Alexis - Origin and Meaning of the name

The boy name Alexis [ 3 syll. a-le-xis, al-ex-is ] is also used as a girl name, with the latter form being more common. Its pronunciation is ahLEHKSIHS ^KEY. Alexis is used predominantly in the English and German languages, and its origin is Old Greek. Alexis has the meaning defender. Derived from the element 'alexein' meaning to ward off, to defend. Alexios (Old Greek) and Alexius (Latin) are original forms of Alexis. The name was borne by numerous saints; among them, the 5th century Saint Alexius of Rome was the most famous. According to legend, he fled his arranged marriage to go on pilgrimage, and he was later venerated as a 'Man of God'. See Alexis for more info. The name Alexia (English and German) is the female version of Alexis.

Alexis has 13 variants, which are mainly used in other languages. Variants of Alexis include Aleix (Catalan), Aleixo (Galician and Portuguese), Alejo (Spanish), Aleksei (Russian), Aleksey (Russian), Aleksi (Finnish), Aleksy (Polish), Alessio (Italian), Alexei (Russian), Alexej (Czech and Russian), Alexius (German), Elek (Hungarian), and Oleksiy (Ukrainian). See also the related form, Alexander (Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, and Slavic).

Alexis is popular as a baby name for boys, and it is also considered fairly trendy. The name's popularity has been rising since the 1950s; before that, it was of very light use only. At the modest peak of its usage in 2004, 0.198% of baby boys were given the name Alexis. Its ranking then was #103. In 2007, its usage was 0.120% and its ranking #158. Out of the group of boy names directly linked to Alexis, Alexander (Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, and Slavic) was the most popular. In 2007, its use outnumbered Alexis' by 7 times. There were times from 1964 to 1964 that the name Alexis was given more often to boys, but it is more popular as a girl name today. In 2006, 4 times as many girls than boys were given the name Alexis.

Baby names that sound like Alexis include Alechjo (Esperanto), Aleksei (Russian), Aleksey (Russian), Aleksi (Finnish), Aleksy (Polish), Alexei (Russian), Alexej (Czech and Russian), Alojzij (Slavic), Elias (Finnish, German, Hungarian, Portuguese, and Spanish), Oleksiy (Ukrainian), Olexa (Czech), Uallas (Gaelic and Scottish), Alec (English), Aleck (English), Aleixo (Galician and Portuguese), Alessio (Italian), Alex (English and German), Alexius (German), Alic (English), Alick (English), Alik (English), Alois (Czech and German), Aloisio (Portuguese), Alojz (Slavic), Alojzy (Polish), Aloys (German), Aloysius (Dutch, English, French, and German), and Olek (Polish).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Alexis: AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; K as in "key (K.IY)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)"

Popularity Trend
for Alexis
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Alexis
in 2007