How popular is the baby name Alexander 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 Alexander.

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 Alexander


Posts that mention the name Alexander

Popular baby names in Luxembourg, 2022

Flag of Luxembourg
Flag of Luxembourg

In 2022, the Western European country of Luxembourg welcomed 6,495 babies — 49.2% of which were girls, 50.8% of which were boys.

Among the citizens of Luxembourg, the top baby names were Mia and Leo. (Tiny names for a tiny nation!)

Among the foreign nationals — who account for nearly half of the Grand Duchy’s population — the top baby names were Emma and Gabriel.

These were the top 5 girl names and top 5 boy names among Luxembourgers in 2022:

Girl names

  1. Mia, 28 baby girls
  2. Emma, 27
  3. Eva, 20 (tie)
  4. Lea, 20 (tie)
  5. Olivia, 19

Boy names

  1. Leo, 36 baby boys
  2. Liam, 33 (tie)
  3. Noah, 33 (tie)
  4. Louis, 24 (tie)
  5. Matteo, 24 (tie)

And these were the top 5 girl names and top 5 boy names among immigrants in 2022:

Girl names (immigrants)

  1. Emma, 25 baby girls
  2. Maria, 22
  3. Sofia, 20
  4. Alice, 18
  5. Chloé, 17

Boy names (immigrants)

  1. Gabriel, 27 baby boys
  2. Lucas, 21
  3. Alexander, 15 (tie)
  4. David, 15 (tie)
  5. Adam, 14

The vast majority of Luxembourg’s immigrants come from other EU countries, such as Portugal, Italy, France, and Belgium. (Luxembourg’s first baby of 2023, in fact, was born to a Belgian family. She was named Liv.)

In 2021, the top baby names (overall) in Luxembourg were Emma and Louis.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Luxembourg (public domain)

What turned Blade into a baby name in the early 1980s?

The character Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) from the movie "Blade Runner" (1982)
Rick Deckard from “Blade Runner”

The name Blade first emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 1982:

  • 1984: 8 baby boys named Blade
  • 1983: unlisted
  • 1982: 7 baby boys named Blade [debut]
  • 1981: unlisted
  • 1980: unlisted

Why?

I think the influence was the 1982 movie Blade Runner, which was based on the dystopian sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick.

The movie was set in Los Angeles in 2019. The main character, Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford), worked as a “blade runner” — a police officer tasked with tracking down and killing genetically-engineered humans known as “replicants” (which were designed to work in space colonies, but sometimes escaped to Earth).

This is one of several cases in which a baby name seems to have been inspired by a movie title as opposed to a movie character. Another example is Seattle, which debuted the year after Sleepless in Seattle came out.

The baby name Blade went on to see a steep rise in usage during the first half of the 1990s, no doubt thanks to the Young and the Restless character Alexander “Blade” Bladeson (played by Michael Tylo). The character appeared on the soap opera from early 1992 to late 1995.

The character Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) from the movie "Blade" (1998)
Blade from “Blade”

Blade never managed to crack the boys’ top 1,000, but it did reach and maintain its highest level of popularity from the mid-’90s through the first years of the 2000s.

  • 2003: 89 baby boys named Blade
  • 2002: 112 baby boys named Blade (peak popularity)
  • 2001: 103 baby boys named Blade
  • 2000: 95 baby boys named Blade
  • 1999: 99 baby boys named Blade

During most of this period, the primary pop culture influence would have been the movie character Blade, who was featured in a trilogy of superhero/horror films: Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade: Trinity (2004).

Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) was an African-American dhampir (half-human, half-vampire) whose mission was to hunt and kill vampires. His birth name was Eric Brooks; his nickname was a reference to his proficiency with bladed weapons such as swords and daggers. (Like Black Panther, Blade originated as a Marvel comic book character.)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Blade? Would you use it?

Sources: Blade Runner – Wikipedia, List of The Young and the Restless characters (1990s) – Wikipedia, Blade (character) – Wikipedia, Blade (Eric Brooks) – Marvel, SSA

Images: Screenshots of Blade Runner and Blade

Popular baby names in New York City, 2022

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

Did you know that New York City is the most densely populated major city in the United States? (Next on the list is Chicago, followed by Philadelphia.)

In 2022, the Big Apple welcomed 99,459 babies — 48,864 girls and 50,595 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Liam, yet again. (Emma has been the #1 girl name since 2017; Liam has been the #1 boy name since 2016.)

Here are New York City’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Emma
  2. Mia
  3. Olivia
  4. Sophia
  5. Leah (ranked 52nd for girls nationally in 2022)
  6. Ava
  7. Esther (139th)
  8. Isabella
  9. Luna
  10. Amelia

Boy Names

  1. Liam
  2. Noah
  3. Ethan (ranked 21st for boys nationally in 2022)
  4. Lucas
  5. David (31st)
  6. Jacob (32nd)
  7. Aiden (29th)
  8. Joseph (30th)
  9. Daniel (14th)
  10. Alexander (17th)

In the girls’ top 10, Esther replaced Sofia. (That said, “it’s worth noting that if Sofia and Sophia were counted as a single name, it would be number one.”)

In the boys’ top 10, Alexander replaced Benjamin.

Finally, here’s a link to New York City’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to check them out.

Sources: Health Department Announces Top Baby Names in New York City, List of United States cities by population density – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

Baby name story: Victoria Melita

Princess Victoria Melita (1876-1936)
Victoria Melita

In early 1874, Prince Alfred (son of Queen Victoria) married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (daughter of Czar Alexander II) in St. Petersburg. Their wedding “directly united the British and Russian royal families for the first time.”

(To mark the occasion, a London bakery invented the Marie biscuit, also known as the Maria cookie.)

Alfred and Maria ended up having five children: Alfred, Marie, Victoria Melita, Alexandra, and Beatrice.

Their third child was born in November of 1876 while her father, a Royal Navy officer, was stationed on the island of Malta (which was then part of the British Empire). The baby girl was named Victoria after her grandmother and Melita after the national personification of Malta, her birthplace.

Where does the name Melita come from?

Most of the time, it derives from the ancient Greek word meli, meaning “honey.” In the case of the allegorical figure, however, it came from the name of an ancient Maltese city.

Melita (or Melite) was the Roman name of the city. The Romans had taken the island from the Phoenicians during the Second Punic War. The Phoenicians’ original name for the city (founded in the 8th century B.C.) was Maleth, meaning “shelter.”

What are your thoughts on the name Melita?

P.S. Victoria Melita’s older sister, Marie, went on to marry the future king of Romania. (Americans became familiar with Marie and two of her children, Nicolae and Ileana, when the three of them toured the U.S. for several weeks in late 1926.) And Victoria Melita’s paternal uncle, the future Edward VII, was the father of Louise, Victoria and Maud, a.k.a., Louvima.

Sources: Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Wikipedia, The marriage of Prince Alfred and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna – The Royal Collection Trust, Early Inhabitants – Visit Malta
Image: Victoria Melita autograph card