Humanverse

Alesa vs Alexa

American parents have registered 131,835 Alexas since 1880, against 926 Alesas. Alexa is still ahead, with 243 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Alesa against Alexa, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Alesa Alexa

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 97 years in which either name was published, Alexa for 94 years and Alesa for 3 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Alesa Alexa
Total US births 926131,835
Most in one year 386,125
Babies in 2025 under 5243
Estimated living today 860130,000
Median age today 4619
Peak year 19632006
Best rank 1,894th girls39th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,029th
First recorded 19511916
Girls / boys 926 / 0131,551 / 284

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Alesas alive today are over 46; half the Alexas are over 19. That is 27 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Alesa and Alexa.