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Alexandra

Name list

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
16 min read
Source updated September 7, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Alexandra (Ancient Greek: Ἀλεξάνδρα) is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (Ancient Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος, Aléxandros). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb ἀλέξειν (alexein; meaning 'to defend') and ἀνήρ (anēr; GEN ἀνδρός, andros; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "protector of man". The name Alexandra 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". The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀀𐀩𐀏𐀭𐀅𐀨 (a-re-ka-sa-da-ra or /aleksandra/), written in the Linear B syllabic script. Alexandra and its masculine equivalent, Alexander, are both common names in Greece as well as countries where Germanic, Romance, and Slavic languages are spoken.

01Variants

Diminutives

  • Aleka (Greek)
  • Alessa (Latvian)
  • Alessia (Italian)
  • Alesya, Alya, Asya, Sanya, Sasha, Sashenka, Shura (Slavic)
  • Aleks, Alex (various)
  • Alexa (various)
  • Alexis (various)
  • Alexina
  • Alja (Slovene)
  • Alyx
  • Andra (Romanian)
  • Drina
  • Allie, Ally (various)
  • Lexa
  • Lexie, Lexi, Lexy
  • Lexine
  • Leska (Czech)
  • Lesya, Olesya (Ukrainian)
  • Ola (Polish)
  • Sacha (French)
  • Sanda (Serbo-Croatian, Romanian)
  • Sandra (various)
  • Sandy, Sandie (various)
  • Sanja, Sanjica (Serbo-Croatian, Slovene)
  • Sascha (German)
  • Saskia, Xandra (Dutch)
  • Sashka, Saška (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene)
  • Saša (Czech, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovene)
  • Sassa (Swedish)
  • Saundra (Lowland Scottish)
  • Sondra, Zandra (English)
  • Szandra (Hungarian)

02People with the name

Royalty

Alexandra

Aleksandra

03Fictional characters

  • Alexandra, Nikita character
  • Alexandra Borgia, an Assistant District Attorney in Law & Order, played by Annie Parisse
  • Alexandra Cabot, an Assistant District Attorney in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, played by Stephanie March
  • Alexandra Eames, a detective in Law & Order Criminal Intent, played by Kathryn Erbe
  • Aleksandra Billewicz, a character in Deluge by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Watch videos about AlexandraExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Alexandra”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

Alexander

Alexander is a masculine name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.

Alexandria (given name)

Alexandria is a feminine given name, derived from Alexander the Great and the towns he named, most notably the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria was the 352nd most popular name for girls born in the United States in 2021.