Sandra
(f) This is a short form of Alexandra. It was
used as a separate name in several countries, for example, Italy,
Yugoslavia, Rumania, Finland, before being used as such (in the
early 1930’s) in English-speaking countries. The reason
for its sudden appearance in Britain and elsewhere is not clear.
It had been mentioned, and indeed made much of, in George Meredith’s
novel Emilia in
England (subsequently renamed Sandra Belloni), published
in 1864.

In
the book Sandra is the daughter of an exiled
Italian and an Englishwoman. However, this novel can
hardly have been responsible, as Eric Partridge (Name
This Child) suggests, for popularising the name.