Has anyone ever heard this name before?
I only know it as a Russian nickname for [name]Alexander[/name], and am thus only personally familiar with it for boys. On the other hand, [name]Sasha[/name] is used equally for [name]Alexander[/name] and [name]Alexandra[/name], so I suppose there is no reason why [name]Shura[/name] couldn’t be unisex as well. (But it does seem like a diminutive to me, not a full name.)
Nameberry says – russian nickname
[name]Baby[/name] Name Pedia says – The baby boy name [name]Shura[/name] is sometimes used as a girl name. Its pronunciation is -SHUW-Raa- †. [name]Shura[/name] is used chiefly in the Russian language and its origin is Old Greek. [name]Shura[/name] is a pet form of the name [name]Alexander[/name] (Dutch, English, [name]German[/name], Hungarian, and Slavic).
[name]Baby[/name] Names World says – boy – form of [name]Aleksandr[/name] – means “defending men” in Greek
Does that help? Since i’m unfamiliar with it in general, I would have assumed girl if that makes you feel better and I agree with I in boston about [name]Alexandra[/name].
Thanks for the feedback! To me it is like [name]Sasha[/name]/[name]Sascha[/name]/[name]Sandra[/name] it can be stand alone but it is tied to [name]Alexandra[/name]…
I’ve never met one & I don’t really know how is derived from [name]Alexandra[/name]!
I’ve also heard it as a Yiddish variant on [name]Sarah[/name]/[name]Sara[/name]. But it’s completely possible that while it was used as a [name]Sarah[/name] equivalent in Yiddish culture, it was absorbed from local Eastern European cultures, that were using it for [name]Alexandra[/name] first. There was a pressure, especially for girls, to find names that blended more than [name]Sarah[/name]/[name]Rachel[/name] and that led to a lot of variants like [name]Shura[/name] or [name]Raizel[/name] or whatever.
[name]Shura[/name] from [name]Alexander[/name] probably started out as a blend of [name]Sasha[/name] and [name]Alyosha[/name]?