Alex
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A unisex given name from Ancient Greek.
"Martin was pretty dull as names went but 'Alex Blake' had a certain dash to it. His publishers hadn't considered Martin's own name to be 'punchy' enough. The pseudonym Alex Blake was chosen after much deliberation, most of which excluded Martin. 'A strong, no-nonsense sort of name', his editor said, 'to compensate'. For what, she didn't say."
- 2 Nickname for Alexandria: a major city in Alexandria Governorate, Egypt.
Example
More examples"Pepperberg hoped that a similar system would help Alex grasp the meaning of words, not just their sounds."
Etymology
Clipping of Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros) 'he who wards off men', i.e. protector, possibly of Hittite origin. Also from Alexius, from the same Ancient Greek first element, "helping, defending". These two origins of Alex are indistinguishable in most languages. The female name has the same root, a clipping of Alexandra or the female name Alexis, in some cases also a spelling variant of Alix.
Clipping of Alexandria.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.