How popular is the baby name Alejandro in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, see baby names similar to Alejandro and check out all the blog posts that mention the name Alejandro.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Alejandro

Number of Babies Named Alejandro

Born in the U.S. Since 1880

Posts that Mention the Name Alejandro

Popular Baby Names in Spain, 2015

According to data from Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (INE), the most popular baby names in Spain in 2015 were Lucia and Hugo.

Here are Spain’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl Names Boy Names
1. Lucia, 5,229 baby girls
2. Maria, 4,516
3. Martina, 4,447
4. Paula, 3,854
5. Sofia, 3,525
6. Daniela, 3,392
7. Alba, 3,082
8. Julia, 3,006
9. Carla, 2,951
10. Sara, 2,936 		1. Hugo, 5,162 baby boys
2. Daniel, 4,578
3. Pablo, 4,202
4. Martin, 4,078
5. Alejandro, 3,994
6. Adrian, 3,341
7. Alvaro, 3,244
8. David, 2,993
9. Lucas, 2,904
10. Mario, 2,825

Lucia has held the #1 spot since 2003, and Hugo since 2012.

In the girls’ top 10, Alba rises 3 spots, and Julia replaces Valeria (now 11th).

In the boys’ top 10, Martin rises 4 spots, and Lucas replaces Diego (now 11th).

In the top 100, Miguel and Jose rank 23rd and 38th, respectively, while the compound names Miguel Angel and Jose Antonio rank 86th and 94th, respectively.

Other interesting names in the top 100 include…

  • Laia, 34th for girls. It’s a short form of Eulalia in Catalan. Laia ranks 3rd for girls in Catalonia specifically.
  • Leire and Leyre, 39th and 50th for girls. They refer to the Monastery of San Salvador of Leyre in Navarre. Leyre ranks 10th in Navarre specifically.
  • Nerea, 46th for girls. It’s based on the Basque word nere, meaning “my” or “mine” — kind of like a Basque version of Mia.
  • Triana, 38th for girls. Perhaps inspired by the Triana neighborhood of Seville…?
  • Iria, 69th for girls. It might be a form of Irene, based on the Ancient Greek word for “peace.” The Marian apparitions of Fátima occurred at the Cova da Iria.
  • Biel, 71st for boys. It’s a short form of Gabriel in Catalan. Biel ranks 5th for boys in Catalonia specifically.
  • Ibai, 99th for boys. It’s the Basque word for “river.” It ranks 4th in both Navarre and the Basque Country.

Here are Spain’s 2014 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Hugo and Lucia are top choice for Spanish infants, Instituto Nacional de Estadistica


Popular Baby Names in Spain, 2014

According to data from Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, the most popular baby names in Spain in 2014 were Lucia and Hugo.

Here are Spain’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2014:

Girl Names Boy Names
1. Lucia, 5,161 baby girls
2. Maria, 4,951
3. Martina, 4,380
4. Paula, 4,210
5. Daniela, 3,792
6. Sofia, 3,568
7. Valeria, 3,246
8. Carla, 3,138
9. Sara, 3,116
10. Alba, 3,111 		1. Hugo, 5,121 baby boys
2. Daniel, 4,859
3. Pablo, 4,494
4. Alejandro, 4,116
5. Alvaro, 3,670
6. Adrian, 3,463
7. David, 3,376
8. Martin, 3,181
9. Mario, 3,067
10. Diego, 3,000

Alba (was 11th) replaces Julia (now 11th) in the girls’ top 10.

Martin (was 20th) replaces Javier (now 11th) in the boys’ top 10.

Here are the 2013 baby names rankings for Spain, if you’d like to compare.

