"Sandra, that's no name for anybody; that was a name for movie stars around 1948. Nobody's used it since. But the fact is, her name really is Sandra. - - - In the mills towns like Torrington and Bristol, the Italians might very well call a girl Sandra for real. Straight. It's just short for Alessandra. Alexandra. So she has numerous choices - she can be Sandy, a clean-cut WASP, or she can be Renaissance Alessandra, or movie-star Sandra, or old-fashioned Edwardian Alexandra, all on the one name."