Head to head · Girls' names
Coraline vs Sasha
#683 vs #683 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Coraline and Sasha share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#683). The records cannot split them; sound and story will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Sasha leads 3 measures of 6; Coraline leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1950s: Coraline —, Sasha #6019 — Sasha higher
- 1960s: Coraline —, Sasha #4317 — Sasha higher
- 1970s: Coraline #7070, Sasha #758 — Sasha higher
- 1980s: Coraline —, Sasha #321 — Sasha higher
- 1990s: Coraline —, Sasha #352 — Sasha higher
- 2000s: Coraline #10780, Sasha #368 — Sasha higher
- 2010s: Coraline #729, Sasha #495 — Sasha higher
- 2020s: Coraline #694, Sasha #625 — Sasha higher
Sasha stood higher in every recorded decade — 8 of 8.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Coraline | Sasha |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | — | #6019 |
| 1960s | — | #4317 |
| 1970s | #7070 | #758 |
| 1980s | — | #321 |
| 1990s | — | #352 |
| 2000s | #10780 | #368 |
| 2010s | #729 | #495 |
| 2020s | #694 | #625 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Coraline
coral
The main reading takes it as a French diminutive of Coralie, from Latin corallium and Greek korallion, the coral of the Mediterranean. A second account ties it instead to Caroline: Neil Gaiman has said the name came to him as a mistyping of Caroline that he liked too much to correct. Both roads are real, and they arrive at the same spelling.
korallion (Greek) → corallium (Latin) → Coralie → Coraline
How it traveled
Coralie appears in French use from the nineteenth century, when coral ornaments were fashionable across Europe, and Coraline follows it as a diminutive on the same pattern that gives French Adeline beside Adele. The root runs back through Latin corallium to Greek korallion.
Sasha
defender of the people
Sasha is a diminutive rather than a word in itself; the meaning comes from Greek Alexandros, built from alexein, to defend, and andros, of man.
Alexandros → Alexander / Alexandra → Aleksandr / Aleksandra → Sasha
How it traveled
The root name is Greek: Alexandros, borne by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great, whose fame carried it across the ancient world and into nearly every European language. Russian took in both Aleksandr and Aleksandra and gave them the same household short form, Sasha, used freely for men and women alike — a pattern still standard across Russia, Ukraine and the Balkans.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Coraline
KOR-uh-line
KOR-uh-line, rhyming with the end of Caroline, is the usual American reading and the one used in the film. KOR-uh-leen also gets used, and French Coraline is closer to ko-ra-LEEN with the stress at the end. Worth deciding which you want, since both will be offered to you.
- Cora — The most used short form, and a long-established given name in its own right.
- Lina — Informal, taken from the back of the name; also a standalone name in several European languages.
- Cori — Casual spoken form, sometimes spelled Corrie or Cory.
- Coco — Household nickname rather than anything used on paper.
Sasha
SAH-shuh
Also widely said SASH-uh in the US, with the first vowel as in cash. Both are accepted; the stress stays on the first syllable either way.
- Sash — The common informal clip in English-speaking use, mostly within families and among friends.
- Sashenka — Russian affectionate double diminutive, used at home rather than in any official setting.
- Alexandra — Not a short form but the long one: some parents register Alexandra and use Sasha every day, which keeps a formal option in reserve.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Coraline if you want…
- a name with more sound in itCoraline runs 3 syllables, Sasha 2
Choose Sasha if you want…
- a name holding steadySasha is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesSasha is 2 syllables to Coraline's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Coraline
Strengths
- Cora comes ready-made as a short form and has a long independent record as a name of its own.
- Readable at first sight for English speakers — the pieces Cora and -line are both already familiar.
- Widely recognized through a well-known book and film, so it rarely needs spelling out from scratch.
To consider
- The Gaiman story is the association most people reach for, and it is a children's horror tale with button-eyed doubles in it. Many families love that; some would rather their daughter's name not arrive attached to a plot.
- Two pronunciations circulate — ending in -line or in -leen — so she will spend some of her life correcting people, whichever one you pick.
- In speech it sits close to Caroline and Coralie, and both will be written down by mistake now and then.
Sasha
Strengths
- Two syllables, spelled the way it sounds to most English readers, and short enough that it needs no nickname of its own.
- Recognized across Russian, French, German and Balkan usage, so it travels without translation or explanation.
- Sits on a documented line back to Greek Alexandros, one of the longest continuously used names in Europe.
To consider
- Sacha, Sascha and Saša are all established spellings elsewhere, so expect to confirm which one you mean fairly often.
- Across Russian, Ukrainian and Balkan communities Sasha is just as much a man's nickname — from Alexander — as a woman's, and people from those backgrounds may read it that way first.
- It is, at root, a diminutive, and a few relatives may treat it as the short form of something longer even when it stands alone on the birth certificate.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Coraline and Sasha in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Coraline and Sasha?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
Where Coraline and Sasha each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Coraline or Sasha — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Coraline or Sasha?
- They tie in 2025: Coraline ranked #683 with 414 babies; Sasha ranked #683 with 414 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Coraline or Sasha?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Coraline moved down 36 places; Sasha moved down 78 places.
- Which is the older name, Coraline or Sasha?
- Coraline entered the US charts in 1970; Sasha entered the US charts in 1956. On the American record, Sasha is the older name.
- How many people are named Coraline and Sasha?
- About 6,700 people named Coraline are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 38,000 people named Sasha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Coralines or Sashas in the classroom?
- Coraline will almost certainly be the only one in school. Sasha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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