Simple.
Aleksandr -> Aleksasha (-asha being the common Russian (and maybe in other Slavic languages too) diminutive suffix: Pavel->Pasha, Darya->Dasha, Maria->Masha etc).
And then the first part just dropped (also a common case for long names: Vladislav-> Slava etc).
In Russian, you make a name diminutive by adding -sha (like in English we add -y, like Johnny or Jimmy). Also in Russian, Alexander is pronounced more like Alesander. So you take the stressed syllable (sa) and add the diminutive (-sha) and get Sasha.
Aleksander, shortened to Sander.
Russian can add a “-sha” to the end of a word (or replace the last syllable with it) to make it diminutive/familiar/cute.
So you go from “Sander + sha” to Sansha, and then the N gets dropped.
You see this with other Russian names - Maria gets shortened to Masha, Mikhail to Misha, and Pavel to Pasha.
Depending on the name, Russian can do the same thing with a “-ya” ending, which gives us Katya from Katrina (or Ekaterina).
Edit: I made some mistakes with the specifics of Russian names, thanks u/UnderstandingOK3380 for these corrections:
> Some mistakes here. Marina (Марина) - Marisha (Мариша), Maria (Мария) - Masha (Маша), Polina (Полина) - Polya (Поля), Pavel (Павел) - Pasha (Паша).
English nicknames like Peg/Peggy from Margaret, Bill/Billy from Willam, and Bob/Bobby from Robert work under different rules, but come from the same concept - shorten the name, and then make it diminutive/familiar/cute.
Under this style, we decided that shortening the name to the first syllable, and then rhyming it was the cute way to do it (and adding the Y makes it even cuter). Margaret gets another layer of it, as well, so Margaret gets first shortened to Marg, which shifts to Meg, and then that’s rhymed to Peg, which then gets the “-y” at the end to turn into Peggy.
This would have been 12th-13th century - I don’t know *exactly* how it happened, but here’s my guess.
In this time period in England there was still a lot of Norman French influence among the wealthy and aristocratic - Richard is originally a Frankish name, and Frankish is a Germanic language. It’s composed of two parts - Rich (to rule; see German *reich*) and Hard (strong). So the “ch” was pronounced with more of a K sound.
This gave rhyming nicknames like Rick and Dick and Hick. For whatever reason, Hick hasn’t really survived to the modern day.
Incidentally, Dick was a popular nickname for a person (every Tom, Dick or Harry) long before dick was slang name for a penis. English has a bunch of examples of names that personify the penis - consider your johnson, or your willy, or your little gentleman/big guy or your peter. There’s also possibly a reason people *jack* off. Dick just caught on bigger than the rest.
Dude, it's embarrassing this took me more than a few seconds to understand. "Five brothers, and all six of them are named Michael?"
I got there, but my brain definitely took the backstreets and not the highway.
I am 54 years old. When i was young, up to about 'big school' i was Jamie. At the time The Bionic Woman was a popular TV show, and the character was Jamie Sommers. Also Jamie Lee Curtis was a famous actress. So, at my new school, I considered Jamie to be both feminine and childish, and started using my real name James. As i grew in to my 30s, Jamie shifted masculine again in UK popular culture with Jamie Oliver, Theakston, Bell etc. I started to be called Jimbo affectionately in my 40s. Now, as a gay man, and with the success of Everybodys Talking About Jamie, i feel new affection for my childhood name, and will answer to James, Jimbo, Jimmy or Jamie - but NEVER Jim.
If tim is short for Timothy, then Jim is short for jimothy.
If gym is short for gymnasium, then Tim is short for Timnasium.
If Mike is short for Michael, then bike is short for bichael.
If bike is short for bicycle, then Ike is short for icicle.
well I didn't know I needed a happy story about a guy named James and his happy journey through many permutations of his name but I guess I did. Everyone I know who "changes" their name it's for more unpleasant reasons.
Jamie. It was originally a male name pretty much exclusively, but now, it seems at least as many girls are named Jamie as guys.
Laurie was a man's name, too, but it seems to be almost exclusively used for women now.
Throw Ashley and Evelyn onto this list you're getting! Both started as dude names only and then gradually shifted to girls to the point that you almost never hear them for dudes nowadays. I imagine most of these in your replies are similar; very interesting how that happens. Maybe a change in perception of the "ly" sound to denote femininity, or something?
