Alexandra - nn for a girl?

[Umnitsa]

Russian mother / American father in London are trying to come up with the most beautiful name in the world for their first daughter... (well, the mother is, whilst the father is happy with the veto right!) We also want something that can be easily pronounced and have positive connotations in both languages.

Alexandra is on the short list. I am thinking of using Olesya / Alesya / Lesya as a nickname. It is quite popular in Russia and Ukraine (spelt as Olesya, pronounced Alesya), but I am wondering whether in London it may be perceived as a trying-too-hard made-up name. I understand there is a similar-sounding Italian Alessia but it makes me think of the Alessi brand. We could stick to Alexia / Lexie which are pretty close to Alesya as well, but it doesn't sound quite right in Russian, and I don't want her to pronounce her name differently depending on the language she is speaking.

Sasha is, of course, another good nn for Alexandra, but it's the name of my godson who is my best friend's son, so it will be almost like having cousins with the same name.

Would welcome your views on Alesya - and any other alternatives!

Thanks

Has anyone mentioned Zandra, like Zandra Rhodes? I presume that is a nn for Alexandra, no? Not sure I like it particularly, but anyway...

Alexandra has so many nicknames you probably wont be able to controp what other people call her/what she calls herself.

Best to be happy with all the nn's before using it.

Thank you for your responses and ideas.

Ola/ Olya is my name (Olga) so we'll probably want to distinguish between us!

Ali / Alia was the name of my dog so won't quite work either

Zandra sounds rather harsh to me.

Tiggy - sounds sweet but to my Russian ear has little connection to Alexandra

You are right that in the end people may come up with nicknames which will be beyond our control - c'est la vie. All I am trying to figure out now is whether the name WE are going to call her - Alesya - will sound weird, pretentious or unpronounceable, send the wrong message or has "bullying potential", all the nuances we may not be aware of having grown up in other countries with different cultures.

I think if it is just the family name you are going to use as a nick, it really doesn't matter much. If her name is Alexandra, no one will call her Aleysia at school etc. If they overheard the name - you speaking to your dd for instance, I can't see any reason for it to lead to bullying. No strikingly obvious reason I can think of.

Well they might find it weird in the sense it will definitely sound foreign to English speaking people but I don't think it will be weird in a bad way that would cause your dd any difficulty at all.

Possibly if she goes to nursery/school and you tell the teacher that yes her name is Alexandra but she is always known as Aleysia, people will use it, otherwise I doubt it tbh

I don't think Alesya has any particularly positive connotations for English ears but it doesn't have negative ones either that I am aware of. Just sounds a bit like a foreign version of Alice really