Name of the Day: Sasha
She’s at home in the White House. He’s a widely-recognized celebritot.
Thanks to Kelly for suggesting the surprisingly gender-neutral Sasha as Name of the Day.
Head to Moscow, and you’ll find plenty of men answers to diminutives that end in sha and ya, including:
- Mischa, short for Mikhail, the Russian Michael;
- Petya, short for Pyotr, the Russian Peter;
- Pasha, short for Pavel, the Russian Paul.
They’re not the only nickname options, of course. And I’m not sure if some of these are subject to fashion. (Ever notice how a 60-something Robert is usually Bob, but a baby Robert is often Robbie?) They’re not just masculine, either. Girls answer to Anya, Katya and Tasha, and plenty of the diminutives do double-duty, akin to the American Chris or Pat.
Aleksandra and Aleksandr both shorten to Sasha. You’ll find some sites that prefer to list Sacha or Sascha as the masculine spelling, but that’s wishful thinking. After all, Russian isn’t just a different language – it’s written in a different alphabet.
Sasha will sound girly to the average English-speaker. Thanks to Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts’ firstborn, Alexander Pete, wearing the diminutive, the number of us recognizing Sasha as a viable option for boys is growing.
All of the Alex names have been at the heights of popularity in recent years. TV’s Dynasty catapulted Alexis to the girls’ Top 100 back in the early 1980s. But it isn’t quite clear how Sasha became a girls’ name.
Sasha debuted in US Top 1000 in 1972, peaked at #147 in 1988 and today comes in at #363. It would be easy to imagine parents landing on Sasha as an alternative to Alexandra – except Alexandra was still comfortably in the 300s as Sasha climbed the charts.
I have a few theories, but they’re all a little bit out there:
- Could it be a doll-inspired appellation? Swiss artist and dollmaker Sasha Morgenthaler turned her one-of-a-kind creations into a line of mass-produced dolls in the late 1960s. Collectors are known as Sashaphiles;
- Alexandra “Sasha” Bruce was the daughter of Ambassador David Bruce and his wife Evangeline. She died tragically in the 1970s and the family funded Washington DC’s Sasha Bruce Youthwork in her memory. But her death came after the name first charted;
- Barbara Corcoran wrote Sasha, My Friend, a story about a child and a wolf back in 1973. Sasha was the wolf;
- Actress Sasha Von Scherler – born Alexandra-Xenia – had been active in the New York theater since the 1950s.
None of the explanations fit the facts very well, and it isn’t as if other Russian names were in vogue for girls in the 1970s.
Today it is easy to imagine Sasha catching on, thanks to the high-profile female Sashas:
- Megastar Beyoncé uses the alter-ego Sasha Fierce;
- First Daughter Natasha Obama wears Sasha as a nickname;
- Figure skater Sasha Cohen won silver at the 2006 Turin Olympics;
- Vanessa Williams of Ugly Betty fame is mom to Sasha Gabriella.
At the same time, masculine bearers of the name are more prominent, from comedian Sacha Baron Cohen to many a fictional character.
My best guess is this: American parents might cautiously call their boys Sasha, but will continue to play it safe by putting Alexander on the birth certificate. For girls, the White House/Beyoncé connection could give this name a bump back up in the rankings.
Filed under: Global Village, Music & Lyrics, Names for Boys, Names for Girls, Names of the Day, Nicknames, Starbaby | 9 Comments
Tags: Alexandra, Sasha, Alexis, Anya, Peter, Paul, Natasha, Alexander, Alex, Bob, Robert, Michael, Tasha, Gabriella, Pat, Katya, Mischa, Mikhail, Petya, Pyotr, Pasha, Pavel, Robbie, Chris, Aleksandra, Aleksandr, Sacha, Sascha, Pete, Xenia
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The ‘a’ ending sounds feminine to my ear… and that’s coming from someone who speaks Russian (albeit very poorly these days). While Sasha isn’t entirely feminine to me (I have known several male bearers of the name, starting with a high school classmate), its similarity in sound to Natasha gives it a girly vibe.
The spelling of ‘sch’ is probably trying to replicate the unique letter in the Cyrillic, as you mentioned (there are two different ‘sh’ sounds in Russian). But both the male and female Sasha are spelled the same in Cyrillic, so a distinctive transliteration is definitely wishful thinking, as you point out.
Just a quick note on the Russian Peter… you’ve got a little typo – it’s Pyotr.
I’m not a huge fan of the name, regardless of gender… but there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just too sibilant sounding for my tastes.
Thanks. Fixing Pyotr now. Marilyn Albarelli is very disappointed with me.
I love this name ! I have a weakness for ‘s’ names. It’s one of those names that I can see on either gender & I don’t have a problem with it being on either gender. Unlike a name like Aubrey or Kendall, which I ONLY mind on girls & not boys,even though they started on boys.
I do prefer Sasha for a girl, though. I doubt I’d ever use it, but I do love the name. It sounds feisty & full of life. The name just screams vitality to me. I like it as a nickname for names like Anastasia (though I prefer Stasia), Marishka etc for girls. I also like Saskia which is sort of similar. I actually lived next door to a Sasha who was a gorgeous, sweet girl. The only other connotations I have are : Sacha Baron Cohen, Naomi Watts’s son,some American figure skater & a Sasha in a Christine Feehan novel.Other than that, it’s just a name that has always been in namocabulary (name + vocabulary) that I have always liked. I don’t really know the other Sasha connotations that you listed
I really like Saskia. Sasha would be a cute nickname for it!
That’s a clever thought!
I like Sasha for both genders. I’m a fan of Russian diminutives for girls in general. Besides Katya and Anya, I like Masha as a nickname for Maria and Dasha as a nickname for Daria. Although Masha kind of sounds like someone with a Boston accent saying Marsha/Marcia. (aka my Mom
)
What abut Mila which is also short for many Ukranian/Serbian/Russian names? I also quite like that one. I’ve come across 2 in real life & there is Mila Kunis & Mila Jovocovich (fingers crossed I spelled that correctly)
Oooh! I love Mila as a nickname for Milena or Amelia/Emilia.
Sasha – I had a serious crush on an older Russian teen boy named Sasha when I was 13. He was absolutely beautiful, and had a gorgeous accent. I don’t know that I would name my child Sasha, but it certainly brings back lovely memories. I wonder what happened to my Sasha? Hmmm…I might just head over to Facebook to look for him.