Alexander

Greek
"defending men"

Alexander Origin and Meaning

The name Alexander is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "defending men".

Alexander has been in a Top 25 boys' name in the US for 30 years now. But namers are still attracted to its imposing historic pedigree.

Alexander is derived from the Greek name Aléxandros, composed of the elements aléxein, meaning "to defend," and aner, meaning "man."

According to Greek legend, the first Alexander was Paris, who was given the nickname Alexander by the shepherds whose flocks he defended against robbers. He was followed by Alexander the Great, aka Alexander III, who conquered much of Asia.

A royal name in Scotland, Alexander is still highly popular there. In Gaelic, the name became Alasdair; in Spain, Alejandro; and in Italy, Alessandro.

The noble Alexander has led to the popularity of many spinoffs, such as Alex, Zander, Xan and Zan, along with female versions such as Alexandra, Alexis, and the unfortunate Alexa.

Among the many notable Alexanders in history, standouts are Hamilton, Graham Bell, Fleming, Pope and Haig.

Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber's Alexander is known as Sasha.

# 22 in the US

Alexander Rank in US Top 1000

# 50 on Nameberry

Alexander Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Alexander Popularity

Famous People Named Alexander

  • Alexander the Great
    Macedonian conqueror
  • Alexander I and II
    Emperors of Russia
  • Alexander
    King of Greece
  • Alexander I
    III, Kings of Scotland
  • Alexander
    King of Yugoslavia
  • Willem
    Alexander Claus George Ferdinand of Orange,Nassau, King of the Netherlands
  • Alexander Graham Bell
    Scottish inventor of the telephone
  • Alexander Hamilton
    Revolutionary War general, first Secretary of the Treasury and American Founding Father
  • (Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich) Alexander von Humboldt
    German biogeographer
  • Alexander Calder
    American sculptor
  • Alexander William Gaskarth
    American singer of pop/punk band All Time Low
  • Alexander Ludwig
    Canadian actor
  • Alexander Meigs Haig
    United States general and Secretary of State
  • Alexander Pope
    English poet
  • Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin
    American actor
  • Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgard
    Swedish actor
  • Alexander
    Jewish leader (Acts 4:6)
  • Alexander Cameron Rutherford
    Canadian politician; 1st Premier of Alberta
  • Alexander
    Bishop of Lincoln
  • Alexander Igoryevich Rybak
    Belarusian,Norwegian singer,songwriter
  • Alexander Jerome Gould
    American voice actor
  • Alexander David "Alex" Turner
    English lead singer of Arctic Monkeys
  • Alexander David "Alex" Linz
    American actor
  • Alexander Peden
    Scottish Covenanter preacher
  • Alexander James "AJ" McLean
    American singer of the Backstreet Boys
  • Alexander Armstrong
    English comedian and presenter
  • Alexander Masters
    English author
  • Alexander Dimmi
    Yugoslavian singer
  • Alexander Kapranos
    lead singer of Scottish band Franz Ferdinand
  • Alexander "Alex" Hirsch
    creator of Disney cartoon "Gravity Falls" and Actually Satan
  • Miss J. Alexander
    runway coach on "America's Next Top Model"
  • Alexander Instøy
    member of Norwegian boy band The Main Level
  • Alexander Vail "Alex" Eckstein
    American child actor; triplet brother of Benjamin and Caleb
  • Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko
    President of Belarus
  • Alexander Massialas
    American fencer
  • Alexander Gamelin
    American,born ice dancer who represents South Korea
  • Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård
    Swedish actor
  • Alexander Thomas "Alex" Castle
    German music producer of "Twoloud"
  • Alexander Timothy "Alex" Marshall
    American musician of rock band "The Cab"
  • Alexander Biehn (b. 2003)
    son of actor Michael Biehn
  • Alexander Puck (b. 2006)
    son of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck
  • Alexander "Sasha" Pete Schrieber (b. 2007)
    son of actors Liev Schrieber and Naomi Watts
  • Alexander David Conrod (b. 2010)
    son of journalist and TV personality Nina García
  • Alexander "Zander" Rafahi Mehran
    III (b. 2011), son of model Maggie Rizer
  • Alexander "Jack" John Buckley Ford (b. 2012)
    son of fashion designer Tom Ford
  • Alexander Frost Brown (b. 2014)
    son of country music singer Zac Brown
  • Prince Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil of Sweden
    Duke of Södermanland (b. 2016), son of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, Duke of Värmland and Princess Sofia of Sweden, Duchess of Värmland
  • Alexander Clooney (b. 2017)
    son of actor George Clooney and Amal Clooney; twin of sister Ella
  • Talus Alexander Meraz
    son of actor Alex Meraz
  • Alexander Gere (b. 2019)
    son of American actor Richard Gere & Spanish publicist Alejandra Silva
  • Alexander "Alex" Adam
    English singer/gitarist of ROAM
  • Alexander "Alex" Costello
    English singer of ROAM
  • Alexander "Sascha" Zverev
    German tennis player
  • Alexander J. Newall
    creator of Rusty Quill, story editor on "The Magnus Archives"

Alexander in Pop Culture

  • Alexander Rozhenko
    Worf's son on TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
  • Alexander Saxton
    character in "Horror Express"
  • Dr. Alexander "Alex" Karev
    character on TV's "Grey's Anatomy"
  • Alexander "Xander" Harris
    main character on TV's "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"
  • Alexander "Alec" Lightwood
    character in 'The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
  • Alexander Ashford
    character in the Resident Evil video game series
  • Alexander von Brennenburg
    character in video game "Amnesia: The Dark Descent"
  • Alexander "Alex" Mercer
    character in video game series Prototype
  • Sir Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus
    character in movie "Galaxy Quest"
  • Alexander Szukalski
    character from "Night Trains" by Barbara Wood
  • Alexander Goth
    character in "The Sims"
  • Alexander Cross
    character in "The Sims"
  • Alexander "Alex" Summers
    also known as Havok, character in Marvel Universe
  • Alexander Goodwin Pierce
    character in Marvel Universe
  • Alexander Joseph "Lex" Luthor
    character in DC Universe
  • Alexander Knox
    character in DC Universe
  • Alexander
    a maleficent, ancient deity in the video game Final Fantasy XI
  • "Alexander and the Terrible
    Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," children's book by Judith Viorst and 2014 movie
  • Alexander DeLarge
    main character in "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess
  • Alexander “Alex” Katsopolis
    character on TV’s Full House and Fuller House