unisex name
Alexis
uh-LEK-sis
- Origin Greek
- Gender Unisex
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 601,791
the United States
#513
2025 births
Alexis is a Greek name meaning helper or defender, and it is genuinely split by country: a boys' name in France, where it ranks 256th, and majority female in the United States. Overall 62 percent of the births in our records are girls.
- Alexis is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 1998, when 22,095 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,931 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1882.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Alexis over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 11 |
| 1890s | 5 |
| 1900s | 5 |
| 1910s | 126 |
| 1920s | 139 |
| 1930s | 99 |
| 1940s | 1,476 |
| 1950s | 2,359 |
| 1960s | 2,619 |
| 1970s | 8,058 |
| 1980s | 31,363 |
| 1990s | 147,461 |
| 2000s | 158,863 |
| 2010s | 51,555 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 8,493 |
What Alexis means
Alexis means helper, or one who defends. The Greek verb behind it means to ward off or defend, and the name is built directly on it rather than compounded with a second element.
Where Alexis comes from
Alexis is the Greek Alexios, from alexein, to defend or ward off — the same verb that gives Alexander its first half, though Alexis is not a shortening of it but a separate formation. It was borne by Byzantine emperors and by a fifth-century saint, Alexius, whose legend of returning home unrecognized to live under his family's stairs was among the most popular in medieval Europe. In French and Russian tradition it stayed firmly masculine. Its American use as a girls' name is late twentieth-century, and its steep rise there follows the character Alexis Colby in Dynasty from 1981.
Alexis in use
Alexis peaked in the United States in 1998, when 22,095 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It charts in five markets — 197th in Canada, 256th in France on 220 births, 513th in the United States on 1,131, 619th in Scotland, 858th in Ireland and 1024th in England and Wales. About 62 percent of recorded births are female overall, but that figure hides a national split: in France it remains a boys' name, while American use is predominantly female, so the same name is read differently on each side of the Atlantic.
How popular is Alexis?
In 2025, Alexis was given to 1,131 babies in the United States, ranking #513 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Alexis 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 Alexis is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Aléxis | Aléxis is a rare spelling of Alexis, written with an acute accent and recorded about 65 times, mostly in France. | 65 |
Names that peaked alongside Alexis
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Alexis also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Alexis over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Alexis
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.
Alexis 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 Alexis
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Alexis — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Alexis
What does the name Alexis mean?
Helper or defender, from the Greek alexein, to ward off.
Is Alexis a boys' or girls' name?
Both, and it depends where. It is a boys' name in France, ranking 256th, and predominantly female in the United States.
Is Alexis short for Alexander?
No. They share the same Greek verb but are separate formations.
How popular is Alexis?
513th in the United States and 256th in France.
How many syllables are in Alexis?
Alexis has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Alexis?
Alexis is usually shortened to Lexi and Alex.
Is Alexis a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Alexis currently ranks #197 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.