How popular is the baby name Alex in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Alex.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Alex


Posts that mention the name Alex

Popular baby names in Andorra, 2015 (and earlier)

Flag of Andorra
Flag of Andorra

The mountainous microstate of Andorra is located in the Pyrenees, sandwiched between France and Spain.

Andorra has a population of fewer than 100,000 people — making it more populous than Monaco and Liechtenstein, but less populous than Malta.

The country’s official language is Catalan, but other languages (like French and Spanish) are also spoken.

Though I haven’t been able to find up-to-date baby name rankings for Andorra, I did recently come across four sets of rankings that were slightly older. So here are Andorra’s most popular baby names of 2015, 2013, 2012, and 2011:

2015

In 2015, a total of 602 babies (304 girls and 298 boys) were born in Andorra.

Girl names, 2015Boy names, 2015
1. Alba
2. Janna
3. Lia
4. Aina
5. Ainoa
6. Júlia
7. Laia
8. Lara
9. Maria
10. Martina		1. Lucas
2. Nil
3. Martí
4. Eric
5. Adrià
6. Enzo
7. Liam
8. Rodrigo
9. Alex
10. Biel

Some explanations…

  • Aina, Martí, and Adrià are the Catalan forms of Anna, Martin, and Adrian.
  • Ainoa is based on the Basque name Ainhoa.
  • Laia and Biel are the Catalan diminutives of Eulalia and Gabriel.
  • Nil is derived from Neilos, the name of the Greek god of the Nile river (and also the ancient Greek name of the river itself).
  • Enzo could be short for any of the Italian –enzo names, such as Lorenzo.

2013

In 2013, Andorra welcomed a total of 588 babies (297 girls and 291 boys).

Girl names, 2013Boy names, 2013
1. Laia
2. Carlota
3. Emma
4. Lara
5. Martina
6. Aina
7. Maria
8. Blanca
9. Laura
10. Valentina		1. Marc
2. Eric
3. Jan
4. Daniel
5. Enzo
6. Ian
7. Pol
8. Àlex
9. Jordi
10. Martí

Pol and Jordi are the Catalan forms of Paul and George.

This was the only set of rankings to feature “Àlex,” the Catalan short form of Alexander, as opposed to accent-less “Alex” (which is likely a typo).

2012

In 2012, a total of 661 babies (332 girls and 329 boys) were born in Andorra.

Girl names, 2012Boy names, 2012
1. Júlia
2. Noa
3. Maria
4. Lara
5. Alba
6. Abril
7. Aina
8. Ona
9. Clara
10. Emma		1. Alex
2. Marc
3. Martí
4. Iker
5. Arnau
6. Biel
7. Gabriel
8. Jan
9. Nil
10. Pol

Some explanations…

  • Ona is a short form of Mariona, the Catalan diminutive of Maria.
  • Iker is a Basque name.
  • Arnau is the Catalan form of Arnold.

2011

In 2011, Andorra welcomed a total of 720 babies (353 girls and 367 boys).

Girl names, 2011Boy names, 2011
1. Laia
2. Abril
3. Aina
4. Luana
5. Lara
6. Noa
7. Júlia		1. Daniel
2. Iker
3. Eric
4. Martí
5. Pol
6. Jan
7. Biel

Which of all the above names do you like most?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Andorra (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2022

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

The island of Ireland, located in the North Atlantic Ocean, happens to be the third-largest island in Europe (after Great Britain and Iceland).