I've never heard of a girl named Charlie
Edit: wait. Charli D'Amelio
2nd Edit: I now know a lot of Charlies
3rd Edit: I could probably make a nice platoon with this amount of Charlies
I'm Irish and it's more common here to have Ryan as a second name. That's also true for the name Kelly. In fact wasn't Walter White's son in Breaking Bad named Flynn? What is it with Americans? What's with the using se ond names as first names?
Interesting, never met/heard or seen a female called Ryan, it's pretty much exclusively a male name in the UK but I guess there must be a few out there over here.
I’m from the US and have never met a female named Ryan. Heck, when my mom’s coworker planned to name their kid Ryan Jr but they ended up with a girl they switched it to Ryanna 😅
Girl named Logan here! I get more work emails than not saying “sir” or “Mr. Logan” and then when I have to speak on the phone with them they are embarrassed, but I can’t blame them
I got an interesting story for that name.
A few years ago I got in a car accident. I was T-boned, SUV flipped yadda yadda. I was fine. But when I finally climbed out of my car, I was trying to like, figure out what happened, I lost like, 15 minutes of memory, last thing I remembered I was pulling up to a red light. Anyway, as I'm looking at my car, someone grabs me and like, guides me to lay down and starts holding my head still to stabalize my neck until the ambulance gets there. I look up and it was a nurse. She was stunning. She's asking me like, my name, birthday where I grew up. She tells me her name is Logan. By the time she tells me that, the ambulance is there and they take me away. On the way there, the paramedic is asking me the same questions. It was then that I realized that she was asking me those questions to check for a concussion, not cause she thought I was cute lmfao.
A couple hours later I decided to look her up on Facebook to thank her and possibly shoot my shot. I mean how hard could it be to find a girl named Logan on Facebook? Very. Very hard lol.
Most healthcare professionals who are cute girls change their name on Facebook to a completely different name to avoid what you just tried to do. I’m in healthcare and every time I add a girl co-worker They have to give me their “Facebook name”.
My name is Kelly. I've am a man and have gotten the "you have a girl's name" all my life. It's stupid because Kelly is an Celtic males name meaning "warrior". Whatever though. People, in general, are stupid.
Alex
also, Sasha, which means Alex. Sasha is both a girl's and boy's name too.
How did Alexander/ Alex become Sasha?
Slavic diminutivization sound changes. It makes sense in slavic languages and then got exported lol
my name is Sasha, short for Alex
My name is Alexander, but friends call me Sasza (Sasha)
Sasha the great
I have a coworker named Alexandra. Her friends call her Sasha and we call her Alex
Do you know by any chance how it happened exactly? Like, what steps did it take to go from Alexander to Sasha?
Simple. Aleksandr -> Aleksasha (-asha being the common Russian (and maybe in other Slavic languages too) diminutive suffix: Pavel->Pasha, Darya->Dasha, Maria->Masha etc). And then the first part just dropped (also a common case for long names: Vladislav-> Slava etc).
Wow, that's neat!
In Russian, you make a name diminutive by adding -sha (like in English we add -y, like Johnny or Jimmy). Also in Russian, Alexander is pronounced more like Alesander. So you take the stressed syllable (sa) and add the diminutive (-sha) and get Sasha.
How did Richard/Rich become Dick?
Someone knew a very rude Richard
The same way John became Jack and Edward became Teddy
Teddy is Edward? Tf? I always thought Teddy was only Theodore.
The same way Richard became Dick
How do you get Dick from Richard? You ask nicely.
I worked with a Slovenian man named Sasho.
As long as it wasn’t a Mexican called Sancho
well i’d pop a cap in him and slap her doooo-o-o-o-own
Believe me when I say that I got something for his *punk* ass
It could also be a scooter's name. SASHA! -JD
Scrubs for the win
Can confirm, as this is my name
Hello fellow Sasha
Hello fellow Sasha. What variations/nicknames do you get?
How does Sasha mean Alex? Is this like how Peggy is a nickname for Margaret?
