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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

Alive in 2025
13,925
Newborns 2025
177
National rank
#316

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.

People with the name Alexander 2019 → 2025
13,925 +4,985 since 2019
2020 9,416 +476
2021 10,020 +604
2022 10,925 +905
2023 12,106 +1,181
2024 13,010 +904
2025 13,925 +915

Alexander's popularity over time

177 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #198 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.

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177 newborns with the name Alexander in 2025
national rank #198 that year

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.

More common than average Less common than average

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).

As a first name
13,925
As a middle name
4,874
first name 74% middle name 26%
Middle-name ranking men

Look up another name

Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

Next in ranking → Alex #17