Alexander is a common male first name. Its origin is Greek and it literally means "defender of men" (from ἀλέξειν aléxein "to defend", and ἀνδρ- andr- "man"). It was one of the titles ("epithets") given to the Greek goddess Hera, who was believed to come to the aid of warriors in battle. In the Iliad, the character Paris is known also as Alexander. Albanians give the name a different translation: "Aï ka le si ander" meaning "born like a dream."
The name's popularity was spread by the military conquests of King Alexander III of Macedon, known as Alexander the Great (a hero claimed nowadays by Greeks and Albanians, as well as Slav Macedonians).
The Gaelic version, Alasdair, is particularly popular in Scotland, having been carried by several early kings of the country. The alternate spellings Alistair, Allistair, Alisdair, Alastair and Alister are also used.
A number of historically significant people were named Alexander:
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ALISTER SIMPSON: I suddenly saw him draw what I thought was a squiggle and I suddenly realised it was the shape of a horse, a three-quarter angle, and this absolutely grabbed me as if it was a thunderbolt or a flash of lightning and I started practising and I drew from that stage on.
ALISTER SIMPSON: To see her on race day, you'll see that once Greg Childs hops aboard she certainly knows she's at a race club to perform and she'll tense a bit and hold her head very high and I hope I brought that out in the painting.
ALISTER SIMPSON: The Queen Mother wrote back and said she thought it was a wonderful looking horse, and, of course, with the artist's licence I didn't sleep for about six months till the horse had its first start, but it won four starts at Cheltenham so evidently my sketch wasn't too exaggerated.
Sir Alister Hardy ( 1896 - 1985) was an Oxford -educated marine biologist, expert on zooplankton and marine ecosystems.
He was the zoologist on the RRS Discovery voyage to explore the Antarctic in 1901, and in his studies of zooplankton and its relationship with predators became expert in marine mammals such as whales.
Fearing the backlash of such a radically different idea, he kept this hypothesis secret until 1960, when he spoke, and later wrote, on the subject, which became known as the Aquatic Ape Theory, in academic circles.
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