Last year, the Republic of Ireland — which covers five-sixths of the island — welcomed over 57,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emily and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Emily, 349 baby girls
  2. Grace, 342
  3. Fiadh, 320 – pronounced FEE-a
  4. Sophie, 292
  5. Lily, 291
  6. Éabha, 271 – pronounced EY-va
  7. Ava, 269
  8. Mia, 262
  9. Ellie, 259
  10. Olivia, 258
  11. Amelia, 250 (tie)
  12. Emma, 250 (tie)
  13. Hannah, 248
  14. Ella, 240
  15. Freya, 234
  16. Lucy, 232
  17. Isla, 228
  18. Saoirse, 212 – pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha
  19. Millie, 206
  20. Sadie, 201
  21. Sophia, 200
  22. Molly, 195
  23. Chloe, 191
  24. Caoimhe, 190 – pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va
  25. Anna, 186
  26. Evie, 181
  27. Isabelle, 178
  28. Robyn, 177
  29. Alice, 160
  30. Aoife, 158 – pronounced EE-fa
  31. Róisín, 157 – pronounced ROH-sheen
  32. Sadhbh, 153 – pronounced siev (rhymes with the number “five”).
  33. Cara, 152
  34. Katie, 151
  35. Erin, 150
  36. Kate, 147
  37. Willow, 145
  38. Croía, 140 (3-way tie) – pronounced KREE-a
  39. Ruby, 140 (3-way tie)
  40. Sofia, 140 (3-way tie)
  41. Bonnie, 135
  42. Holly, 129 (tie)
  43. Zoe, 129 (tie)
  44. Sienna, 126
  45. Isabella, 125 (tie)
  46. Maya, 125 (tie)
  47. Sarah, 121
  48. Ada, 119
  49. Rosie, 111
  50. Leah, 109

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 641 baby boys
  2. Noah, 485
  3. James, 412
  4. Rían, 372
  5. Charlie, 348
  6. Oisín, 340 – pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen
  7. Tadhg, 324 – pronounced tieg (like the first three letters of “tiger”)
  8. Liam, 323
  9. Cillian, 316 – pronounced KIL-ee-an
  10. Daniel, 303
  11. Fionn, 287
  12. Michael, 278
  13. Conor, 275
  14. Finn, 269
  15. Patrick, 250
  16. Thomas, 246
  17. Darragh, 245
  18. Harry, 242
  19. Seán, 239
  20. Luke, 233
  21. Theo, 232
  22. Adam, 230
  23. Leo, 225
  24. Alex, 216
  25. Oliver, 201
  26. Ryan, 190
  27. Max, 189
  28. Cian, 185 – pronounced KEE-an or keen
  29. Tommy, 184
  30. Luca, 179
  31. Bobby, 170
  32. Mason, 167
  33. Dylan, 163 (3-way tie)
  34. Jamie, 163 (3-way tie)
  35. Kai, 163 (3-way tie)
  36. John, 160
  37. Ollie, 159
  38. Oscar, 156
  39. Shay, 152
  40. Alexander, 149 (tie)
  41. Ben, 149 (tie)
  42. Matthew, 146
  43. David, 143 (tie)
  44. Tom, 143 (tie)
  45. Ethan, 141
  46. Donnacha, 140 – pronounced DUN-uh-ka or DUN-uh-kha (the kh represents a guttural H-sound)
  47. Alfie, 139
  48. Jacob, 131
  49. Billy, 128
  50. Sam, 125

New to the girls’ top 100 were the names Hailey, Phoebe, Ayda, and Éala.

New to the boys’ top 100 were the names Blake and Cody.

The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:

  • Millie (+58 baby girls), Olivia (+39), Éala (+32), Ellie (+31), Isabelle (+31)
  • Luca (+58 baby boys), Oisín (+38), Leo (+33), Kai (+33), Tomás (+30)

The fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:

  • Éala (+86 places), Phoebe (+45), Mary (+40), Hailey (+38), Ayda (+29)
  • Tomás (+42 places), Anthony (+31), Christopher (+29), Joey (+25), Kayden (+25)
Map of the four provinces of Ireland
Ireland’s four provinces

