English, Spanish, Romanian, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Pronounced
rahk-SAN-ə (English) , rok-SAHN-ah (Spanish)
Roxana Meaning
Latin form of Ρωξανη (Roxane) , the Greek form of the Persian or Bactrian name (Roshanak) which meant "bright" or "dawn". This was the name of Alexander the Great's first wife, a daughter of the Bactrian nobleman Oxyartes. In the modern era it came into use during the 17th century. In the English-speaking world it was popularized by Daniel Defoe, who used it in his novel 'Roxana' (1724).
