Aleksandar

Aleksandar is the full Serbian rendering of Alexander, from the Greek alexein, to defend, and aner, man. Four syllables of steady forward motion, it carries the echo of Alexander the Great across the Balkans, where the name has been royal, rebellious, and commonplace by turns. King Aleksandar I of Yugoslavia gave it twentieth-century political weight, and tennis fans now know it through Aleksandar Djokovic and a dozen other athletes. Friends trim it to Saša or Aco in daily life, so the grandeur never gets in the way. In Serbia it consistently ranks among the top boys' names. Aleksandar reads classical, confident, unmistakably heroic.