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Boy

Alex

Alex means "Defender of the people" and comes from Greek, giving it real etymological depth as a boy's name. It peaked back in the 1990s and has been gradually easing since. In the current registry, it is a name most people have come across. 1993 was this name's high-water mark in the U.S. birth records.

GreekShort for Alexander
GreekDefender of the people
Births by decade
1900s
1,745
1910s
7,910
1920s
9,276
1930s
6,371
1940s
6,910
1950s
8,297
1960s
12,175
1970s
14,217
1980s
39,861
1990s
74,277
2000s
65,893
2010s
28,874
Peaked in the 1990s · 275,806 total U.S. births since 1900