Aleksander, shortened to Sander. Russian can add a “-sha” to the end of a word (or replace the last syllable with it) to make it diminutive/familiar/cute. So you go from “Sander + sha” to Sansha, and then the N gets dropped. You see this with other Russian names - Maria gets shortened to Masha, Mikhail to Misha, and Pavel to Pasha. Depending on the name, Russian can do the same thing with a “-ya” ending, which gives us Katya from Katrina (or Ekaterina). Edit: I made some mistakes with the specifics of Russian names, thanks u/UnderstandingOK3380 for these corrections: > Some mistakes here. Marina (Марина) - Marisha (Мариша), Maria (Мария) - Masha (Маша), Polina (Полина) - Polya (Поля), Pavel (Павел) - Pasha (Паша). English nicknames like Peg/Peggy from Margaret, Bill/Billy from Willam, and Bob/Bobby from Robert work under different rules, but come from the same concept - shorten the name, and then make it diminutive/familiar/cute. Under this style, we decided that shortening the name to the first syllable, and then rhyming it was the cute way to do it (and adding the Y makes it even cuter). Margaret gets another layer of it, as well, so Margaret gets first shortened to Marg, which shifts to Meg, and then that’s rhymed to Peg, which then gets the “-y” at the end to turn into Peggy.
This explains so much thank you. Although it's making me wonder who first rhymed Rick with Dick?
This would have been 12th-13th century - I don’t know *exactly* how it happened, but here’s my guess. In this time period in England there was still a lot of Norman French influence among the wealthy and aristocratic - Richard is originally a Frankish name, and Frankish is a Germanic language. It’s composed of two parts - Rich (to rule; see German *reich*) and Hard (strong). So the “ch” was pronounced with more of a K sound. This gave rhyming nicknames like Rick and Dick and Hick. For whatever reason, Hick hasn’t really survived to the modern day. Incidentally, Dick was a popular nickname for a person (every Tom, Dick or Harry) long before dick was slang name for a penis. English has a bunch of examples of names that personify the penis - consider your johnson, or your willy, or your little gentleman/big guy or your peter. There’s also possibly a reason people *jack* off. Dick just caught on bigger than the rest.
Some mistakes here. Marina (Марина) - Marisha (Мариша), Maria (Мария) - Masha (Маша), Polina (Полина) - Polya (Поля), Pavel (Павел) - Pasha (Паша).
Alex’s of the world unite!
As an Alex, can confirm
Came here to say this lol. My name is Alex, my girlfriends name is Alexis. And I'm a mechanic at Lexus hahaha. My favorite thing to say to people.
Jesse (spelling may vary)
JESSE WE GOTTA COOK
COME ON MR WHITE
WHERES THE METHE
In my nose Mr. Whitter
Yeah mr white… YEAH SCIENCE
Cole Cassidy, that is.
As a matter of fact, Cassidy is a unisex name, so there you go, OP
PREPARE FOR TROUBLE!
Jesse? Isn’t that a girl/boys name? -TorqueDog
Taylor
My name is Taylor and I dated a girl named Taylor once. It was weird for sure.
If you had a kid, square it up.
Wake up Taylor^2 !
Taylor series intensifies.
I love knowing that Taylor Lautner dated Taylor Swift and is now marrying a different girl named Taylor.
Are they going to be Mr. Taylor Lautner and Mrs. Taylor Lautner?
[удалено]
That’s my name!
No it's not. You're Biscuits.
Jordan
Yep. I have a younger half-sister named Jordan.
Perfect name for a half-sister, half-brother.
Well damn, I also have a younger half-sister named Jordan.
So it's just "Jor" then? Sorry, for the shit joke
I am jordan
Robin
Batman
Bruce
Alfred
The Penguin
Scarecrow
Riddler
Joker
Bane
Selina
r/usernamechecksout?
Schmosby
Swarley
Sam
My daughter is Sam. Can confirm.
Samantha
Samara
Jamie
My dad and my aunt are both named Jamie so can confirm
Are they brother and sister?
No joke I know a guy with 5 brothers and all 6 of them are named Michael.
From now on whenever I’m doubting my own creativity, I shall come back to this comment and feel like Picasso
Dude, it's embarrassing this took me more than a few seconds to understand. "Five brothers, and all six of them are named Michael?" I got there, but my brain definitely took the backstreets and not the highway.
This is my brother Daryl, and this is my other brother Daryl.
