Holiday Calendar

National Alexis Day

Next celebratedThursday, November 26, 2026

The first famous Alexis was a man, a comic poet at Athens said to have written 245 plays and to have died on stage at 106 while being crowned. November 26 marks a name that has now crossed sexes twice.

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Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATENovember 26
OBSERVED INInternationally
CATEGORYNames
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A day that arrived without a paper trail.

Research has not identified who created National Alexis Day, in what year, or under what authority. It spreads through holiday-listing sites, print-on-demand merchandise and social posts that repeat the date while leaving its origin blank, and a search of the Federal Register returns no document carrying the name.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday
INTRO

Boy, girl, boy: a Greek name's 82-year detour

For 82 consecutive years, American parents gave the name Alexis to more girls than boys. That run ended in 2024, which makes National Alexis Day a celebration of a name that has just changed direction again.

The Social Security Administration's birth files record 640 boys against 610 girls that year. It was the first male majority since 1941. The gap widened again in 2025.

Alexis is Greek, and it started life as a man's name. That is what makes the American record so odd. It did not drift toward girls, it crossed, and it has now crossed back.

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ORIGINS

Alexis Day history

INTRODUCTION

The first famous Alexis was a man who made Athens laugh. Alexis of Thurii was born around 375 BC in southern Italy and became one of the foremost writers of Middle and New Comedy at Athens.

He is said to have written 245 plays. Only about a thousand lines of them survive. Plutarch reported that he reached 106 and died on stage while being crowned.

CHAPTER 01

From Byzantine emperors to American nurseries

The journey to an American birth certificate was a long one. The name carried through the church and the Byzantine court, where five emperors bore its close relative Alexios.

In the United States it stayed male for six decades. Social Security's files carry Alexis as a boys' name in 34 separate years before the shift. The earliest of them is 1882.

CHAPTER 02

The actress who moved it

In 1940 a Warner Bros. talent scout watched a drama student at Los Angeles City College and signed her to a long-term contract. She was born Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons Smith in Penticton, British Columbia, and worked under the middle name.

Her first leading role came opposite Errol Flynn in Dive Bomber in 1941. The year after that, girls named Alexis outnumbered boys for the first time, 36 against 16.

CHAPTER 03

Across, and back

Girls then held the name every single year for the next eight decades. Behind the Name credits that turn to Smith and treats the Dynasty character who arrived in 1981 as a later boost. The birth records agree on the order, because the crossing came first.

What the record does not explain is the day. The name is documented in two national statistical archives and across the reference literature, while the observance that celebrates it arrived unsigned and undated, with nothing on file to account for November 26.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Alexis Day

DATA

About three percent of names switch sex. Alexis did it twice.

Nathan Yau's analysis of the federal birth files found that 2,987 of 95,137 American names switched majority sex between 1930 and 2018, and Alexis sits among the widest swings. A name day is one of the few occasions anyone stops to look at a name that is still moving.

LANGUAGE

The meaning never moved

Alexis is built on the Greek verb alexo, to defend or to help, and that sense has held since antiquity. The sex of the people carrying it is the part that changed.

ILLUSION

Unisex names barely exist

The name analyst Laura Wattenberg found that of roughly 3,000 names in steady American use since 1950, only Marion and Jessie stayed consistently unisex. She argues that a name which looks unisex is usually one glimpsed in a single frame of a moving picture.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Alexis Day by the Numbers

131,199
US girls named Alexis, 1990s
16,262
US boys named Alexis, 1990s
19,778
Peak US girls in one year, 1998
344,557
US girls named Alexis since 1880
150,000+
French boys named Alexis since 1900

TIMELINE

Timeline

Alexis of Thurii is born

The Greek comic poet later credited with 245 plays was born in southern Italy and worked at Athens.

First US boy on record

Alexis clears Social Security's five-birth reporting minimum as a boys' name for the first time.

Warner Bros. signs Alexis Smith

A talent scout offers a long-term contract to a drama student born Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons Smith.

Girls outnumber boys

American girls named Alexis pass boys for the first time, 36 to 16.

Dynasty introduces Alexis Carrington

Joan Collins debuts in the role in November, four decades after the shift toward girls began.

Boys take the lead again

For the first time since 1941, more American boys than girls receive the name.

GOOD TO KNOW

National Alexis Day Around the World

France

The name never left the boys. INSEE records it 10th among French newborn boys in 1996 and again in 1997, while its best showing among French girls in 126 years of records is 762nd.

United States

The mirror image, in the same decade. Social Security's 1990s table ranks Alexis 18th among girls and 194th among boys.

England and Wales

Still counted on both sides. Behind the Name records a last girls' ranking of 997th in 2025 and a last boys' ranking of 818th in 2016.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Alexis Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Look up the year they were born

The Social Security name files give a count of boys and girls for every year since 1880. Find the Alexis in your life and see which side of the line they landed on.

SEND

Send the Greek meaning, not a generic card

Alexis comes from a verb meaning to defend or to help. That is a sharper line than anything a shop-bought card will print.

READ

Read what survives of the first famous Alexis

Alexis of Thurii wrote comedies at Athens in the fourth century BC, and almost all of them are lost. Britannica's short entry is the quickest way to meet him.

WATCH

Watch Alexis Carrington's first episode

Enter Alexis, the second-season premiere of Dynasty, first aired in November 1981. It is the episode that introduced Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington.

GIVE

Give the name day its older dates too

The traditional Alexis name days land in February, March, July and December, none of them in November. Marking one of those adds a much older layer to the day.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Alexis Day?

1 / 8

What does the Greek name Alexis mean?

Answer

No. It is an unofficial observance with no legal standing found in any national record, so it is a normal working day.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

12sources
5primary records
8independently dated
Primary records
U.S. Social Security Administration2025
Popular Baby Names: Beyond the Top 1000 Names
National counts of every US baby name by sex and year since 1880.
View source
U.S. Social Security Administration1990s
Top names of the 1990s
The decade ranking that lists Alexis 18th for girls and 194th for boys.
View source
U.S. Social Security Administration2026
Background information for popular names
How the name data is compiled, including the five-birth reporting minimum.
View source
Institut national de la statistique et des etudes economiques2025
Fichier des prenoms
France's national file of given names by sex and year, 1900 to 2025.
View source
U.S. Federal Register2026
Federal Register document search
The federal document archive, searchable by exact phrase.
View source
Additional coverage
Behind the Name
Meaning, origin and history of the name Alexis
The Greek etymology, the five Byzantine emperors, and the Alexis Smith attribution.
View source
Behind the Name
Name Days for the name Alexis
The traditional Alexis name-day dates across five European calendars.
View source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Alexis: Greek writer
The Athenian comic poet said to have written 245 plays, few of which survive.
View source
The Canadian Encyclopedia2017
Alexis Smith
Biography of the Penticton-born actress signed by Warner Bros. in 1940.
View source
Namerology2020
The Unisex Name Myth
Laura Wattenberg's case that only Marion and Jessie stayed truly unisex.
View source
FlowingData2019
The Most Gender-Switched Names in US History
Nathan Yau's count of how many American names have swapped majority sex.
View source
Wikipedia
Dynasty (1981 TV series) season 2
Air date and casting for Enter Alexis, Joan Collins's first episode.
View source
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