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Curtis vs Alexander

How Curtis and Alexander compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Curtis

Male · English

Meaning: Courteous. See Also Curt

Alexander

Male · Greek

Meaning: Defender Of Man

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Curtis (boys) vs Alexander (boys), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Curtis Alexander
Peak year (most US births) 1962 — 5,570 boys 1993 — 20,529 boys
Peak rank #73 #21
Most recent rank (2025) #985 (232 births) #30 (7,230 births)
Total US births since 1880 182,255 657,737
Last 10 years (2016–2025) 3,487 100,533

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Alexander reached 20,529 US births in 1993 — 14,959 more than Curtis's peak count.

Crossover Years

Years where one name first passed the other in annual US births. A name "winning" in a year means it had more births that year, not necessarily a higher rank.

Year New leader Curtis births Alexander births
1929 Curtis 1,946 0
1977 Alexander 2,606 2,703
1978 Curtis 2,825 2,739
1981 Alexander 3,198 4,236

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name list.

Curtis — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Mississippi #400 48
2 Kentucky #458 45
3 Arkansas #476 33
4 Iowa #481 20
5 Alabama #497 77

Alexander — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 California #10 14,894
2 Arizona #10 2,337
3 Illinois #10 4,042
4 Nevada #11 990
5 Florida #11 6,338

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →