Sasha

In the United States, the name Sasha skews heavily female (at last count it was ranked #640 for girls and was entirely out of the top 1000 most popular names for boys). But it's actually a boy's name in most of the world. Sasha is a nickname for Aleksandr, the Russian version of the Greek name Alexander, which means "defender of mankind". It's a truly unisex choice, still widely used around the globe for both boys and girls in its various forms: Sacha, Sascha, and Sashka, to name a few.

Even though it's mostly considered a female name in the U.S., reaching its popularity peak in 1988 at #147 on the girl name charts) a few celebrities have used it in recent years for their sons, shining a bit of a spotlight on it as a male name. Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky named one of their twins Sasha; Liev Schrieber and Naomi Watts use it as a nickname for their son Alexander. And of course there's comedian and 'Borat' star Sacha Baron Cohen.

There are celebrities who have named their daughters Sasha (or a variant!) too. Barack and Michelle Obama's daughter, whose given name is actually Natasha, has always gone by Sasha. Jerry Seinfeld and his wife Jessica chose the Sascha spelling for their daughter.

Beyoncé fans will automatically associate this name with Queen Bey's stage alter-ego, Sasha Fierce. In fact, she released an album in 2008 called 'I Am ... Sasha Fierce' that was an immediate hit. In film, there's actress Sasha Alexander, and there's also a notable sports figure with the same name — 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen.

Sasha in quotes:

"Sasha was a beautiful girl, with long, dark hair and big, dark eyes. She was also very intelligent and independent." — 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' by Steig Larsson

"Sasha looked at her with those eyes that were like the inside of an animal's, and she said, 'I'm going to call you Liesel.'" — 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak