Alexandra
- Pronunciation
- [A-lex-an-dra]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Defender Of Mankind. Feminine Of Alexander.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Alexandra
Alexandra is the Greek feminine form of Alexander, descending from the Greek Alexandros meaning "defender of men" (see separate entry on Alexander for the broader etymology and Alexander the Great anchor). The feminine Alexandra has been used continuously in Greek, Russian, Spanish, and Italian naming traditions for over two millennia.
The name's most consequential historical bearer is Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse, 1872–1918), the last Tsarina of Russia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and wife of Tsar Nicholas II — executed alongside her family by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Her involvement with Rasputin and her German background made her one of the most controversial figures of late Imperial Russia. Other notable bearers include British writer Alexandra Fuller, American actress Alexandra Daddario, contemporary Spanish royal Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, and earlier Greek queens consort named Alexandra.
Alexandra's American climb has been steady through the 1990s and 2000s, reaching the US top 25 girls' rank from 1996 through 2009. The name has receded slightly since but remains in steady use. The name's appeal is its layered Greek-classical pedigree combined with four flowing syllables that nickname easily. The name reads as both classical-formal and contemporary, equally appropriate for a baby and an adult. Common nicknames span an unusually wide range: Alex (the dominant short form, gender-neutral), Alexa, Lexie, Sasha (Russian-derived), Lex, Sondra (back-end shortening), and the rare Sandi. International forms include Aleksandra (Russian/Polish), Alessandra (Italian), Alejandra (Spanish), Alexandre (French masculine), and Alexandrine (French feminine elaboration).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Alexandra
US Popularity History (1984–2025)
Annual US births named Alexandra by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1993 with 10,682 girls named Alexandra (girl rank #28 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #237 for girls (1,314 US births). That's 209 places below its 1993 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Alexandra Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Alexandra the strongest states are District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | #53 | 148 |
| 2 | New York | #89 | 1,606 |
| 3 | New Jersey | #92 | 776 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | #94 | 569 |
| 5 | Connecticut | #98 | 282 |
| 6 | Delaware | #108 | 53 |
| 7 | Alaska | #114 | 42 |
| 8 | Florida | #115 | 1,358 |
| 9 | Maryland | #116 | 422 |
| 10 | Rhode Island | #117 | 68 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Alexandra in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aleksandra | Defender Of Man ANETA, ANITA, ANICHKA | Female | English |
| Alex | Abbreviation Of Alexander. Defender Of Man. | Male | English |
| Alexa | "Defender Of Man." | Female | Hungarian |
| Alexandrea | Defender Of Mankind. Feminine Of Alexander. | Female | English |
| Alexandria | Defender Of Mankind. Feminine Of Alexander. | Female | English |
| Alexia | Helper: Defender. Variation Of Alexander. | Female | English |
| Alexis | Helper: Defender. Variation Of Alexander. | Female | English |
| Ali | The Highest; The Greatest; Noble | Male | Arabic |
| Alix | "Noble." See Alexandra. Variants Include Alex, Alexa, Alexis, Aliki, Alissandre, Alissandrine, Lissandre. | Female | German |
| Allie | Greatest. A Variant Of Allah - The Supreme Being In The Muslim Faith. | Female | Arabic |
| Alyx | Helper: Defender. Variation Of Alexander. | Female | English |
| Elena | Shining Light. Variant Of Helen. | Female | Spanish |
| Lexie | Variant Of Alexandra. Defender Of Mankind. | Female | English |
| Lexy | Defender Of Mankind. Variant Of Alexander. | Female | Greek |
| Sandi | "Defender, Helper Of All Men." | Female | Greek |
| Sandra | Protector Of Man | Female | Greek |
| Sandy | Abbreviation Of Alexander Defender Of Man. | Male | Scottish |
| Sasha | Defender Of Mankind. Feminine Of Alexander. | Female | English |
Famous People Named Alexandra
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Alexandra.
- Alexandra Ripley was a celebrated novelist of America.
Looking for names like Alexandra?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Alexandra to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Alexandra against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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