The surname Alexander
A Scottish Gaelic patronymic surname, carried by 204,621 people in the United States.
Pronounced /ˌælɪɡˈzændɚ/ 4 syllables Soundex A425 Also a first name
Origin
Scottish Gaelic origin
From Middle English Alexander, Alexandre, from Latin Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to defend”) + ἀνδρ- (andr-), the stem of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”). Doublet of Alastair, Alejandro, Iskandar, Sikandar, Alessandro, and Alexandre.
Alexander is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
One of 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames on this site.
Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How common it is
2010 US Census
There were 204,621 people named Alexander in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,509 Americans. That is up 5.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 193,443.
Who is named Alexander
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
58% of people named Alexander identified as white (not Hispanic), 34% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
- White (not Hispanic) 58%
- Black (not Hispanic) 34%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.2%
- Two or more races 2.7%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 1.2%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
Famous Alexanders
96 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- Jason AlexanderAmerican actor, comedian, director and television host, born 1959
- Jane AlexanderAmerican actress (born 1939)
- Sasha AlexanderAmerican actress (born 1973)
- Khandi AlexanderAmerican dancer, choreographer, and actress, born 1957
- Paul AlexanderAmerican lawyer and polio survivor (1946–2024)
- Lamar AlexanderAmerican politician, born 1940
- Lloyd AlexanderAmerican children's writer (1924-2007)
- Monique AlexanderAmerican pornographic actress, born 1982
- Samuel AlexanderAustralian-born British philosopher (1859-1938)
- Christopher AlexanderAmerican architect and design theorist (1936-2022)
- Franz AlexanderAmerican Hungarian-born psychoanalyst (1891-1964)
- Claudia AlexanderAmerican geophysicist and planetary scientist (1959-2015)
Notable Alexanders come mostly from the United States (76), the United Kingdom (7) and Australia (5).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Alexander has the Soundex code A425, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code A425.
Other Scottish Gaelic surnames
Questions
- Where does the surname Alexander come from?
- From Middle English Alexander, Alexandre, from Latin Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to defend”) + ἀνδρ- (andr-), the stem of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”). Doublet of Alastair, Alejandro, Iskandar, Sikandar, Alessandro, and Alexandre.
- How common is the surname Alexander?
- 204,621 people in the United States had the surname Alexander in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,509 Americans. It ranked 118th of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Alexander?
- In the 2010 Census, 58% of people named Alexander identified as white (not Hispanic), and 34% as Black (not Hispanic).
- Who is the most famous person named Alexander?
- Jason Alexander, American actor, comedian, director and television host, followed by Jane Alexander.
- Where is the surname Alexander most common?
- Wikidata records people named Alexander in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.
- How do you pronounce Alexander?
- Alexander is /ˌælɪɡˈzændɚ/, 4 syllables.
- What type of surname is Alexander?
- Alexander is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
- Is the surname Alexander getting more or less common?
- More common. 193,443 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 204,621 in 2010, up 5.8%.
- Is Alexander also a first name?
- Yes. Alexander is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.