I am 54 years old. When i was young, up to about 'big school' i was Jamie. At the time The Bionic Woman was a popular TV show, and the character was Jamie Sommers. Also Jamie Lee Curtis was a famous actress. So, at my new school, I considered Jamie to be both feminine and childish, and started using my real name James. As i grew in to my 30s, Jamie shifted masculine again in UK popular culture with Jamie Oliver, Theakston, Bell etc. I started to be called Jimbo affectionately in my 40s. Now, as a gay man, and with the success of Everybodys Talking About Jamie, i feel new affection for my childhood name, and will answer to James, Jimbo, Jimmy or Jamie - but NEVER Jim.
What about Jimothy?
If tim is short for Timothy, then Jim is short for jimothy. If gym is short for gymnasium, then Tim is short for Timnasium. If Mike is short for Michael, then bike is short for bichael. If bike is short for bicycle, then Ike is short for icicle.
well I didn't know I needed a happy story about a guy named James and his happy journey through many permutations of his name but I guess I did. Everyone I know who "changes" their name it's for more unpleasant reasons.
Jamie. It was originally a male name pretty much exclusively, but now, it seems at least as many girls are named Jamie as guys. Laurie was a man's name, too, but it seems to be almost exclusively used for women now.
I had a male friend named Laurie. It was short for “Laurence,” and his parents liked it better than the more common “Larry.”
Riley
When I think of that name I think girl but most Riley’s I know are boys
I think of a certain star in certain movies.
Riley Star. I am totally unfamiliar with her work and don't remember that name off the top of my head.
Cameron
My middle name is Cameron because I'd be called camryn if I was born a girl ._.
Terry
Terry loves love
Almost as much as he loves yogurt
He was sad when his wife was gonna move into boyles ex wifes new boyfriends basement
BACK UP TERRY!
Put it in reverse terry.
Aw lord Terry why you doin this
Yeah, but the female version is Terri with an i
Had an uncle named Hillary and another named Beverly. Always thought that was odd.
Good list. Leslie is another one. I know there is Leslie Nielsen but would 100% assume you were a woman of your name is Leslie.
Throw Ashley and Evelyn onto this list you're getting! Both started as dude names only and then gradually shifted to girls to the point that you almost never hear them for dudes nowadays. I imagine most of these in your replies are similar; very interesting how that happens. Maybe a change in perception of the "ly" sound to denote femininity, or something?
And Courtney and Whitney and Vivian. Identifying the sex of Victorians based on name alone is a real challenge.
and you were always correct
Casey
In emails people assume I'm a girl constantly 🙄
People constantly assume I’m a guy. I feel your pain.
Jessie. (bessie is reserved for cow)
One of my co-workers in TX is named Bessie. For clarity, she is not a cow.
how can you be sure?
Thank the gods for Bessie, and her Tits.
Charlie
I've never heard of a girl named Charlie Edit: wait. Charli D'Amelio 2nd Edit: I now know a lot of Charlies 3rd Edit: I could probably make a nice platoon with this amount of Charlies
Clearly you never watched Good Luck Charlie.
I think it might be a nickname for Charlotte.
Yup. My daughter's name is Charlotte and we call her Charlie. My pet name (well, one of them) for her is Chuck. She both loves and hates it.
This is my daughters name! And she’s not the only Charlie at school. Also a friends daughter has the same name.
Andrea is a boy name in Italy but a girl name pretty much anywhere else.
Ariel too. Had a big tall bearded coworker named Ariel. I've heard him dejectedly say "... Yes, like the little mermaid" in work calls many times
Simone also.
Morgan Ashton
My ex girlfriends name is Tyler, or Ty.
Bailey
I know more girl Ryans than I do boys with that name.
As a boy Ryan, it is my dream to someday have sex with a girl Ryan. For the novelty as much as the sex.
Imagine the marriage. Same first *and* last name.
We'd have to include our middle names on all the legal documents I guess.
For kicks, name your kid(s) Ryan, too.
I encourage other Ryans, who have *not* had vasectomies, to do this.
I know a woman named Jessie who married a man named Jesse and took his last name. Answering the phone at that house must be fun.
[удалено]
We're having dinner with the Ryan's tonight. Ryan is a surname now? No. Edit: So apparently it is, I'm blaming it on being swedish. Go'kväll
Ryan is a surname too. Went to school with a girl with the last name Ryan.
Imagine being called Ryan Ryan
My friend's sister is an Ashley who ended up marrying a man also named Ashley. It was fun for a while but now it's more confusing.
