Alexander
The Greek for "defender of men", worn here in its English and German spelling rather than the Polish Aleksander. It stays firmly a boys' name: of the roughly 14,000 Poles who carry it, all but a handful are men, and meeting one is still memorable.
Alexander Pronunciation
What Alexander means
Where Alexander comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Alexander reaches back to the Greek Alexandros, a compound of the verb alexein, to defend, and andros, man. Put together, the pieces give the sense that has followed the name since antiquity: defender of men, obrońca ludzi in Polish.
Alexander the Great carried it out of Macedon and across Persia, and his fame did much of the work of spreading it. English speakers and Germans took the name up early and held onto it, from medieval kings to the Berlin square, Alexanderplatz, named in 1805 after the visiting Tsar Alexander I of Russia.
In Poland the name shifted its shape. On an official form it stands as the variant Aleksander, while daily speech wears it down to Olek, Oleś, or Aleks. Open a class register in Kraków and you may meet an Aleksander who answers to Olek, and behind that short syllable sits the old Greek word for defender of men.
How many people are named Alexander
1 in 1534 men in Poland is named Alexander. 13,925 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #316 among male names.
Alexander's popularity over time
177 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #198 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.
Where Alexander is most popular
Alexander is most popular in Opole, 55% above the national average (48 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+34%) and West Pomeranian (+30%). It is least common in Świętokrzyskie and Podlaskie, 38% and 26% below average respectively.
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Opole48 boys born+55%
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Lower Silesian142 boys born+34%
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West Pomeranian74 boys born+30%
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Lubusz41 boys born+23%
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Lesser Poland180 boys born+18%
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Masovian242 boys born+1%
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Łódź84 boys born−2%
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Lublin66 boys born−5%
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Subcarpathian77 boys born−5%
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Pomeranian91 boys born−8%
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Warmian-Masurian44 boys born−9%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian65 boys born−12%
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Silesian134 boys born−13%
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Greater Poland112 boys born−23%
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Podlaskie33 boys born−26%
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Świętokrzyskie23 boys born−38%
Alexander as a middle name
Alexander is a first name for 13,925 men in Poland and a middle name for another 4,874, a 74/26 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 130th, between Lesław (5,041) and Wawrzyniec (4,829).
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128
5,284Ernest
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129
5,041Lesław
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1304,874Alexander
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131
4,829Wawrzyniec
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132
4,716Tymoteusz