In school, there was more often than not another Alexander, Alexa or Alexandra in my same class. In my middle school, there were four other kids named Alexander and in high school there were six Alex’s in total out of our 200 student population! I would always turn around whenever someone called my name, but inevitably it’d be addressed to someone else. I bet here at Michigan I’m just one in a hundred Alexander’s.

Growing up, people always told me about the origins of my name and the many famous people associated with it. In Greek, Alexander means “Defender of the People” as “alexin” means to defend and “aner” means warrior (Moss). Many teachers and family friends have also asked me if I know the famous warrior Alexander the Great, and so I have learned about the great feats of warfare and conquest he had achieved. In middle school, people always asked if I knew the songs in the Alexander Hamilton musical and so I eventually listened to it myself and slowly learned all the songs.

A subsequent result of the commonness of my name is that all the Alexander’s had to pick to go by Alex, Alexander, Xander or another nickname to differentiate between us all. And, if both you and the other guy chose the same nickname, then the last name was added on too like it was for me in school. I don’t dislike the fact that my name is all that common though. My mother was born in China and so came to the United States with a Chinese first name. As a result, all her life people have been unable to pronounce her name. The coworkers she’s worked with for years still pronounce it a bit funny but she’s just stopped trying to correct them. For me, even when I go to a Starbucks and tell them my name’s Alex they get it right, spelling and all. Because of my parents, it’s very easy for people to know and pronounce my name, making it easier for me to blend in in this American hotpot of cultures and people. 

My parents have told me that another name they were considering for me was Zachary, which is a more unique name. But I feel like Alex suits me much better and life wouldn’t be the same at all if I was named Zach.

Works Cited

Moss, Jennifer. “Alexander.” Name Meaning, Popularity and Info on BabyNames.Com, babynames.com/name/Alexander. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.

“Popularity of name: Alexander.” U.S. SSA Baby Name Database, U.S. Social Security Administration, https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.