Alexis
One of the few names in Poland given to both boys and girls: of roughly 330 people who carry it, more are men than women. Greek at root, from a word meaning "defender" or "helper", and rare enough that most Poles have never met one.
Alexis Pronunciation
What Alexis means
Where Alexis comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Alexis begins in Greek, in the verb alexein, "to defend, to ward off." From it came Alexios, and the sense carried into the name still worn today: defender, helper. In Polish the meaning sits plainly, obrońca, wspomożyciel.
The name traveled west. Saint Alexius of Rome, a fifth-century figure venerated across Christian Europe, gave it a foothold in the calendar of saints. Later it took on a distinctly French coloring. Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote Democracy in America, carried it into the nineteenth century; the poet Alexis Piron wore it earlier. English readers met it through those French pages.
The name reads as defense rather than conquest. To be named Alexis is to be marked as one who stands in front of others.
On a Polish school register the name looks slightly foreign, given more often to a girl now than to a boy, though its Greek root knows no such split. Short. Clear. Its meaning has not drifted far from alexein.
How many people are named Alexis
1 in 93624 men in Poland is named Alexis. 335 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1646 among male names.
Alexis's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Alexis as a middle name
Alexis is a first name for 335 men in Poland and a middle name for another 234, a 59/41 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 459th, between Pio (236) and Sylweriusz (233).
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#457 Harry236
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#458 Pio236
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#459 Alexis234
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#460 Sylweriusz233
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#461 Oktawiusz230