And, just for fun, let’s also check out the nearly 5 million foreign nationals living in Spain. The most common first names among expats (grouped by nation of origin) are:

Female Expat Names Male Expat Names
1. Fatima (Morocco), 18,493 females
2. Maria (Romania), 12,547
3. Elena (Romania), 10,629
4. Khadija (Morocco), 8,339
5. Mariana (Romania), 7,535
6. Mihaela (Romania), 6,050
7. Ana Maria (Romania), 5,265
8. Aicha (Morocco), 5,208
9. Naima (Morocco), 4,963
10. Daniela (Romania), 4,823 		1. Mohamed (Moroccan), 40,658 males*
2. Mohammed (Moroccan), 19,401
3. Ahmed (Moroccan), 15,003
4. Said (Moroccan), 9,513
5. Gheorghe (Romanian), 9,399
6. Vasile (Romanian), 9,045
7. Ioan (Romanian), 9,035
8. Rachid (Moroccan), 8,956
9. Youssef (Moroccan), 8,583
10. Mustapha (Moroccan), 7,468

*The total for Mohamed is even higher when you factor in the 2,436 Mohameds that came from Algeria.

Sources: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, And the most common expat name in Spain is…

Popular Baby Names in the Balearic Islands, 2013

According to data from the Balearic Institute of Statistics (Ibestat), the most popular baby names in the Balearic Islands (an archipelago that belongs to Spain) in 2013 were Maria and Marc.

Here are the Balearic Islands’ top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2013:

Girl Names Boy Names
1. Maria, 113 baby girls (2.2%)
2. Julia, 102 (1.99%)
3. Carla, 100 (1.95%)
4. Paula
5. Lucia
6. Sofia
7. Aina
8. Emma
9. Laia
10. Marta 		1. Marc, 157 baby boys (2.91%)
2. Pau, 106 (1.97%)
3. Hugo, 102 (1.89%)
4. Daniel
5. Joan
6. Alejandro
7. Adam
8. Mohamed
9. Lucas
10. Miquel

Maria and Marc were also the #1 names on the islands of Mallorca (which hosts about 80% of the population) and Menorca (9%). On Ibiza (11%), the winners were Martina and Hugo. On Formentera (1%), the winners were Lucia and Aitor — a name invented by Basque writer Agosti Xaho in the mid-19th century.

Here are Spain’s top baby names overall for 2013, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Most chosen baby names in Mallorca, Nombres mas frecuentes – Ibestat

Popular Baby Names in Spain, 2013

What are the top baby names in Spain?

According to data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, the most popular baby names last year were Lucia and Hugo.

Here are Spain’s top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2013:

Girl Names Boy Names
1. Lucia
2. Maria
3. Paula
4. Daniela
5. Martina
6. Carla
7. Sara
8. Sofia
9. Valeria
10. Julia
11. Alba
12. Claudia
13. Noa
14. Marta
15. Irene
16. Emma
17. Carmen
18. Laura
19. Ana
20. Ainhoa 		1. Hugo
2. Daniel
3. Pablo
4. Alejandro
5. Alvaro
6. Adrian
7. David
8. Mario
9. Diego
10. Javier
11. Lucas
12. Nicolas
13. Manuel
14. Marcos
15. Iker
16. Sergio
17. Izan
18. Jorge
19. Carlos
20. Martin

I found this list via Name News by Clare, who said:

So many names I’d never have guessed (and, in some cases, have never heard of) here, like Alvaro, Ainhoa, Aitana, Leire, Nerea, and Ainara.

I agree. I also didn’t expect to see the boy names Aitor (35th), Asier (58th) or Unai (60th). Or the girl name Africa, which was 68th — way more common in Spain than here.

(Aitana, Leire, Nerea, and Ainara ranked 26th, 28th, 31st and 29th for girls, respectively.)

I haven’t blogged about the top names in Spain before, but I did have a post about the top names in Catalonia last year. Weirdly, I looked up Unai for that post — it’s Basque and means “cowherd.”

Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (via Name News, via Nomes e mais nomes)

9-Letter Baby Names – Most Popular of 2010

These were the most popular 9-letter baby names last year:

Top 9-Letter Boy Names Top 9-Letter Girl Names
1. Alexander (ranked 6th overall)
2. Christian (29th)
3. Sebastian (68th)
4. Nathaniel (82nd)
5. Alejandro (102nd)
6. Francisco (196th)
7. Johnathan (217th)
8. Zachariah (449th)
9. Frederick (496th)
10. Demetrius (514th) 		1. Elizabeth (ranked 12th overall)
2. Gabriella (33rd)
3. Charlotte (45th)
4. Alexandra (64th)
5. Mackenzie (69th)
6. Katherine (70th)
7. Gabrielle (95th)
8. Annabelle (117th)
9. Stephanie (126th)
10. Brooklynn (142nd)

Of the 14,140 boy names given to 5+ baby boys in 2010, a total of 441 were 9-letter names. Of the 19,698 girl names, a total of 799 had 9 letters.

