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Alexander

Name list

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Lab · Class 7Maurya Empire

Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Aleksander, Oleksandr, Oleksander, Aleksandr, and Alekzandr. Related names and diminutives include Iskandar, Alec, Alek, Alekos, Alex, Alexsander, Alexandre, Aleks, Aleksa, Aleksandre, Alejandro, Alessandro, Alasdair, Sasha, Sandy, Sandro, Sikandar, Skander, Sander and Xander; feminine forms include Alexandra, Alexandria, and Sasha.

Etymology

The name Alexander originates from the Ancient Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros; 'defending men' or 'protector of men'). It is a compound of the verb ἀλέξειν (aléxein; 'to ward off, avert, defend') and the noun ἀνήρ (anḗr, genitive: ἀνδρός, andrós; meaning 'man').

The earliest attested form of the name, is the Mycenaean Greek feminine anthroponym 𐀀𐀩𐀏𐀭𐀅𐀨, a-re-ka-sa-da-ra, (/Alexandra/), written in the Linear B syllabic script. Alaksandu, alternatively called Alakasandu or Alaksandus, was a king of Wilusa who sealed a treaty with the Hittite king Muwatalli II c. 1280 BC; this is generally assumed to have been a Greek called Alexandros.

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

Rulers of antiquity

  • Alexander (Alexandros of Ilion), more often known as Paris of Troy
  • Alexander I of Macedon
  • Alexander II of Macedon
  • Alexander the Great
  • Alexander IV of Macedon
  • Alexander V of Macedon
  • Alexander of Pherae despot of Pherae between 369 and 358 BC
  • Alexander I of Epirus king of Epirus about 342 BC
  • Alexander II of Epirus king of Epirus 272 BC
  • Alexander of Corinth, viceroy of Antigonus Gonatas and ruler of a rump state based on Corinth c. 250 BC
  • Alexander (satrap) (died 220 BC), satrap of Persis under Seleucid king Antiochus III
  • Alexander Balas, ruler of the Seleucid kingdom of Syria between 150 and 146 BC
  • Alexander Zabinas, ruler of part of the Seleucid kingdom of Syria based in Antioch between 128 and 123 BC
  • Alexander Jannaeus king of Judea, 103–76 BC
  • Alexander of Judaea, son of Aristobulus II, king of Judaea
  • Gaius Julius Alexander, Roman client king in Cilicia from 58 to 72
  • Alexander Severus (208–235), Roman emperor
  • Julius Alexander, lived in the 2nd century, an Emesene nobleman
  • Domitius Alexander, Roman usurper who declared himself emperor in 308

Rulers of the Middle Ages

  • Alexander, Byzantine Emperor (912–913)
  • Alexander I of Scotland (c. 1078–1124)
  • Alexander II of Scotland (1198–1249)
  • Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263), Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Vladimir
  • Alexander III of Scotland (1241–1286)
  • Nicholas Alexander of Wallachia, Voivode of Wallachia (died 1364)
  • Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria, tsar of Bulgaria (beginnings of the 14th century – 1371)
  • Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver, Prince of Tver as Alexander I and Grand Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal as Alexander II (1301–1339)
  • Aleksander (1338–before 1386), Prince of Podolia (son of Narymunt)
  • Alexander II of Georgia (1483–1510)
  • Eskender, Emperor of Ethiopia (1472–1494)
  • Alexander Jagiellon (Alexander of Poland), King of Poland (1461–1506)

Modern rulers

  • Alexander I of Russia (1777–1825), emperor of Russia
  • Alexander II of Russia (1818–1881), emperor of Russia
  • Alexander III of Russia (1845–1894), emperor of Russia
  • Alexander Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia (1842–1858)
  • Alexander of Bulgaria (1857–1893), first prince of modern Bulgaria
  • Alexander I Obrenović of Serbia (1876–1903), king of Serbia
  • Alexander, Prince of Lippe (1831–1905), prince of Lippe
  • Alexander I of Yugoslavia (1888–1934), first king of Yugoslavia
  • Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia (born 1945), head of the Yugoslav Royal Family
  • Zog I, also known as Skenderbeg III (1895–1961), king of Albanians
  • Alexander of Greece (1893–1920), king of Greece
  • Leka, Crown Prince of Albania (1939–2011), king of Albanians (throne pretender)
  • Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands (born 1967), eldest child of Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus

