Name niggle - upset

[Allegraspicnic]

I named my son Alexander with the diminutive Sacha to be used every day. Overall I love this full name and shortening.

I knew all along that the original Russian diminutive is Sasha. I just preferred the spelling Sacha, so thought fine, all legit.

However I’ve only just really realised that in French (where the Sacha spelling originates) the name would be Alexandre, not Alexander so I feel what I’ve chosen doesn’t work. I like accuracy and feel I’ve messed up.

I’ve heard Alexander - Sascha, it’s not the original Sasha spelling but in least in Germany both Alexander and Sascha are used so there’s continuity.

I know this shouldn’t be irking me on Xmas day but it is!

He’s 1 now, it would be odd perhaps to change the spelling? Have to tell family/ friends etc and awkward. I guess I’m prepared to do it, I always plan on using this diminutive so it feels important to get right.

What do people think? Am I overthinking? Is Alexander —> Sacha wrong? Do people know others who’ve done it this way?

TIA

I don’t think anyone will know or be bothered about this. You are over thinking!

I knew an Alexander -> Sacha many years ago. He came from a very old aristocratic family which suggests to me that it's not a new or unusual spelling. His surname was German if that's any help.

I'm pretty pedantic about names and spellings in a lot of ways, but this is bonkers. It's a diminutive, you can spell it how you like.

Phew thanks everyone. Always overthink at Xmas time so glad to hear this is probably some projection!

It’s completely fine! They are diminutives we’ve adopted in the Uk, and it’s normal we’d use either for the Uk version of the name.

Plus, the slightly different French spelling of the name doesn’t have anything to do with the shortening.

It’s a nice name. I also think you’re are better with Sacha for a boy - it’s slightly more unisex in a UK context, as Sasha became a stand alone female name in the 70s.

I wouldn’t be changing it now he’s a year old. But be prepared for him/other people to choose to use his full name or Alex or Xander.

Thanks, that was the point of using Alexander - to give him options throughout his life. I doubt others will change it though, few people actually know is bc name and at school I will always register him as “known as Sacha”

In Russian its obviously in a different alphabet, so the sh/ch/sch distinction is irrelevant - it all sounds the same as the 'sh' character which is used in the Russian spelling.

They are both beautiful names, you are overthinking it! My DD has a nickname that shares only the first letter with her name and she and I love both, and no one has tried to rename her by a shortening of her longer name, even though there would be several options (not her name but an example would be elizabeth nicknamed eddie, no one uses lizzie or anything like that).

I thought this was going to be about someone with the name Niggle (maybe a misspelling of Nigel)! I think I've only ever seen the Sacha spelling used for a boy so I agree with the person who said it is probably the best one to use. And I love that you are open-minded about him using other short forms when he's older if he wants.

You are overthinking it. No-one will care about the spelling.

It’s a nickname and you can choose what you like for that. Definitely overthinking it!

What about the delicious soup that rejoices in the name of shchi?

I'm really pedantic about names and spellings, but this wouldn't bother me at all.

Thank you everyone, I appreciate you all taking the time to write back on such a full on day! Will let it go now 😅

About 1 in 10000 will have an inkling of what you are talking about!

It's a lovely name for a boy OP, all forms and however you spell it 💕

If Alexander is on the birth certificate, presumably you ( or he when older) could switch the spelling of Sasha/ Sacha easily?

Or indeed the other soup, borshsh. That's a separate character to the one in Sasha, as I suspect you know? But for English speakers the two sounds are pretty much indistinguishable.

Sacha is indeed the French spelling of Sasha

As it's only a nickname, why not just change it to Sasha?

Thanks. Everyone knows him as Sacha, spells his name this way, we’ve attached to it, and so it doesn’t really feel like only a nn to us. Alexander is there for him for if he ever wants it, and great point about him changing the spelling if he ever wishes. I appreciate everyone’s thoughts and think I’ll check out of this thread for now so I don’t dwell - chronic over thinker! Happy Xmas.