I'm sorry, but Risha doesn't mean "Taurus child". Jews don't believe in astrology.
Risha is indeed an Ashkenazic female name, probably a pet form of
Rahel, or maybe
Rivka or
Raisa, or any name beginning in R-. It could even be a pet form of
Miriam -> Marushka -> Risha.
I'm also thinking of a form of
Rika (meaning "rich, wealthy" in Frankish, it has often been used as a vernacular for names like
Rahel and
Rivka. Another form is Rykla).
There's also Morasha, "heritage" in Hebrew (
http://www.hebrewletters.com/item.cfm?itemid=5560), and
Rasha, "gazelle" in Arabic.
Check:
Ryka:
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model~GNDB_POLA~RICH~GT~!1!!2!!3!~0~USRECORD1079
Risha as a nn for
Rivka:
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model~GNDB_POLA~RISH*~GT~!1!!2!!3!~0~USRECORD1085
Risha as a nn for
Rasha:
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model~GNDB
Risha as a nn for
Raisa:
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model~GNDB_POLA~RAI~GT~!1!!2!!3!~0~USRECORD1076
edited to add: Risha could be a pet form of Rishona:
http://www.hebrewletters.com/item.cfm?itemid=1848
This message was edited 1/13/2005, 7:53 AM