Alexander surname meaning

Alexander is a surname formed from the personal name Alexander, the Greek name traditionally glossed as “defender of men.” In Scotland it can also be an anglicized form of MacAlasdair, literally a descendant or son of Alasdair. Those routes meet in a familiar spelling but are not identical family histories. Alexandre, Aleksander, Alasdair, and MacAlasdair show related language forms. The site uses parent’s name as the closest broad category because the surname is inherited from a given name, while confidence stays likely rather than treating every Alexander as Scottish or as one lineage.