Alexander, NN Sasha

[Corvuscorone]

Ds is due in early April and we are struggling to make a definite decision on a name. We both like Alexander but I have known so many people called Alex, both male and female and I'm just not keen on it. Dh and I travelled in Russia for our honeymoon and had a lovely male guide called Sasha but I'm concerned that it is seen as much more of a female name here in the UK. Is it inevitable that Alexander would end up an Alex?

Once the child has started school you will not be able to control their nn, so as you say you don't like Alex, I'd find another name.

Also, Zander has been massively popular lately so he could be one of several in his class.

I've always loved the name - maybe because I had a bit of a crush on a male Sacha when I was a teenager

We only know boy Sashas (often nickname for Alexander). I like it.

In France, you'd spell it Sacha due to the different pronunciation. But in the UK it's Sasha. In Germany it's Sascha.

I absolutely love the Alexander/Sasha combination. I have an imaginary husband called Sasha. He never keeps me awake with his snoring like the real one who is lying next to me...snoring

I think you'd have to introduce your ds as Sasha from day one - that way it will stick. If he is known as Alexander then the Alex shortening is probably inevitable.

Sacha is a boys name
Sasha is a girls name
Why would you call him Alexander if actually ypu don't like the name enough to call him that and need to choose a nickname in advance? Nicknames evolve!

I agree with pp that you would need to call him by the nn from day 1 or people will try to call him Alex. I have an Alexander and wanted to call him Alec for short but most people call him Alex automatically - even I've started doing it now .

If he's introduced to everyone as Sacha it would be a bit odd if someone took it upon themselves to refer to him as Alex.

Or just call him Sacha and bypass Alexander altogether.

mouldy, as several people have already pointed out, Sacha is French and Sasha is used in other various countries of Europe. Sascha is German. Sasza is Polish. Sasja is Dutch. And on and on and on.

Nothing to do with the sex of the child. Sacha/Sasha etc is primarily a male name in Europe but more recently has been used for girls too so can be considered unisex at this point. In a lot of European countries, it's almost exclusively a male name.

Thank you all for your replies. I'm happy there have been so many positive ones. It seems that most people do recognise Sasha as a boys name. We would definitely use that spelling. As it has been mentioned the differences in spelling are geographical rather than because of the sex. I'm of Russian descent (a few generations back) and it was inspired by our travels in Russia. I really like a more traditional name as an option and do love the name Alexander but it is long so will inevitably get shortened. Sasha is my preferred NN but I accept that I wouldn't be able to control that as he got older. I am feeling really positive about the name now so thank you!

As others have said, the spelling has nothing to do with the gender, it has to do with the language/country.

France - Sacha (think ho they pronounce le chat)
Germany - Sascha (most words use sch instead of sh)
England - Sasha

Also, in Germany the name is only allowed for boys.