Gender Masculine
Usage English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Slovak, Biblical, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Scripts Pron. /ˌæl.ɪɡ.ˈzæn.dəɹ/ (American English) /ˌæl.ɪɡ.ˈzɑːn.də/ (British English) /a.lɛ.ˈksan.dɐ/ (German) /aː.lɛk.ˈsɑn.dər/ (Dutch) /a.lɛk.ˈsan.dɛr/ (Swedish) /ˈaː.lɛk.san.tɛr/ (Icelandic) /ˈɒ.lɛk.sɒn.dɛr/ (Hungarian) /ˈa.lɛk.san.dɛr/ (Slovak) /a.lek.ˈsan.der/ (Latin) [key ·simplify]
Meaning & History
Latinized form of the Greek name [1] [2] [3] from Greek alexo) meaning "to defend, help" and aner) meaning "man" (genitive [4] [5] . In Greek mythology this was another name of the hero Paris, and it also belongs to several characters in the New Testament [6] . However, the most famous bearer was Alexander the Great, king of Macedon. In the 4th century BC he built a huge empire out of Greece, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India. Due to his fame, and later medieval tales involving him, use of his name spread throughout Europe.The name has been used by kings of Scotland, Poland and Yugoslavia, emperors of Russia, and eight popes. Other notable bearers include English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744), American statesman Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), Scottish-Canadian explorer Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820), Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), and Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), the Scottish-Canadian-American inventor of the telephone.
Related Names
VariantsAleksander (Norwegian) Aleksander (Danish) Alexandros (Ancient Greek) Alexandros (Greek Mythology)
DiminutivesAl, Alec, Alex, Lex, Sandy, Xander, Zander (English) Alex (German) Alex, Lex, Sander, Xander (Dutch) Alex (Swedish) Alex, Sander (Norwegian) Alex, Sander (Danish) Alex (Icelandic) Alex, Sándor, Sanyi (Hungarian) Aleš (Slovak)
Feminine FormsAlexandra, Alexandrea, Alexandria, Alexina (English) Alexandra (German) Alexandra (Dutch) Alexandra (Swedish) Alexandra (Norwegian) Alexandra (Danish) Alexandra (Icelandic) Alexandra (Hungarian) Alexandra (Slovak) Alexandra (Ancient Greek) Alexandra (Greek Mythology)
Other Languages & CulturesAleksandër, Skënder (Albanian) Eskender, Eskinder (Amharic) Iskandar (Arabic) Aleksandr, Aleks (Armenian) İsgəndər (Azerbaijani) Alesander (Basque) Aliaksandr, Alyaksandr (Belarusian) Alexandros (Biblical Greek) Aleksandar, Skender (Bosnian) Aleksandar, Sasho (Bulgarian) Alexandre, Àlex (Catalan) Aleksandar, Sandi, Saša (Croatian) Alexandr, Aleš, Alex (Czech) Aleksandro, Aleĉjo (Esperanto) Aleksander, Sander (Estonian) Aleksanteri, Ale, Samppa, Santeri, Santtu (Finnish) Alexandre, Alex, Sacha, Sasha (French) Alexandre (Galician) Aleksandre, Sandro (Georgian) Alexandros, Alekos, Alex (Greek) Iskandar (Indonesian) Alastar (Irish) Alessandro, Ale, Sandro (Italian) Iskender (Kyrgyz) Aleksandrs, Alekss, Sandis (Latvian) Aleksandras (Lithuanian) Aleksandar, Aca, Ace, Aco, Sasho, Saško, Sašo (Macedonian) Iskandar (Malay) Sikandar (Pashto) Eskandar (Persian) Aleksander, Aleks, Olek (Polish) Alexandre, Alex, Xande, Xandinho (Portuguese) Alexandru, Alex, Sandu (Romanian) Aleksandr, Alexandr, Alexsandr, Aleks, Alex, Alik, Sanya, Sasha, Sashok, Shura (Russian) Sawney (Scots) Alastair, Alistair, Alister, Ally (Scottish) Alasdair (Scottish Gaelic) Aleksandar, Aca, Aco, Aleksa, Saša (Serbian) Aleksander, Aleks, Aleš, Sandi, Saša, Sašo (Slovene) Alejandro, Ale, Álex (Spanish) İskender (Turkish) Oleksander, Oleksandr, Oles, Sasha (Ukrainian) Sikandar (Urdu) Iskender (Uyghur) Sender (Yiddish)
Surname DescendantsAlexandersen (Danish) Alexander, Allison (English) Alexandersen (Norwegian) Alexandersson, Alexanderson (Swedish)
Popularity
People think this name is
classic mature formal upper class wholesome strong refined serious
Name Days
Images
Detail of a mosaic depicting the Battle of Issus, from PompeiiDetail of a mosaic depicting the Battle of Issus, from Pompeii
Sources & References
- Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, available from https://search.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/browse.html?facet-nymRef=Ἀλέξανδρος.
- Withycombe, Elizabeth Gidley. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names. Oxford, 1945, page 6.
- Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford, 1990, page 9.
- Liddell, Scott and Jones. An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, entry a)le/cw, available from https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Da%29le%2Fcw.
- Liddell, Scott and Jones. An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, entry a)nh/r, available from https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Da%29nh%2Fr.
- Strong, James. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, entry g223, available from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=g223.
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Entry updated May 26, 2026