Aleksandr
Masculine · “defender of men”
Aleksandr is the Russian form written the Russian way, and the thing English readers notice first is the missing vowel. Russian is comfortable with three consonants in a row at the end of a name; English is not, and adds one back without asking.
How old is the name Aleksandr?
Aleksandr first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Aleksandr alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 1,600 people named Aleksandr are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aleksandr most popular?
Aleksandr peaked in 2016, reaching #1991 nationally. Today it ranks #2833, 842 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alexandros to Aleksandr
The story of Aleksandr
Alexandros was a Greek name long before the Macedonian king carried it east, and his conquests made it one of the most widely spread names in the world — it turns up in Arabic as Iskandar and in Persian as Eskandar because of him. Russian took it through Greek Christianity rather than through Latin, which is why the transliteration is Aleksandr and not Alexander. It has been one of the most common Russian men's names for centuries, and it reaches United States records with Russian, Ukrainian and Central Asian families.
Meaning
defender of men
Greek Alexandros joins alexein, 'to defend, to ward off', to aner, andros, 'man'. The reading is transparent and undisputed. Russian Aleksandr keeps the Greek shape more closely than the English Alexander does, since English inserted a vowel between the d and the r that the Greek and Russian do not have.
How the name formed
- Alexandros
- Aleksandr
Related forms: Александр · Alexander · Alejandro · Iskandar · Sándor
Pronouncing Aleksandr
ah-lek-SAHNDR
Three syllables in Russian, with the stress on the third and the final consonants run together. English speakers insert a vowel and make four — ah-lek-SAN-der — which is simply the English name.
Nicknames for Aleksandr
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 201672 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1991reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −21.4%44 in 2025, from 56
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Aleksandr in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Александр in Russian — transliteration
- Alexander in English — same name
- Alejandro in Spanish — same name
- Iskandar in Arabic — same name
- Sándor in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, New York.
Aleksandrs among us
people named Aleksandr are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 38,820 born in 2025 was named Aleksandr
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Aleksandr
- #2833
- Aleksandr on the 2025 chart
- #872
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Aleksandr went to 44 boys in 2025, but Alexandr is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 56, which makes it the 872nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,961 places above the chart.
- Aleksandr44
- Alexandr12
About 1 boy in 30,501 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 38,820 for Aleksandr itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rashod test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aleksandr's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rashod climbed just as high around 1979, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rashod's path sketches the road Aleksandr is walking now.
Aleksandr sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Aleksandr is headed
Aleksandr should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Aleksandr beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aleksandr in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Sasha and Alex are both fully established short forms, one for each language.
- Recognized across every European and many Asian languages without explanation.
- The meaning is exact, undisputed and among the oldest continuously understood in the West.
- English speakers will add a vowel and write Alexander, indefinitely.
- Aleksandr, Alexandr and Aleksander are all in use as transliterations.
- The final consonant cluster is genuinely difficult for English mouths.
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Aleksandr
Masculine · #2833 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aleksandrs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Aleksandr are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Aleksandr?
- Aleksandr is the most-used spelling in US records — 44 of the 56 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Alexandr.
- How popular is the name Aleksandr in 2025?
- Aleksandr ranks #2833 among US boy names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aleksandr?
- About 1 in every 38,820 US boys born in 2025 was named Aleksandr — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aleksandr with classmates?
- Aleksandr will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aleksandr
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bayron#2833 · Odysseus#2833 · Mahlon#2833 · Ward#2833 · Jarvis#2833 · Abriel#2833 · Alain#2833 · Josef#2833
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aleksandr? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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