Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Do you think Alex is a male or female?

31 replies

emjan · 01/02/2013 23:32

If you see a name (without knowing the person) Alex on the newspaper or internet, do you think the person is a male or female?

It seems like there is not much girls with the full legal name as "Alex"?, most girls called Alex are their nicknames from Alexandra...

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
TheCatIsEatingIt · 03/02/2013 22:22

I know several Alexes, male and female, all short for Alexander/Alexandra, so my instinctive reaction would be to try and check if it was a male or female.

Someone suggested Alexis - IT'S A BOY'S NAME!!!! You might as well call your daughter Dave! AlexiA/Alexa is the girl's version, and very pretty.

LindaMcCartneySausage · 03/02/2013 12:22

Alex is usually male in England, but I'm Scottish and always feel that Alex is a girls name and it's Alec for boys, which along with Sandy as another short form of Alexander, is common where I'm from.

AnnieLobeseder · 03/02/2013 12:08

I don't know anyone with the legal name Alex. They've all been short for Alexandra or Alexander.

As as aside, I am somewhat narked that the spell check on my computer recognises Alexander but has drawn a fat red line under Alexandra! Hmm

Original poster
emjan · 03/02/2013 11:30

AnnieLobeseder, cyclecamper, are all the female Alex that you know official legal name written as Alex?

I really wonder if there are females with the name Alex as the legal name in birth certificate. Alex sounds so masculine

OP posts:
cyclecamper · 03/02/2013 11:23

I know of both male and females called Alex. I think it's good to have names that mean people can't guess.

AnnieLobeseder · 03/02/2013 10:40

I have known more female Alexes in my life than male ones, so I would assume female. DD2 is Alexandra, we call her Allie. I would have preferred Alex but DH's choice was Allie and that's what stuck. There are two male Alexes in her class, so I guess it's good she has a different nickname.

OscarPistoriusBitontheside · 03/02/2013 10:39

I know four female Alexandra's they abbreviate to Alex/Lexy/sandy/Andra.

DeDevilTail · 03/02/2013 10:35

Despite having an Alexandra myself (known as Sasha) and the only Alex I know being female, I would assume male.

TiggerWearsATriteSmile · 03/02/2013 10:25

Alex to me is male.

I know one Alexandrea and she uses the NN Andrea

Jbck · 03/02/2013 10:13

My Alex is short for her full name but a friends daughter is just Alex. They are the only two that I know personally. I wouldnt necessarily assume anything unless it was pertinent to the situation.

echidnakid · 03/02/2013 10:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BangOn · 03/02/2013 07:59

This is a name which was unisex through the 70s & 80s, went quiet for a while, became 'male' predominantly in the 00s, but is now becoming unisex again (see how Alexandra moved swiftly up the polls between 2011-12.)

I can think of 2 female children & 1 male that i know of called Alex at present. (one of the girls being an Alexandra on bc)

I can think of one of each in terms of grownups.

GraceSpeaker · 02/02/2013 15:03

I'd assume male, because I meet more Alexanders than Alexandras.

ladymia · 02/02/2013 14:37

It is a unisex nn but if something was written in a paper / on a CV for instance people would usually use their full names so if I saw Alex in the paper I would think male because I have never known a female Alex that has Alex as a full name and not just a nickname.

AuntieStella · 02/02/2013 14:26

I see it as a genuinely unisex nn.

Amongst the adults I know, there are roughly equal numbers of male/female. But amongst DC's friends, they are all boys.

Alisvolatpropiis · 02/02/2013 14:21

I would assume male on paper.

Fishandjam · 02/02/2013 07:08

Male. But I once knew an Alexe (female) so if it was spelled like that I'd assume female, just on past experience.

ProphetOfDoom · 02/02/2013 07:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mathanxiety · 02/02/2013 06:00

Alex - male

Allie - female
Ally - female
Alli - female
etc

Alix - female

AGreenie · 02/02/2013 05:07

I'm an Alexandra - I know 3 including me! All abbreviate - One is Alex, one is Allie and another is Ali. I wouldn't automatically assume Alex is male, but lots if people do ...

OutragedFromLeeds · 02/02/2013 03:52

I'd probably assume male. I'd guess male, if asked to, just because there are so many more Alexanders than Alexandras it must be statistically more likely to be a boy than a girl.

fossil971 · 02/02/2013 00:57

I have a name (well a nn technically) which is not obvious as to gender in a similar way but do you know, it's not a problem. The world is full of people of both genders called Chris, Jo, Sam, Charlie etc. I can't think of any situation where it would cause a problem. Go for it if you like it.

I'm not very fond of shortened names as official names though - I'd go for Alexandra/Alexis and call her Alex for short, gives her a choice when she's older.

Sasparillo · 02/02/2013 00:44

If I was to see Alex written down, I would immediately think it was revering to a boy, I really don't line Alex for a girls name xx

onedev · 02/02/2013 00:27

Assume male Smile

Clary · 02/02/2013 00:22

Alex is ususally a boy. Most of the Alexes I know who are girls go by Lexie/Lexy/Lexey.