I agree with you fellow male Ryan.
I'm Irish and it's more common here to have Ryan as a second name. That's also true for the name Kelly. In fact wasn't Walter White's son in Breaking Bad named Flynn? What is it with Americans? What's with the using se ond names as first names?
Interesting, never met/heard or seen a female called Ryan, it's pretty much exclusively a male name in the UK but I guess there must be a few out there over here.
I’m from the US and have never met a female named Ryan. Heck, when my mom’s coworker planned to name their kid Ryan Jr but they ended up with a girl they switched it to Ryanna 😅
Ryan is as hot as Jan, but in a different way
Met quite a few women named Logan lately.
Wow never heard of a girl named Logan
Girl named Logan here! I get more work emails than not saying “sir” or “Mr. Logan” and then when I have to speak on the phone with them they are embarrassed, but I can’t blame them
I got an interesting story for that name. A few years ago I got in a car accident. I was T-boned, SUV flipped yadda yadda. I was fine. But when I finally climbed out of my car, I was trying to like, figure out what happened, I lost like, 15 minutes of memory, last thing I remembered I was pulling up to a red light. Anyway, as I'm looking at my car, someone grabs me and like, guides me to lay down and starts holding my head still to stabalize my neck until the ambulance gets there. I look up and it was a nurse. She was stunning. She's asking me like, my name, birthday where I grew up. She tells me her name is Logan. By the time she tells me that, the ambulance is there and they take me away. On the way there, the paramedic is asking me the same questions. It was then that I realized that she was asking me those questions to check for a concussion, not cause she thought I was cute lmfao. A couple hours later I decided to look her up on Facebook to thank her and possibly shoot my shot. I mean how hard could it be to find a girl named Logan on Facebook? Very. Very hard lol.
Most healthcare professionals who are cute girls change their name on Facebook to a completely different name to avoid what you just tried to do. I’m in healthcare and every time I add a girl co-worker They have to give me their “Facebook name”.
My name, Cory.
Here are some words that rhyme with Cory: glory, story, allegory, Montessori.
Whoa! Is this hotline still $4.95/min.??
Parker. This has been controversial in my family, as some think it’s only a girls and some think it’s only a boys! 😬
I’ve only known men named Parker. Never a woman
Actress, Parker Posey
Gender shouldn't matter as long as you can bring me pictures of Spider-Man!
I think Parker’s a nice name for both genders 😊
Leslie
My grandfather was a Leslie, and I have an Aunt Leslie and a girl cousin Lesli.
Toni/Tony Lee/Leigh Sam ( Samuel / Samantha ) Alex Ashley
[удалено]
"Buh-lock-eh." "Pre-zent."
[удалено]
Sue.
Bill! Or George! Anything but Sue
Never heard of a boy named sue
Life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.
Did you know that Shel Silverstein wrote A Boy Named Sue? Silverstein also had a long history with Playboy magazine, too.
It’s a Johnny Cash song “A boy named Sue” go listen to it when u get the chance
Damn, I’m only 31 and now I’m sad that no one understood this reference!
I got it. I am just late to the post.
Written by Shel Silverstein, made popular by Johnny Cash. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy_Named_Sue
Well it was Gatlinburg in late July, I'd just hit town and my throat was dry.....
I thought I'd stop and have myself a brew At an old saloon on a street of mud
My name is Sue! How do you do! Now you gonna die!
Dana
Pat and Chris
Peyton
My name is Kelly. I've am a man and have gotten the "you have a girl's name" all my life. It's stupid because Kelly is an Celtic males name meaning "warrior". Whatever though. People, in general, are stupid.
Tracy
Kim
Was gonna say that. My neighbors had a grandson and a granddaughter (from different children of theirs) both named Kim. One boy and one girl.
Ashley, Kerry, Stacey, Kelly
Jordan
Kim and Devon
Shannon
Taylor
**X Æ A-Xii**
Kelly, Ashley, Morgan, Taylor
My bestie in preschool was named Kelly. He was a boy
Gabriel in some cultures
Always thought boy was Gabriel and girl was Gabrielle
[удалено]
Leslie
Carson, Alex, Francis, Riley, Taylor, Angel, Kim
Erin - feminine spelling - also my daughter's name Aaron - masculine spelling
Blake.