Sasha

Defender of men, through the Alexander name family.

Sasha is an affectionate Russian form of Aleksandr and Aleksandra, also used in Ukrainian. Through that family it carries the Greek meaning “defender of men”; this is the meaning inherited from the longer name, rather than a separate Russian word. In Cyrillic it is written Саша. Its use for both masculine and feminine full names makes the shared-gender history part of the name itself, not something deduced from its final a. Russian /ˈsaʂə/ places the stress first; the English forms /ˈsæʃə/ and /ˈsɑːʃə/ keep that two-beat shape. The flowing s and sh sounds give Sasha an easygoing, companionable feel. It may appeal to someone drawn to the Alexander family who prefers the intimacy of an affectionate form to the more formal presence of the longer names.

Etymology: An affectionate Russian form of Aleksandr or Aleksandra, also used in Ukrainian, ultimately from Greek Alexandros.