girl's name
Alexia
uh-LEK-see-uh
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 4
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 95,338
Northern Ireland
#478
2018 births
Alexia means defender, and it is also a clinical term — alexia is the medical name for acquired inability to read, from the same Greek root by a completely separate route. It holds 88,156 lifetime births in our records.
- Alexia is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2002, when 2,697 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 13,872 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1916.
- 4 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Alexia over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1910s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 12 |
| 1920s | 34 |
| 1930s | 15 |
| 1940s | 105 |
| 1950s | 181 |
| 1960s | 385 |
| 1970s | 751 |
| 1980s | 2,013 |
| 1990s | 9,039 |
| 2000s | 21,271 |
| 2010s | 10,525 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,905 |
What Alexia means
Alexia means defender, or one who wards off. The Greek verb alexein means to defend, and the feminine form applies it directly as a description.
Where Alexia comes from
Alexia is a feminine of Alexis, from the Greek alexein, to defend or ward off — the same verb behind Alexander and Alexandra. The medical alexia is unrelated in formation: it joins a privative a-, meaning without, to lexis, speech or word, giving loss of reading. So one word means defender and the other means without words, and they collide by accident. Alexis was a male name in Greek and remains so in Russian and Greek use.
Alexia in use
Alexia peaked in the United States in 2002, when 2,697 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 684th in Scotland on 4 births, 728th in France on 55, 774th in Ireland on 4, 1034th in England and Wales on 33 and 1040th in the United States on 262, across 95,338 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track.
How popular is Alexia?
In 2025, Alexia was given to 239 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Alexia is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Alexia is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Aléxia | Aléxia is a rare spelling of Alexia, written with an acute accent and recorded about 70 times, mostly in France. | 70 |
Names that peaked alongside Alexia
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Alexia also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Alexia over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Alexia
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Alexia in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Alexia
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Alexia — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Alexia
What does the name Alexia mean?
Defender — the Greek alexein, to ward off.
Is it the same as the medical alexia?
No. That joins a- , without, to lexis, word — meaning loss of reading. The collision is accidental.
Is Alexis a boys' name?
In Greek and Russian use it remains masculine.
How popular is Alexia?
684th in Scotland, its strongest market, and 1040th in the United States.
How many syllables are in Alexia?
Alexia has 4 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Alexia?
Alexia is usually shortened to Lexi.
Is Alexia a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Alexia currently ranks #684 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.