ALEXANDER LUGO

From the Latin form of the Greek name Alexandros, from alexein ‘to defend’ + anēr ‘man, warrior’ (genitive andros). The name became extremely popular in the post-classical period, and was borne by several individuals in the New Testament and some early Christian saints. Its use as a common given name throughout Europe, however, derives largely from the fame of Alexander the Great, King of Macedon (356–323 bc), around whom a large body of popular legend grew up in late antiquity, much of which came to be embodied in the medieval ‘Alexander romances’.

Galician and Spanish: habitational name from Lugo, a city in Galicia.This was a Roman settlement under the name of Lucus Augusti ‘grove or wood of Augustus’, but that may have been no more than an adaptation of an earlier name derived from that of the Celtic god Lugos.