Sasha (name)

Pronunciation	/ˈsæʃə/ SASH-ə /ˈsɑːʃə/ SAH-shə
Gender	Unisex
Word/name	Slavic, from Greek
Meaning	defender, helper of mankind
Related names	Alexandra, Alexander, Oleksandr(a), Saša, Sascha, Sacha, Sasho, Sasza, Satyana

Sasha is a unisex given name. It originated in countries of Eastern and Southern Europe as a diminutive of Alexander and Alexandra. It is also found as a surname, although this is very rare. Alternative spellings include: Сáша ("Sasha" - Russian, Serbian), Сашо ("Sasho" - Bulgarian), Саше ("Sashe" - Macedonian), Saša (Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Latvian, Lithuanian), Sașa (Romanian), Sasza (Polish), Сашко ("Sashko" - Ukrainian), Sascha (German), Sasja (Dutch and Swedish), and Sacha (French).

This name is especially common in Europe where it is used by males and females as a diminutive of Alexander and Alexandra. Despite its popularity in informal usage, the name is rarely recorded on birth certificates in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, as it is considered a diminutive and not a formal name. Exceptions are Serbia, Croatia, Germany and Switzerland.

In French-speaking regions (France,Belgium, Quebec), Sacha is almost exclusively given to males (Sasha is much rarer and approximately given equally to both genders). In the United States the name is almost exclusively used for girls (at number 569 in the ranking of U.S. baby names in 2014), although it didn't gain popularity until the 1970s.

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