Amazon ruined the name Alexa for many parents

Where did all the Alexas go?

5/20/24 11:36AM

While we were exploring the most common baby names in the US last Monday, OpenAI announced its latest creation: ChatGPT-4o, an AI-powered voice assistant that makes the last generation of lackey automatons — like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa — seem a little outdated.

That concurrence got our own data cogs whirring, so we decided to dig into a baby-naming trend that’s been brewing for a few years, and ask: where did all the Alexas go?

Some 4 decades ago, when US parents welcomed ~68K Michaels into the world, as well as ~54K baby girls named Jennifer, the name Alexa was just a small dot in the American naming psyche, ranking as the 745th most popular name for baby girls in 1983.

In the years since, though, the name’s gained traction in the States, rising to the 39th most common girl’s name in 2006, when over 6,100 Alexas were born. While the name dropped off a little after that, the steepest decline was just around the corner…

Past its Prime

When Amazon initially introduced the seminal tech in Nov. 2014, a spike in Alexas was observed in 2015, just as the voice assistant started to be heard in an increasing number of homes. However, the name’s popularity steeply declined in the years following — presumably as people increasingly grew annoyed of saying ‘Alexa’ repeatedly to their children, in addition to their beloved device.

Cut to present day: last year, only 490 babies in the US were named ‘Alexa’, and, while ‘Siri’ and ‘Google Assistant’ never really took off, we’ll have to watch this space for any little ‘GPT’s or ‘4o’s.

Jake Lahut

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The UAE’s OPEC exit will hit the group in the barrels

After just shy of 60 years in OPEC, its membership even predating its status as a nation-state, the United Arab Emirates yesterday announced its shocking departure from the oil production group, effective May 1, as the knock-on effects of the Iran war continue to play out across the Middle East and the energy landscape.

For context, the UAE produces the third-highest amount of oil in the group, per April data and OPEC’s latest set of annual statistics.

According to the cartel’s 2025 Annual Statistical Bulletin, the OPEC group was collectively exporting some 19 million barrels of crude oil a day last year, with the United Arab Emirates accounting for some 14% of that daily output.

UAExit means UAExit

The nation, whose energy minister told Reuters yesterday that the decision was taken “after a careful look at current and future policies related to level of production” and wasn’t made following discussions with any other country, made up a healthy share of the group’s total confirmed crude oil reserves, as well.

Of the 12 nations in the core group, which was founded by just five oil superpowers back in September 1960, only two (Iraq and Saudi Arabia) exported more barrels of crude oil daily, pumping out 3.36 million and 6.05 million barrels, respectively, each day to nations around the world.

For its part, the UAE said it will “continue its responsible role by gradually and thoughtfully increasing production, in line with demand and market conditions,” per the official state news agency. Clearly, the nation now wants a little more control of just how much oil it can pump around the world, with the UAE having to eat a large proportion of lost revenues due to its healthy abundance and OPEC restrictions.