Alexey

Alexey (Russian: Алексей, romanized: Aleksey [ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej]) is a Russian male given name derived from the Greek Aléxios (Αλέξιος), meaning "Defender", and thus of the same origin as the Latin Alexius.^[1][2]

Similar Ukrainian and Belarusian names are romanized as Oleksii (Олексій) and Aliaksiej (Аляксей), respectively.

The Russian Orthodox Church uses the ecclesiastical form, Alexiy or Aleksiy (Алексий; pre-1918: Алексій), for its Saints and hierarchs (most notably, this is the form used for Patriarchs Alexius I and Alexius II). The name became fairly popular in Russia after the baptism of Michael of Russia's son, Alexis of Russia.^[3]

The common hypocoristic (diminutive) is Alyosha (Алёша) or simply Lyosha (Лёша). These may be further transformed into Alyoshka, Alyoshenka, Lyoshka, Lyoha, Lyoshenka (Алёшка, Алёшенька, Лёшка, Лёха, Лёшенька, respectively), sometimes rendered as Alesha or Aleshenka in English.^[4] The form Alyosha may be used as a full first name in Bulgaria (Альоша) and Armenia.

In theory, Alexia is the female form. It is, however, almost non-existent in Russian-speaking countries, where Alexandra or Olesya are more common phonetically distinct female names.^[5]

The corresponding patronymics are Alexeyevich (male) and Alexeyevna (female).

The following surnames derive from Alexey and its various forms:^[6]

• Alexeyev/Alekseyev
• Alexeyevsky
• Alyoshin
• Alyokhin (Alekhine, Alekhin)
• Lyoshin
• Alexeytsev/Alekseytsev/Alekseitsev
• Alexeychuk/Alekseychuk/Alekseichuk
• Alexeychik/Alekseychik/Alekseichik
• Alexeyuk/Alekseyuk
• Alexeyenko/Alekseyenko/Alekseenko
• Alexeychenko/Alekseychenko/Alekseichenko
• Alexievich