Alec

What Alec means

Diminutive of Alexander, meaning “to defend + man”

diminutive of the male given name Alexander || From Middle English Alexander, Alexandre, from Latin Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to defend”) + ἀνδρ- (andr-), the stem of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Alec” (revision 92459972) and “Alexander” (revision 94582688), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Alec?

US: Falling: down from #456 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #702 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1995, when 3,420 boys got the name (#112 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 7,299 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 9,065 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,274 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in OK (0.45 per 1,000 boys), AZ (0.31 per 1,000 boys), CA (0.22 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Alec is #977 in the US and #1007 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Alec were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Alek50 US
• Alik11 US
• Oleg9 US
• Elek6 US
• Elic5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Alec

Boys

• Zachary#216“Yahweh has remembered”^*
• Nicholas#112“victory + people”^*
• Alex#232Short form of Alexandra, meaning “to defend + man”^*
• Andrew#73“manly”^*
• Timothy#203“to honour + god”^*
• Steven#271“crown, wreath”^*

For a sister

• Alexandria#474Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #212 in 2015, #474 in 2025
• Karina#749Form of Catherine, possibly meaning “each of the two”^*
• Alexandra#237“to defend + man”^*
• Nicole#382Form of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”^*
• Catherine#313possibly “each of the two”^*
• Kathryn#729Variant of Catherine, possibly meaning “each of the two”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Alec’s. Rank is US 2025.