Alexandra
Meaning
"defender of men," the feminine of Alexander; imperial in Russia, royal across Europe, and steadily American since the 1980s. Formal in full, flexible in practice: Alex, Lexi, Sasha, and Sandra all trace here
Goes by Alex, Allie, Ally, Lexa, and 4 more
Famously borne by Alexandra David-Neel, the first Western woman to reach the forbidden city of Lhasa.
The story
Alexandra is the feminine of Alexander, Greek for defender of mankind, and it has carried weight from the beginning: in some ancient sources it was another name for Cassandra, the prophet of Troy, and it was later worn by queens and empresses across Europe, from Britain's Queen Alexandra to the last tsarina of Russia. In America it kept a modest, steady presence for generations, the kind of name that waited. Its strongest run arrived in the decades around the turn of the millennium, when the taste for full, formal names with built-in nicknames lifted it to its high-water mark, and it has drifted only gradually down since. Few names offer this many doors out of a single choice: Alex, Lexi, Sasha, Sandra, Alexa. The name means defender, and it quietly defends its owner's options for life.
Alexandra around the world
One shared root links 18 names across 7 languages.
Shared root: from Greek Alexandros "defender of men" (alexein "to ward off" + aner "man"), spread from Macedon into every European tradition
The constellation
14 more branches of this family
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Alexandra peaked in the 1990s and the 2000s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
90,519 people · the #346 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 2,242 · median age 40
Among people named Alexandra living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 647 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Alexandra
Most people given the name Alexandra in the United States were born between 1990 and 2009. The Alexandra you meet today is most often in her 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Alexandra deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Alexandra truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Alexandra fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Alexandra · Nicknames for Alexandra · Greek baby names · Names of explorers and adventurers · Names of kings and queens
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