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Jeffery vs Alexander

How Jeffery 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

Jeffery

Male · English

Meaning: Peaceful. Variant Of Geoffrey In Use Since Medieval Times.

Alexander

Male · Greek

Meaning: Defender Of Man

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Jeffery (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 Jeffery Alexander
Peak year (most US births) 1962 — 9,281 boys 1993 — 20,529 boys
Peak rank #45 #21
Most recent rank (2020) #993 (215 births) #30 (7,230 births)
Total US births since 1880 191,145 657,737
Last 10 years (2011–2020) 3,214 100,533

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Alexander reached 20,529 US births in 1993 — 11,248 more than Jeffery'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 Jeffery births Alexander births
1954 Jeffery 3,936 0
1981 Alexander 3,335 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.

Jeffery — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Alabama #471 76
2 Arkansas #473 28
3 Mississippi #511 41
4 Kentucky #528 48
5 Louisiana #579 50

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 →