2) I don't know about Russia, but in other Slavic countries Dusha/ Duša, Duška,
Dusana, etc. are legitimate names (all derived from 'dusha' meaning soul).
3) The Russian Dasha I know uses it as a nickname for
Daria. I've never heart of it as a form of
Dorothy and it doesn't seem very plausible to me. Russian diminutives are coined by adding -sha to a part of the original name (
Maria =
Masha,
Daria = Dasha,
Natalia =
Tasha,
Aleksandr =
Sasha, etc.), so Dosha would be a nickname for
Dorotea.
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http://www.dofunstuff.net/http://pacingthepanicroom.blogspot.com/This message was edited 9/25/2010, 3:04 PM