Home to more than five million people, the Republic of Ireland is divided into four provinces. (One of these provinces, Ulster, lies largely within Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.) The top baby names within each of the four provinces last year were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Leinster
(56% of the population)		EmilyJack
Munster
(27% of pop.)		EmilyJack
Connacht
(11% of pop.)		ÉabhaJack
Ulster [ROI portion]
(6% of pop.)		GraceJack

And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum? The following were given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Ananya, Beatriz, Cliona, Dina, Eilidh, Faela, Fianna, Isadora, Joan, Khadija, Líadh, Luisne, Miruna, Morrigan, Nala, Orlagh, Prunelle, Réiltín, Saffie, Scotia, Tilda, Vamika, ZohaAilbe, Brooklyn, Caoilte, Denzel, Eamonn, Féidhlim, Geoffrey, Henrik, Isa, Josiah, Kamal, Lúan, Manus, Nilan, Ógie, Pio, Rokas, Séadhna, Tiernán, Viraj, Wayne, Yousuf, Zoraiz

Finally, here are Ireland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing more Irish name pronunciations, just click that link.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2022), Births, Deaths and Marriages – CSO (Vital Statistics Yearly Summary 2022), Data – CSO, Provinces of Ireland – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of Ireland location map by Ssolbergj under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: Feb. 2024]

What gave the baby name Clarissa a boost in the early 1990s?

The character Clarissa Darling from the TV series "Clarissa Explains It All" (1991-1994)
Clarissa Darling from “Clarissa Explains It All“

The baby name Clarissa had already been on the rise for several decades when, in 1992, usage increased more sharply than usual. Several years later, the name reached peak popularity:

  • 1997: 1,091 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 266th]
  • 1996: 1,157 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 241st]
  • 1995: 1,201 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 239th] – peak usage
  • 1994: 1,185 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 237th] – peak ranking
  • 1993: 1,074 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 258th]
  • 1992: 1,141 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 244th]
  • 1991: 909 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 305th]
  • 1990: 853 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 322nd]
  • 1989: 759 baby girls named Clarissa [rank: 335th]

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Clarissa in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Clarissa

What accounts for this?

My guess is the TV series Clarissa Explains it All, which aired on Nickelodeon from early 1991 to late 1994.

The show’s main character was witty teenager Clarissa Darling (played by Melissa Joan Hart), who frequently broke the fourth wall — speaking directly to viewers about the things that were going on in her life and how she felt about them.

Two other memorable characters were Clarissa’s obnoxious younger brother Ferguson (who was a Republican, just like Alex P. Keaton of Family Ties) and her best friend Sam (who always climbed a ladder up to Clarissa’s second-story bedroom window).

Interestingly, Clarissa introduces herself in the very first episode of the series with some commentary about her name:

Hi, I’m Clarissa. Clarissa Darling. Ok, I didn’t choose the name. I wanted Jade. But by that time, it was too late already.

Anything without a last name would be better, like, Martika. Or Madonna would have been great. But no one asked me.

The name Clarissa is based on the name Clara, which is derived from the Latin word clarus, meaning “bright, clear.”

What are your thoughts on Clarissa?

(And, if we pretend for a second that the sitcom never happened, do you think the usage of Clarissa would have kept rising past the mid-1990s? If so, how high do you think the name could have climbed in the rankings?)

Sources: Clarissa Explains It All – Wikipedia, Clara – Wiktionary, SSA

P.S. Another early ’90s prime-time TV show that featured a quirky teenage girl (with an equally quirky sense of fashion) was Blossom.

Popular baby names in Hungary, 2021

Flag of Hungary
Flag of Hungary

Landlocked Hungary, located in Central Europe, shares a border with seven other countries (including Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria).

Last year, Hungary welcomed over 93,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Hanna and Levente (pronounced leh-vehn-teh).

