Alexander
197,734 people in the United States were counted with the surname Alexander in the 2020 census, making it the 120th most common in the country. That is about one person in 1,512.
By the numbers
- People
- 197,734
- Rank
- 120th
- How common
- 1 in 1,512
- Per 100,000
- 66.2
Where the name comes from
Origin a patronymic
from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος, from ἀλέξω (“to defend”) + ἀνδρ-, the stem of ἀνήρ (“man”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Who bears the name
How people with the surname Alexander described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:
Notable people called Alexander
- Jason Alexander (born 1959)American actor, comedian, director and television host
- Jaimie Alexander (born 1984)American actress
- Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis (1891–1969)British military commander and field marshal; Governor General of Canada
- Jane Alexander (born 1939)American actress
- Sasha Alexander (born 1973)American actress
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (born 1998)Canadian basketball player
- Alexander, Crown Prince of Serbia (born 1945)Head of the House of Karađorđević
- Khandi Alexander (born 1957)American dancer, choreographer, and actress
People named Alexander with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).
Surnames like Alexander
Also a first name
Alexander has been given to 740,668 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1993. See it as a given name.
Try it on yourself
Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.