I really like Russian names. Unfortunately, I’m not Russian, so I’d feel weird using them. Does anyone have any favorites? I’m looking to expand my horizons.
Girls
[name_f]Veronika[/name_f]
[name_f]Irina[/name_f]
Valeriya/[name_f]Valeria[/name_f]
[name_f]Galina[/name_f]
[name_f]Ileana[/name_f]/[name_f]Iliana[/name_f] (though I think this is Romanian…I’ve known Russian girls named this)
Ruxandra - another Romanian one. I do like [name_f]Roksana[/name_f] too, but not as much.
[name_f]Aleksandra[/name_f] & [name_f]Aleksandrina[/name_f] - [name_m]Long[/name_m], but a favourite. I’ve also seen it spelt [name_f]Alexandrina[/name_f], which was the variant [name_f]Queen[/name_f] [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] used.
[name_f]Katia[/name_f]/[name_f]Katya[/name_f]
[name_f]Yekaterina[/name_f]/[name_f]Ekaterina[/name_f]
Biljana - but I think this is more ex-Soviet Bloc than truly Russian-language? Could be wrong here. I have the same impression about [name_f]Jelena[/name_f].
Boys
[name_m]Ilya[/name_m]
[name_m]Lazar[/name_m]
[name_m]Dmitri[/name_m]
[name_f]Alyosha[/name_f] as a NN for [name_m]Aleksandr[/name_m] or [name_m]Alexei[/name_m]
I adore Russian names! Luckily for me, there’s a lot of Russian’s on both our sides, but I think you can use a Russian name even if there isn’t any on your family tree.
I forgot [name_m]Lev[/name_m], [name_m]Isidor[/name_m] and [name_f]Isidora[/name_f] could be counted as Russian… (Russian Jewish background myself, sometimes I slip and think of Russian names as just names iykwim). [name_m]Lev[/name_m] I especially think of for Yiddish first and I tried to steer towards Russian more than Yiddish… but [name_f]Ottilie[/name_f] is right.
And I just plain forgot [name_m]Vasili[/name_m], which is a good name.
As a Russian-speaker, of course I adore Russian names(as well as typically Ukrainian ones). I used to live in Moscow not years ago so I say for sure.
Firstly, I would like to correct that some names already mentioned are nicknames. [name_f]Sveta[/name_f] and [name_f]Lana[/name_f] are short for [name_f]Svetlana[/name_f], [name_f]Anya[/name_f] and Annoushka - [name_f]Anna[/name_f], [name_u]Kostya[/name_u] - [name_u]Konstantin[/name_u], [name_m]Motya[/name_m] - [name_m]Matvey/name_m, [name_f]Matilda/name_f and Matryona(g), [name_f]Katya[/name_f] - [name_f]Ekaterina[/name_f], [name_f]Nadya[/name_f] - Nadezda([name_f]Hope[/name_f]), [name_f]Olya[/name_f] - [name_f]Olga[/name_f], Zhenya - [name_f]Evgenia/name_f and Evgeniy(b), [name_f]Sonja[/name_f] - [name_f]Sofia[/name_f], [name_f]Lara[/name_f] - [name_f]Larisa[/name_f], [name_f]Tasya[/name_f] - Taisia. I haven’t heard of any Russians using nicknames as full names but I guess it happens. @Otter: [name_f]Do[/name_f] you really know a [name_f]Zorya[/name_f]? It’s Russian for dawn and I haven’t met any human with this name but a cow(no offense). Honestly, it’s a pet name where I used to live and I would be surprised to know it is used for girls.
[name_f]Roksana[/name_f] isn’t popular there, it feels more [name_m]Tatar[/name_m] or Armenian, [name_m]Isidor[/name_m] and [name_f]Isidora[/name_f] were used long ago but not now. [name_m]Kazimir[/name_m] is Slavic but much more Czech than Russian. Ruxandra and [name_f]Alexandrina[/name_f]/[name_f]Alexandria[/name_f] are unheard of in Moscow for sure but [name_f]Alexandra[/name_f] nn [name_u]Sascha[/name_u] or [name_f]Alya[/name_f] is popular. Azamat is very rare and kind of Eastern, [name_f]Jelena[/name_f] and Bilijana I hear for first time, seriously. And, by the way, Alyoscha is a usual nickname for [name_f]Aleksey[/name_f] but not [name_m]Aleksandr[/name_m].
My favorite type of Russian names are historic ones, from chronicles and tales.