Here are Hungary’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Hanna, 1,355 baby girls
  2. Zoé, 1,138
  3. Anna, 1,133
  4. Léna, 1,019
  5. Luca, 940
  6. Emma, 783
  7. Boglárka, 682 – means “buttercup” in Hungarian.
  8. Lili, 646
  9. Lilien, 601
  10. Lara, 594
  11. Zsófia, 588
  12. Laura, 577
  13. Mira, 553
  14. Sára, 523
  15. Olívia, 518
  16. Nóra, 506
  17. Lilla, 505
  18. Maja, 501
  19. Gréta, 496
  20. Izabella, 484
  21. Flóra, 476
  22. Jázmin, 475
  23. Alíz, 462
  24. Fanni, 430
  25. Adél, 426
  26. Janka, 425
  27. Dorka, 409 – a diminutive of Dorottya (Dorothea).
  28. Szofia, 406
  29. Zselyke, 396
  30. Liza, 393
  31. Csenge, 373
  32. Bella, 363
  33. Panna, 362 – a diminutive of Anna.
  34. Liliána, 361
  35. Kamilla, 352
  36. Linett, 351
  37. Dóra, 340
  38. Natasa, 333
  39. Viktória, 328
  40. Bianka, 321
  41. Szófia, 311
  42. Rebeka, 309
  43. Réka, 305
  44. Blanka, 304
  45. Szofi, 297
  46. Petra, 296
  47. Dorina, 295
  48. Nara, 286
  49. Emília, 285
  50. Noémi, 280

Boy Names

  1. Levente, 1,332 baby boys
  2. Máté, 1,314
  3. Dominik, 1,289
  4. Bence, 1,276
  5. Olivér, 1,199
  6. Noel, 1,122
  7. Marcell, 1,083
  8. Dániel, 1,057
  9. Zalán, 1,026 – popularized (and perhaps invented?) by Hungarian poet Mihály Vörösmarty, who published the epic poem “Zalán Futása” (transl. “The Flight of Zalan”) in 1825.
  10. Ádám, 1,024
  11. Milán, 954
  12. Botond, 934
  13. Benett, 880
  14. Dávid, 870
  15. Zsombor, 813
  16. Áron, 808
  17. Balázs, 681
  18. Benedek, 639
  19. Márk, 620
  20. Nimród, 607
  21. Péter, 590
  22. László, 583
  23. Tamás, 580
  24. Gergo, 530
  25. Zente, 517 – based on the Hungarian word szent, meaning “holy.”
  26. Bálint, 508 – a form of Valentine.
  27. Barnabás, 508
  28. Kristóf, 507
  29. Zétény, 484
  30. András, 453
  31. Kornél, 446
  32. Nolen, 444
  33. Márton, 433
  34. István, 426
  35. Hunor, 420 – a name from Hungarian mythology. Legendary brothers Hunor and Magor were the ancestors of the Huns and the Hungarians (also known as the Magyars), respectively.
  36. Attila, 402
  37. Ákos, 399
  38. Zoltán, 393
  39. Martin, 391
  40. Alex, 388
  41. Vince, 370
  42. Gábor, 365
  43. János, 358 (tie)
  44. Patrik, 358 (tie)
  45. Ábel, 357
  46. Bendegúz, 337
  47. Erik, 328
  48. Zsolt, 323
  49. Krisztián, 315
  50. József, 283

Notably, the girls’ top 50 included three different versions of the name Sophia: Zsófia, Szofia, and Szófia. If the spellings had been combined, the Sophia-group would have ranked 2nd overall.

The girls’ top 100 included Zorka (70th), Fruzsina (72nd), Kinga (86th), and Kincso (96th).

The boys’ top 100 included Csaba (55th), Kende (75th), Imre (76th), and Gellért (92nd).

Finally, here are Hungary’s rankings for 2017 through 2020, in case you’d like to compare.

Sources: Statistics – Hungary’s Deputy State Secretariat for the Administration of the Ministry of the Interior, Number of live births in Hungary from 2010 to 2021 – Statista, Hungary – Wikipedia, Magyar Keresztnevek Tara, Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Hungary (public domain)