Alexey, Alexei, Alexie, Aleksei, or Aleksey (russian: Алексе́й ; bg, Алексей ) is a Russian and Bulgarian male first name deriving from the Greek ''Aléxios'' (), meaning "Defender", and thus of the same origin as the Latin

Alexius Alexius is the Latinized form of the given name Alexios ( el, Αλέξιος, polytonic , "defender", cf. Alexander), especially common in the later Byzantine Empire. The female form is Alexia ( el, Αλεξία) and its variants such as Alessia ...

. Alexey may also be

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

as ''Aleksei'', ''Aleksey'', ''Alexej'', ''Aleksej'', etc. It has been commonly westernized as Alexis. Similar

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

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

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

uses the

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and othe ...

version, Alexiy (Алексiй, or Алексий in modern spelling), for its Saints and hierarchs (most notably, this is the form used for

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in c ...

s Alexius I and Alexius II). The common hypocoristic is Alyosha () or simply Lyosha (). These may be further transformed into Alyoshka, Alyoshenka, Lyoshka, Lyoha, Lyoshenka (, respectively), sometimes rendered as Alesha/Aleshenka in English. The form Alyosha may be used as a full first name in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

(Альоша) and

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

. In theory, Alexia is the female form. It is, however, almost non-existent in Russian-speaking countries. A popular Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian female name Olesia/ Olesya/ Alesia/ Alesya is one possible form. The

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

s based on Alexey are Alexeyevich and Alexeev (male) and Alexeyevna and Alexeeva (female). The following surnames derive from Alexey and its various forms: * 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 Alexeyevka is a common Russian village name.

Persons known by first name Alexey and variants

* Alexis of Russia, Tsar of Russia from 1645 to 1676, son of Tsar Michael * Aleshenka, a rumored alien found in Russia * Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, son of Tsar Alexander II *

Alexey Andreevich Anselm Alexey Andreevich Anselm (russian: Алексей Андреевич Ансельм, 1 July 1934 – 24 August 1998) was a Russian theoretical physicist, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, professor, director (1992–1994) of the ...

, Russian theoretical physicist * Alexei Cherepanov (1989–2008), Russian hockey player * Alexei A. Efros, American computer scientist * Alexei L. Efros, American physicist * Alexey Goloborodko, Russian dancing contortionist * Alexey Goncharuk (Oleksiy Honcharuk), former Ukrainian prime minister *

Aleksi Inauri Aleksi Inauri ( ka, ალექსი ინაური; russian: Алексей Николаевич Инаури, ''Aleksey Nikolayevich Inauri'') (May 12, 1908 – June 23, 1993) was a Soviet and Georgian commander who headed the Georgian KGB ...

(1908–1993), Soviet Georgian commander who headed the Georgian KGB * Alexei Ivanov (disambiguation), several people * Alexey Karamazov, fictional character from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's ''

The Brothers Karamazov ''The Brothers Karamazov'' (russian: Братья Карамазовы, ''Brat'ya Karamazovy'', ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing '' ...

'' * Alexei Kovalev, Russian professional ice hockey player *

Aleksei Yevgenyevich Kravchenko Aleksei Yevgenyevich Kravchenko (russian: Алексе́й Евге́ньевич Кра́вченко; born 10 October 1969) is a Russian actor known for his role in the 1985 film ''Come and See'' as a young boy in the resistance army. Biogr ...

, Russian actor *

Aleksey Kuleshov Aleksey Vladimirovich Kuleshov (russian: Алексей Владимирович Кулешов, born 24 February 1979) is a former Russian volleyball player, a member of Russia men's national volleyball team. Currently he is a coach at VC Dynam ...

, Russian volleyball player *

Alexei Leonov Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov. (30 May 1934 – 11 October 2019) was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during t ...

, pioneering Russian cosmonaut, first person to conduct a space walk *

Alexei Makeyev Alexei Makeyev (born 25 November 1991) is a Russian professional ice hockey player. He is currently playing with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Makeyev made his Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) debut playing w ...

(born 1991), Russian ice hockey player * Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia, grandson of Tsar Nicholas I *

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption act ...

, Russian politician * Alexei Nemov, Russian Olympic gymnast *

Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia Alexei Nikolaevich (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Никола́евич) (12 August .S. 30 July1904 – 17 July 1918) was the last Tsesarevich (heir apparent to the throne of the Russian Empire). He was the youngest child and only son o ...

, the son of Nicholas II of Russia and Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) and younger brother of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia * Alexey Pajitnov, inventor of the popular puzzle game Tetris *

Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia Grand Duke Alexei Petrovich of Russia (28 February 1690 – 26 June 1718) was a Russian Tsarevich. He was born in Moscow, the son of Tsar Peter I and his first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhina. Alexei despised his father and repeatedly thwarted Peter's p ...

, son of Peter I the Great * Alexei Ponikarovsky, Ukrainian-Canadian professional ice hockey player *

Alexei Ramírez Alexei Fernando Ramírez Rodriguez (born September 22, 1981) is a Cuban former professional baseball shortstop. He has played for the Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays in MLB and Pinar del Rio of the Cuban National Series ...

, Cuban baseball player * Alexey Rykov, Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician *

Alexei Savrasov Alexei Kondratyevich Savrasov (russian: Алексе́й Кондра́тьевич Савра́сов) (May 24, 1830 – September 26, 1897) was a Russian landscape painter and creator of the ''lyrical landscape'' style. Biography Savraso ...

, Russian artist *

Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th gre ...

, English comedian and author * Alexei Shirov, Latvian-Spanish chess Grandmaster * Alexey Shved, Russian basketball player * Alexey Sorokin (disambiguation), several people *Aleksei Sytsevich, fictional character in the Marvel universe, better known as Rhino * Alexei Tezikov (1978–2020), Russian ice hockey player *

Alexei Yagudin Alexei Konstantinovich Yagudin ( rus, Алексей Константинович Ягудин, , ɐlʲɪˈksʲeɪ̯ kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪt͡ɕ ɪ̯ɪˈɡudʲɪn, Ru-Alexei Konstantinovich Yagudin.ogg; 18 March 1980) is a Russian former co ...

, Russian figure skater

Persons known by first name Alexey and variants

See also