Alexander

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Latin Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “I defend”) + ἀνδρός (andrós), genitive of ἀνήρ (anēr, “man”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌælɨɡˈzændɚ/

Proper noun

Alexander

1. A male given name, most famously held by Alexander the Great.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Act V, Scene I:

     Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping a bung-hole?

   • 1765 Laurence Sterne: Tristram Shandy, Book IV, Chapter 18:

     And for my own part, said my uncle Toby, though I should blush to boast of myself, Trim - yet had my name been Alexander, I could have done no more at Namur than my duty.

   • 1985 Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist, ISBN 0-7011-2986-7, page 170:

     "My son's name is Alexander," Muriel said. "Did I tell you that? I named him Alexander because it sounded high-class.

2. A patronymic surname.

Derived terms

terms derived from Alexander

Al Alec Aleck Alex Alistair Lex

Sandro Sandy Sasha Xan Xander

Related terms

• Alexandra and its variants

Translations

male given name

• Albanian: Leka (sq)
• Amharic: አሌክሳንደር (am)
• Arabic: إسكندر (ar) ('iskándar) m, (transliteration) ألكسندر (ar) ('aliksandar) m
• Asturian: Alexandru (ast) m
• Basque: Alesander (eu)
• Belarusian: Аляксандр (be) (Aljaksándr) m
• Breton: Aleksandr (br)
• Bulgarian: Александър (bg) (Aleksándǎr) m
• Catalan: Alexandre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亞歷山大 (cmn), 亚历山大 (cmn) (Yàlìshāndà)

• Czech: Alexandr (cs) m
• Danish: Alexander (da)
• Dutch: Alexander (nl) m
• Esperanto: Aleksandro (eo)
• Estonian: Aleksander (et)
• Finnish: Aleksanteri (fi)
• French: Alexandre (fr) m
• Galician: Alexandre (gl) m
• Georgian: ალექსანდრე (ka) (alek’sandre)
• German: Alexander (de) m
• Gothic: Alaiksandrus
• Greek: Αλέξανδρος (el) (Aléksandros) m

  Ancient Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléksandros) m

• Hebrew: אלכסנדר (he) (aleksander) m
• Hindi: सिकन्दर (hi) (Sikandar) m
• Hittite: Alaksandu
• Hungarian: Sándor (hu)
• Icelandic: Alexander (is)
• Indonesian: Iskander (id)
• Irish: Alastar (ga)
• Italian: Alessandro (it) m

• Japanese: アレクサンダー (ja) (Arekusandā)
• Korean: 알렉산더 (ko) (Alleksandeo)
• Kurdish: Skender (ku) m
• Latin: Alexander (la)
• Latvian: Aleksandrs (lv)
• Lithuanian: Aleksandras (lt)
• Macedonian: Александар (mk) (Aleksándar) m
• Malay: Iskandar (ms)
• Manx: Ollister (gv)
• Middle Persian: Aleksandar (Aleksandar)
• Norwegian: Alexander (no), Aleksander (no)
• Persian: اسکندر (fa) (Eskandar)
• Polish: Aleksander (pl) m
• Portuguese: Alexandre (pt) m
• Romanian: Alexandru (ro) m
• Russian: Александр (ru) (Aleksándr) m
• Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Александар (sh) m

  Roman: Aleksandar (sh) m

• Shona: Sinayario (sn), Sinayarito (sn)
• Slovak: Aleksander (sk) m
• Slovene: Aleksánder (sl) m
• Spanish: Alejandro (es) m
• Swedish: Alexander (sv)
• Thai: อเล็กซานเดอร์ (th) (alèksaanáde)
• Turkish: İskender (tr)
• Ukrainian: Олександр (uk) (Oleksándr) m
• Urdu: سكندر (ur) (Sikandar) m
• Welsh: Alec (cy)
• Yiddish: אַלעקסאַנדער (yi) (Aleksander) m

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Danish

Proper noun

Alexander

1. A male given name, cognate to English Alexander.

Related terms

• (male given names:) Alex
• (female forms:) Alexandra, Sandra, Sascha

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German

Proper noun

Alexander

1. A male given name, cognate to English Alexander.

Related terms

• (male given names:) Sandro, Sascha
• (female names:) Alexandra, Sandra

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Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈaːlɛksantɛ(ː)r/

Proper noun

Alexander m

1. A male given name, cognate to English Alexander.

Declension

declension of Alexander

m-s1	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	Alexander	Alexanderinn	Alexanderar	Alexanderarnir
accusative	Alexander	Alexanderinn	Alexandera	Alexanderana
dative	Alexander	Alexandernum	Alexanderum	Alexanderunum
genitive	Alexanders	Alexandersins	Alexandera	Alexanderanna

Related terms

• variants: Alex
• female forms: Alexandra, Sandra

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Norwegian

Alternative forms

• Aleksander

Proper noun

Alexander

1. A male given name, cognate to English Alexander.

Related terms

• (male given names:) Sander
• (female names:) Alexandra, Sandra

References

• [1] Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 9 615 males with the given name Alexander living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1980s. Accessed on 19 May, 2011.

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Swedish

Etymology

Cognate with English Alexander. First recorded in Sweden (Scania) in 1201.

Proper noun

Alexander

1. A male given name.

Related terms

• (male given names) Alex
• (female names) Alexandra, Sandra
• (surnames) Alexandersson

References

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, ISBN 91-21-10937-0
• [2] Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, ISBN 9119551622: 70 150 males with the given name Alexander living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1990s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.