Masha


In Russian, Masha is a diminutive of Maria. It has been used as a nickname or as a pet name for women named Maria or Marie. An alternative spelling in the Latin alphabet is "Macha". In Serbo-Croatian and Slovene "Maša" is a diminutive of "Marija" but can be a given name in its own right.
The Jewish name Masha is actually of Biblical extraction. Tradition has it that the first Masha was named after a departed male named Moshe.

Other diminutives of Maria

There are a large number of diminutives in Russian for Maria beside Masha: