Just to shove my oar in.

I believe that Raj is simply a corruption of Rajya. A lot of Hindi words were simplified when taken on in Anglo-Indian usage.

And Raj would be pronounced as a single syllable. The point is that, unlike Sanskrit, in Hindi in general use (at least the 22 years of use I had of it) the final consonant is not given the full value (with schwa) that it might usually be given in Sanskrit. Hence the Shiv/Shiva confusion, and simplification into either single syllable Shiv or made into Shiva with an 'ah' sound at the end.

Of course, dialect matters too - in BrijBhasha (a lot of Bhakti hymns to Krishna are written in that dialect) Krishna is pronounced Kish'n (or sometimes Krish'n), hence the popularity of the name Kishen throughout Northern India.

Hope this either helps, or adds to the melee! :)

cheer

the sunshine warrior