Boy · Greek
Alexander
Say it: al-ig-ZAN-der
Meaning
From Greek alexein 'to defend' and anēr (andros) 'man'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Made famous by Alexander the Great and later borne by popes and kings across Europe.
Its wave through time
Popular now
In the United States
- 699,315 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1993, about 1 in 96 boys
- 10,160 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- Ancient Greece800 BC to 146 BC
- Ancient Rome750 BC to AD 476
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
Ancient GreekGreekScottishEnglishRussianItalianSpanishAmerican
The family of the name
Other spellings: Alexandros, Alisaundre, Alexandre
| Greek | Alexandros |
|---|---|
| Italian | Alessandro |
| Spanish | Alejandro |
| French | Alexandre |
| Russian | Aleksandr |
| Polish | Aleksander |
| Scottish | Alasdair |
| Hungarian | Sándor |
Famous bearers
- Alexander the Great, king of Macedon
- Alexander Hamilton, American founding father
- Alexander III, King of Scots
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Ancient Greek literature and history (Homer, Herodotus, Plutarch and others)
- Royal and noble genealogies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- Well-known works of literature
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.