular?
The single biggest year for Alexei was 2021, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alexei is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alexei in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,824 people with the name Alexei, or 0.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,868 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 Alexei 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 Alexei?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alexei leans strongly male. 2,668 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 153 female bearers (5.4%). 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 Alexei?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alexei is White at 68.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.9%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Alexei most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alexei in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.0% (1,921 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 Alexei in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alexei a male name?
Yes, 91.9% of people registered as Alexei 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 Alexei still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alexei 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 Alexei 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 named Alexei?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.