P.S. Want to see more 9-letter boy names and 9-letter girl names?

Most Popular Baby Names in Malta in 2009

The last time I wrote about popular baby names in Malta was twp years ago. It’s time for an update!

A total of 4,143 babies were born in Malta in 2009. (In 2006, the number was 3,885.) These were the most popular baby names last year:

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca (92 babies)
  2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo (84)
  3. Jake (59)
  4. Aiden (53)
  5. Jaden/Jayden (51)
  6. John/Giovanni/Jean (48)
  7. Kaiden/Kayden (47)
  8. Michael/Miguel/Mikele (46)
  9. Nicholas/Nick (42)
  10. Isaac/Izaak (39)
  11. Nathan (38)
    • Liam/William (36)
    • Gabriel (36)
  13. Benjamin/Ben (35)
    • Alexander/Alessandro/Alejandro (34)
    • Zachary/Zak (34)
    • James (33)
    • Daniel (33)
  16. Denzel/Danzil (31)
  17. Keiran (29)
    • Andre/Andrew/Andrea (26)
    • Sven (26)
  19. Julian (25)
    • Kyle (24)
    • Joseph/Giuseppe/Beppe (24)

Girl Names

  1. Maria/Mariah/Marie (82 babies)
  2. Elena/Ylenia/Ella (79)
  3. Christina/Kristina/Krista (63)
  4. Eliza/Elizabeth/Lisa (52)
  5. Amy/Aimee (49)
  6. Julia/Gulia (45)
    • Maya/Maia (39)
    • Emma (39)
  8. Martina (33)
  9. Rihanna/Rhiana (32)
  10. Jasmine/Yasmine (31)
  11. Keira (29)
  12. Mikela/Michaela (28)
  13. Jade (27)
  14. Hannah/Anna/Ann (26)
    • Nicole (25)
    • Mireille (25)
    • Hailey/Hayley (25)
  16. Sarah/Sara (24)
    • Emilia (22)
    • Lea (22)
  18. Thea (20)
    • Shania (18)
    • Katrina/Kate (18)
    • Amber (18)
    • Kailey/Kayleigh (18)
    • Faith (17)
    • Laura (17)

You’ll notice that Malta still lumps variants together. (They even lump non-variants like Elena and Ella together.) I’m not a big fan of this method because when groupings change from year to year, comparisons become impossible.

Malta also seems to have some issues with spelling. Aidan and Kieran became Aiden and Keiran between 2006 and 2009, for instance. And I’m sure “Gulia” was meant to be Giulia. (Though I do like the fact that there’s a “Julia/Gulia” grouping. Very Wedding Singer-esque.)

But it’s interesting stuff nonetheless. I’m especially intrigued by all the -ayden names on the boys’ list. (Worldwide phenomenon, anyone?)

If you want to see more from Malta, the top baby names of 2008, 2007, 2004/2005, 2003 and 2002 are available for download.

Source: National Statistics Office – Malta

Names I’ve Heard in Song Recently

Names I’ve heard in song in the last few weeks:

  • Alejandro, Fernando and Roberto in “Alejandro” (audio) by Lady Gaga.
  • Isaiah, Charlotte, Dawn and Myfanwy in “The Rake’s Song” (video) by The Decemberists.
  • Lavinia in “Lavinia” (video) by The Veils.
  • Silvia in “Silvia” (video) by Miike Snow.

“The Rake’s Song” is notable because all of those names actually refer to babies. Despite the babies, it’s a dark little song. I think the lyricist must have read a lot of Edward Gorey as a kid.

Have you discovered any songs that feature names recently?