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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
Greek •
Bible •
Names •
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Meaning and etymology of the Greek name Alexander
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Alexander 
The name Alexander has been popular since Alexander the Great conquered the entire known world and converted his subjects to the Aristotelian outlook on life. At the end of his campaign there were dozens of cities named Alexandria, and countless people. The name itself stems from deep antiquity, and is possibly more than 3.500 years old. Another noteworthy detail is that, judging from its verbal roots and earliest applications, this name was probably originally feminine (Alexandra).
The name Alexandra / Alexander consists of two parts:
The first segment comes from the verb  (alexo), meaning to ward or keep off, turn away or aside (Liddell and Scott - An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon). This verb is not used in the Bible but it is common in Homer and Herodotus.
Some other compound words that contain this verb are:  (alexetes), meaning averter;  (alexema), meaning a defence or remedy;  (alexaithrios), meaning screening from chilled air. And the list goes on.
The second part of the name Alexander comes from the common Greek word  (andros), meaning of man. This word is a genitive (indicating possession or some other relation) of the word  (aner), meaning man in the sense of a male or husband. Man as in mankind would be the word  (anthropos).
An example of a word that is constructed from the latter is  (anthropareskos), meaning pleaser of man(kind) as opposed to a pleaser of God. Paul uses this word twice, in Ephesians 6:6 and Colossians 3:22.
A word constructed from the former is  (androphonos), meaning manslayer, or rather male-slayer (1 Timothy 1:9). A similar but more general word is  (anthropoktonos) meaning manslayer or rather human-slayer (John 8:44).
A curious consequence of this distinction is that the name Alexander may not so much mean Defender of Man, or Men (as it is commonly translated), but more so Guy Repeller. Perhaps little Alexander before he became the Great had a ruffle with a male adult and managed to ward him off, and was named accordingly.
The object of the verb (alexo), meaning to ward off, seems to be anything harming or hurting, and this verb would not be issued in an unintended scaring away of otherwise perfectly fine suitors. In other words, women named Alexandra should pride themselves in their handsome name: Wards Off Bad Guys.
The name Alexandra does not occur in the Bible but the Egyptian city of Alexandria is mentioned a few times (Acts 6:9, 27:6), as are five men named Alexander.
The first Alexander to appear on the Biblical stage is a son of Simon of Cyrene, who was pressed to carry Jesus' cross on His way to Golgotha (Mark 15:21). Simon's other son was called Rufus, the apostle Paul mentions a Rufus in Rome (Romans 16:13) and, tradition and Scripture Theory indicate that Mark's gospel was originally addressed to a Roman congregation.
Zodhiates' Complete Wordstudy Dictionary of the New Testament then makes the leap to say that Alexander "and his brother Rufus were well-known known and honored men in the church of Rome." There is, however, no evidence for this in the canonized texts.
The next Alexander shows up in Acts of the Apostles (4:6), where the apostles Peter and John are arrested and made to face the counsel of rulers, elders and scribes. This elite party also counted high priest Caiaphas and his father-in-law Annas; men who had tried Jesus a few weeks prior (John 18:12).
Alexander number three is having himself a bad day in Ephesus when Demitrius, a silver smith specialized in making Artemis-souvenirs, sees his business wane in the rise of Christianity. Demitrius gives his concerns a theological twist and before anyone knows it, the whole city of Ephesus is in uproar. The chaos is soon so thorough that most of the rioters don't even know what the big screaming deal is all about, until they see Alexander, and a massive "hey you!" rolls across the squares. Alexander - a Jew and not having a thing to do with Christianity or Artemis for that matter - resorts to evasive gesturing, but the townsfolk of Ephesus burst out in a single outcry, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
That lasts about two hours, and no one hears from Alexander of Ephesus ever after (Acts 19:23-41).
Alexander number four is probably even less fortunate because he manages to fail Paul in such a way that he 'surrenders' Alexander to satan. We don't exactly know what that means, but Paul also speaks of Alexander and some others having blasphemed and suffered 'shipwreck in regards to their faith' (1 Timothy 1:20).
The last Alexander to appear in the Bible might be the same as the previous one (or even number three) because he hates Christianity and has personally upset Paul. Paul subsequently warns Timothy for this Alexander, and Timothy was stationed in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3). But (says also Zodhiates) Paul upset entire nations and Alexander was a very common name also in those days. There's no reason to assume that this Alexander is the same as any of the previous.
Since Alexander the Great appeared on the world stage after the youngest book of the Old Testament was written, this name does not occur in the Hebrew Bible. But the book of Daniel, which was written in the sixth century BC, about two hundred years before Alexander the Great, predicts him with great accuracy.
Daniel describes a vision in which he sees a two-horned ram being trampled by a unicorn he-goat. The angel Gabriel explains the vision and says that the two-horned ram represents the Medio-Persian empire and the unicorn buck the kingdom of Greece (Daniel 8). The Greco-Persian wars broke out a few decades after Daniel wrote his book. The Persian empire would not succumb to Greece until Alexander the Great Defeated it in 330 BC.
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