Alexey


Alexey is a Russian male given name derived from the Greek Aléxios, meaning "Defender", and thus of the same origin as the Latin Alexius.
Similar Ukrainian and Belarusian names are romanized as Oleksii and Aliaksiej, respectively.
The Russian Orthodox Church uses the ecclesiastical form, Alexiy or Aleksiy, for its Saints and hierarchs. The name became fairly popular in Russia after the baptism of Michael of Russia's son, Alexis of Russia.
The common hypocoristic is Alyosha or simply Lyosha. These may be further transformed into Alyoshka, Alyoshenka, Lyoshka, Lyoha, Lyoshenka, sometimes rendered as Alesha or Aleshenka in English. The form Alyosha may be used as a full first name in Bulgaria 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.
The corresponding patronymics are Alexeyevich and Alexeyevna.
The following surnames derive from Alexey and its various forms:

Royalty and historical figures