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ArchivesRe: Sanya & Vanya
in reply to a message by Sofia
Edwin D. Lawson's article about Russian names (a very reliable source) lists Sasha as nickname for Alexander and Alexandra and Sanya only for Alexander (not for Sofya), which means that in Russian it is not even feminine:
http://www.fredonia.edu/faculty/emeritus/edwinlawson/russiannames/
It is probable that when heard by non-Russian speakers, the ending -a was interpreted as a feminine mark and connected by folk etymology with Sonya (because Sanya and Sonya are similar) and then used incorrectly.
That said, I completely agree that Wikipedia is not a reliable source in general (some of the versions are better than others), especially in onomastics.
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
http://www.fredonia.edu/faculty/emeritus/edwinlawson/russiannames/
It is probable that when heard by non-Russian speakers, the ending -a was interpreted as a feminine mark and connected by folk etymology with Sonya (because Sanya and Sonya are similar) and then used incorrectly.
That said, I completely agree that Wikipedia is not a reliable source in general (some of the versions are better than others), especially in onomastics.
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
This message was edited 11/13/2009, 12:08 AM
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Replies
Thank you so much for that information!
Well, in Croatia both Vanja and Sasha are used as unisex names, so I's not hard to see where Sanja would also go under this category (although Sanja is exclusively female here).
It's also possible that it was created as a mix of Sonja and Tanja here, since both names were very popular at the time Sanja came into prominence.
Add the fact that Sanja is a word name here, I doubt there even is a clear answer.
BTW, there's a male form in use here - Sanjin.
Well, in Croatia both Vanja and Sasha are used as unisex names, so I's not hard to see where Sanja would also go under this category (although Sanja is exclusively female here).
It's also possible that it was created as a mix of Sonja and Tanja here, since both names were very popular at the time Sanja came into prominence.
Add the fact that Sanja is a word name here, I doubt there even is a clear answer.
BTW, there's a male form in use here - Sanjin.
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