Alexander

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This article is about the male first name. For other uses, see Alexander (disambiguation).

Alexander
Given Name


Alexander the Great
Gender Male
Meaning Protector of man
Origin Greek
Wikipedia articles All pages beginning with Alexander
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Alexander is a common male first name. It also occurs as a surname.

Contents

[edit] Origin

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The name in English is taken from the Latin "Alexander", which is a romanization of the Greek name Αλέξανδρος (Alexandros). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb ἀλέξειν (alexein) "to defend" and the noun ἀνδρός (andros), genitive of ἀνήρ (anēr) "man". Thus it may be roughly translated as "protector of man". The term is either a rare type of "inverse tatpurusha" compound, with the modifier in second position (the cognate Sanskrit tatpurusha being *nararakṣa, cf. Ramayana 6.33.45; the exact Sanskrit counterpart would be *rakṣinara, from PIE hleks(i)-hnros), or a worn-down terpsimbrotos type compound, whose original verbal meaning was "he protects men".

The earliest attested record of the name is the Mycenaean Greek of the feminine Alexandra, written in Linear B[1] (The Mycenaean World, by John Chadwick, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976, 1999).

The name was one of the titles ("epithets") given to the Greek goddess Hera and as such is usually taken to mean "one who comes to the aid of warriors". In the Iliad, the character Paris is known also as Alexander. The name's popularity was spread throughout the Greek world by the military conquests of King Alexander III of Macedonia, commonly known as "Alexander the Great". Most later Alexanders in various countries were directly or indirectly named for him.

In Russia, the name was uncommon until the time of Tsar Alexander I, due to whom it became one of the most common of Russian first names and gained a considerable number of Russian variations and abbreviations (see following).

[edit] Variants and diminutives

  • Albanian – Aleksandër, Aleks, Leka i Madh, Lekë (mostly in north Albania) Sandër, Skëndër, Skender (The name of national heroes of Albanians Skenderbeu is a remain of Alexander, Iskander)
  • Amharic – Eskender
  • Arabic – الاسكندر / اسكندر (Iskandar), Skandar, Skender
  • Belarusian – Аляксандp (Aliaksandr), Алeсь (Ales'), Алелька (Alyel'ka)
  • Catalan – Alexandre, Àlex, Xandre
  • English – Alexander, Alec, Alex, Lex, Sandy, Andy, Alexis, Alexa, Alexandria, Alexandra, Sandra, Al, Sasha, Ali, Lexxi, Zander, Xander, Sashi, Eck
  • Galician – Alexandre, Álex
  • Georgian/ქართულად – ალექსანდრე (Alexandre), ალეკო (Aleko), ლექსო (Lekso), სანდრო (Sandro)
  • Greek - Αλέξανδρος
  • Hebrew – אלכסנדר (Alexander)
  • Hindi – Hindustani – Sikandar
  • Irish (Gaeilge) – Alasandar
  • Italian – Alessandro, Leandro, Ale, Sandro, Alessio
  • Kyrgyz – Искендер (İskender)
  • Macedonian - Александар
  • Malay – Iskandar
  • Malayalam – ചാണ്ടി (Chandy)
  • Maltese – Lixandru
  • Persian – اسكندر (Eskandar)
  • Polish - Aleksander, Alek, Olek, Aleks
  • Portuguese – Alexandre, Alexandra (feminine), Alexandro (rare), Xana (feminine), Alex, Xande, Sandro, Sandra (feminine), Sandrina (feminine)
  • Russian — Александр (Alexandr)
  • Sanskrit language – Alekchendra
  • Scots Gaelic – Alasdair, Alastair, Alistair, Alisdair
  • Tamil language – Aleksandar
  • Turkish – İskender
  • Urdu – Hindustani – Sikandar
  • Urdu – Pakistani – Sikander ("Sikander-e-Azam" is "Alexander the Great")
  • Uzbek – Iskandar
  • Yiddish – סענדער – Sender, Senderl

[edit] Alexander as a given name

WP Anthroponymy notice This page or section lists people with the given name Alexander. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the surname to that link.

[edit] Monarchs

[edit] Antiquity

[edit] Middle Ages

[edit] Modern

[edit] Religious leaders

[edit] Other people

A few other princes have borne the name Alexander:

[edit] People with the surname Alexander

WP Anthroponymy notice This page or section lists people with the surname Alexander. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the given name(s) to that link.

[edit] Fictional

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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v • d • e
Slavic geographic names derived from the name Alexander
Alexandriya · Alexandriysky · Alexandrov · Alexandrovka · Alexandrovo (alt. Aleksandrovo) · Alexandrovsk · Alexandrovsky · Alexandro-Nevsky · Novoalexandrovka · Novoalexandrovo · Novoalexandrovsk · Novoalexandrovsky · Oleksandriia · Oleksandrivsk · Staroalexandrovka · Staroalexandrovsky