Alexa is a feminine form of Alexander

Alexander

Alexander is a common male first name, and less common surname. The most famous is Alexander the Great, the King of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.- Origin :...

, and is also a short form of Alexandra

Alexandra

Alexandra is the feminine form of the given name Alexander, which is a romanization of the Greek name Αλέξανδρος . Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb ἀλέξειν "to defend" and the noun ἀνδρός , genitive of ἀνήρ "man". Thus it may be roughly translated as "protector of man"...

, which comes from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

, Alexandros. It can be broken down into alexo meaning "to defend" and aner, meaning "man"' making both Alexa and Alexander mean defender of man.

Modern popularity

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the name Alexa first appeared on the chart of top 1000 most popular baby girl names in the year 1973. It stayed in the lower ranks of the top 1000 until 1986, when it jumped from number 815 to number 431. Popularity continued to climb and Alexa was ranked in the top 100 in the mid-1990s. According to the Social Security Administration, its highest popularity, 39th, was achieved in 2006.