Other royalty

  • Alexander, Judean Prince, one of the sons of Herod the Great from his wife Mariamne
  • Alexander Helios, Ptolemaic prince, one of the sons of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony
  • Alexander, Judean Prince, son to the above Alexander and Cappadocian princess Glaphyra
  • Alexander (d. 1418), son of Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman
  • Prince Alexander John of Wales (1871), short-lived son of Edward VII
  • Prince Alfred of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1874–1899)
  • Olav V of Norway (Prince Alexander of Denmark) (1903–1991)

Religious leaders

  • Pope Alexander I (pope 97–105)
  • Alexander of Apamea, 5th-century bishop of Apamea
  • Pope Alexander II (pope 1058–1061)
  • Pope Alexander III (pope 1159–1181)
  • Pope Alexander IV (pope 1243–1254)
  • Pope Alexander V ("Peter Philarges" c. 1339–1410)
  • Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), Roman pope
  • Pope Alexander VII (1599–1667)
  • Pope Alexander VIII (pope 1689–1691)
  • Alexander of Constantinople, bishop of Constantinople (314–337)
  • St. Alexander of Alexandria, Coptic Pope, Patriarch of Alexandria between 313 and 328
  • Pope Alexander II of Alexandria, Coptic Pope (702–729)
  • Alexander of Lincoln, bishop of Lincoln
  • Alexander of Jerusalem
  • See also Saint Alexander, various saints with this name

Other people

Antiquity

  • Alexander (artists), the name of a number of artists of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Alexander of Lyncestis (died 330 BC), contemporary of Alexander the Great
  • Alexander (son of Polyperchon) (died 314 BC), regent of Macedonia
  • Alexander (Antigonid general), 3rd-century BC cavalry commander under Antigonus III Doson
  • Alexander of Athens, 3rd-century BC Athenian comic poet
  • Alexander Aetolus (fl. 280 BC), poet and member of the Alexandrian Pleiad
  • Alexander (son of Lysimachus) (fl. 284–281 BC), Macedonian royal
  • Alexander (grandson of Seleucus I Nicator) (fl. 270–240 BC), Greek Anatolian nobleman
  • Alexander (Aetolian general), briefly conquered Aegira in 220 BC
  • Alexander of Acarnania (died 191 BC), confidant of Antiochus III the Great
  • Alexander Isius (fl. 198–189 BC), Aetolian military commander
  • Alexander (Ephesian) (fl. 50–65), mentioned in the First Epistle to Timothy
  • Alexander Lychnus, early 1st-century BC poet and historian
  • Alexander Philalethes, 1st century BC physician
  • Alexander Polyhistor, Greek scholar of the 1st century BC
  • Alexander of Myndus, ancient Greek writer on zoology and divination
  • Alexander of Aegae, peripatetic philosopher of the 1st century AD
  • Alexander of Cotiaeum, 2nd-century Greek grammarian and tutor of Marcus Aurelius
  • Alexander Numenius, 2nd-century Greek rhetorician
  • Alexander Peloplaton, 2nd-century Greek rhetorician
  • Alexander of Abonoteichus (c. 105–170), Greek religious leader and imposter
  • Alexander of Aphrodisias (fl. 200), Greek commentator and philosopher
  • Alexander of Lycopolis, 4th-century author of an early Christian treatise against Manicheans
  • Alexander, a member of the Jerusalem Temple Sanhedrin mentioned in Acts 4:6

Middle Ages

Modern

  • Alexander (magician) (1880–1954), American stage magician specializing in mentalism

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