girl's name
Lexi
LEK-see
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 47,421
the United States
#629
2025 births
Lexi is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," a diminutive of Alexandra taken from the middle of the name rather than the start. It ranks 143rd in Scotland and 629th in the United States.
- Lexi is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2014, when 1,334 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 7,145 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1948.
Lexi over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1940s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1940s | 5 |
| 1950s | 12 |
| 1960s | 46 |
| 1970s | 91 |
| 1980s | 386 |
| 1990s | 3,231 |
| 2000s | 9,000 |
| 2010s | 11,441 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,908 |
What Lexi means
Lexi inherits Alexandra's meaning: defender of men. The Greek joins alexein, to ward off or defend, with andros, of man — so the compound is about protecting people rather than territory.
Where Lexi comes from
Lexi is a diminutive of Alexandra, and it is unusual in being cut from the middle of the name rather than the beginning: Alex is the obvious short form, and Lexi takes the syllable after it. That pattern — Lexi from Alexandra, Bella from Isabella, Xander from Alexander — became common in English-language naming from the 1990s. Alexandra is the feminine of Alexander, from alexein, to defend, and andros, of man; the name spread across the world with Alexander the Great, which is why forms of it exist from Scotland to India. Alexandra was also a title of Hera in Greek cult. Lexi's rise in Britain in the 2000s is part of a broader movement toward registering short forms as full names.
Lexi in use
Lexi ranks 143rd in Scotland with 32 births in 2024, 166th in Northern Ireland and 339th in England and Wales, and it is falling in our data from a peak in 2014. Our records carry it from 1948, though almost all volume is post-1995. It holds 629th in the United States, and Lexie appears separately in every register.
How popular is Lexi?
In 2025, Lexi was given to 464 babies in the United States, ranking #629 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Lexi 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.
Names that peaked alongside Lexi
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Lexi also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Lexi over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Lexi 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.
- Asturian
- Alexandra
- Catalan
- Alexandra
- Czech
- Alexandra
- French
- Alexa
- Galician
- Alexandra
- German
- Alexa
- Greek
- Alexandra
- Hungarian
- Alexa
- Icelandic
- Alexa
- Italian
- Alexa
- Romanian
- Alexa
- Slovak
- Alexandra
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Lexie
Sibling names for Lexi
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Lexi — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Lexi
What does the name Lexi mean?
Lexi means "defender of men," inherited from Alexandra.
Is Lexi short for Alexandra?
Yes, cut from the middle of the name rather than the start — the same pattern as Bella from Isabella.
What is the difference between Lexi and Lexie?
Only spelling. Registers count them separately.
How popular is Lexi?
143rd in Scotland and 629th in the United States.
Is Lexi a girl's or a boy's name?
Lexi is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
Is Lexi a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Lexi currently ranks #143 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.