Boy favorites(sorry not in ABC order):
Svetozar “Svetik”
Yaroslav “[name_m]Slava[/name_m]”
[name_m]Victor[/name_m]
[name_m]Adrian[/name_m] (very orthodox)
[name_m]Illarion[/name_m]
[name_m]Rodion[/name_m]
Gleb
[name_u]Ilia[/name_u]
[name_m]Kirill[/name_m]
Pafnutiy (again, orthodox)
Girl favorites:
[name_f]Vasilisa[/name_f]/Vasilina “[name_u]Vasya[/name_u]”(feminization of [name_m]Vasiliy[/name_m])
Akulina
Anfisa
[name_f]Arina[/name_f]
Vitalina “[name_f]Lina[/name_f]”
[name_f]Gertruda[/name_f] (Geroinya Truda(Labor Heroine))
[name_u]Dana[/name_u]
Zlata
Zabava
[name_f]Zoya[/name_f]
Iraida
Luybava
Luybov
Marfa
[name_f]Olesya[/name_f] Obviously, that’s not a full list. Message me if you are interested, I will be more than happy to tell you even more plus nicknames, proper pronounciations and meanings.
[name_f]Zinaida[/name_f] is my favorite Russian name for a girl. For a boy I adore [name_m]Maksim[/name_m].
What about [name_f]Sonya[/name_f], [name_f]Tatyana[/name_f] and [name_f]Katya[/name_f]? They are nice too!
I know a lot of Russians and people who have Russian names.
[name_f]Victoria[/name_f]; there’s a [name_f]Zorya[/name_f] on Husband’s family tree! I love it because it’s the name of the morning and evening star in Slavic mythology.
We’re not Russian, either, but speak Russian and currently live in Ukraine. Expecting a boy and have always liked [name_m]Dmitri[/name_m] with the nn [name_m]Dima[/name_m]. Still not decided though.
A really sweet Ukrainian girls name is [name_f]Daria[/name_f] with the nn [name_f]Dasha[/name_f].
I love Russian names and culture! Some of my favourites are:
[name_f]Nadezhda[/name_f] (I’d use it in a heartbeat if I weren’t worried about pronunciation)
[name_f]Anastasia[/name_f]
[name_f]Elena[/name_f]
[name_f]Galina[/name_f]
[name_f]Ksenia[/name_f]
[name_f]Larisa[/name_f]
[name_f]Tatiana[/name_f]
[name_m]Alexei[/name_m]
Evgenii (pronounced [name_m]Yevgeny[/name_m]), nn Zhenya
[name_m]Ilya[/name_m]
[name_m]Kirill[/name_m]
[name_u]Konstantin[/name_u]
[name_m]Lev[/name_m]
[name_u]Nikita[/name_u] (I so wish pop culture hadn’t made this a girl name over here)
Yuriy
Wow, I wasn’t expecting this many responses, haha. These are some awesome lists!
@mclevine, I’d definitely be interested in proper pronunciation of these names! I know some of them are self-explanatory, but my knowledge of pronunciation comes from watching movies like Fiddler on the Roof, [name_m]Doctor[/name_m] [name_m]Zhivago[/name_m], [name_f]Anna[/name_f] Karenina… so I’m not clear on the accuracy. I’m likely defaulting to a semi-[name_m]German[/name_m] pronunciation, as I took that for a year, and I might be throwing in some Latin, which I also took for a year, and I wouldn’t be surprised in I’m ridiculously far off the mark.
I’m also curious about the nicknames, since they seem to be less derived from their original names than in Western culture. More pet names than shortened names, I guess?
This articlelists the typical nicknames for a lot of common Russian names.
asha and -isha are common endings for Russian nicknames, sort of like adding -y or -ie. (So like [name_m]Michael[/name_m]->[name_m]Mikey[/name_m], we have [name_m]Mikhail[/name_m]->[name_u]Misha[/name_u]). Other common endings are -ya (Borya for [name_m]Boris[/name_m], [name_f]Anya[/name_f] for [name_f]Anna[/name_f]) and -ek/-ok. Sometimes nicknames don’t make as much sense to the English ear because you are seeing the anglicized version of the name. For example, [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] in Russian is [name_u]Alek[/name_u]sandr. You can see where the “s” comes from to make "[name_u]Sasha[/name_u]. Others may just seem strange, but then again, English has [name_f]Peggy[/name_f] for [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] and [name_m]Dick[/name_m] for [name_m]Richard[/name_m]!
My favorites are [name_u]Konstantin[/name_u] (you’ve got the diminutive [name_u]Kostya[/name_u] on your list), Zlata, and [name_f]Irina[/name_f]. I like [name_m]Kolya[/name_m], short form of [name_m]Nikolai[/name_m]. [name_f]Polina[/name_f] and [name_f]Elena[/name_f], too, are sweet.
My husband Dmitryi was Russian. I am [name_m]German[/name_m], so I don’t know many names, just the names of his family and some more.
His father is [name_m]Vladimir[/name_m] and his mother is Vasilissa (nn [name_u]Vasya[/name_u] ) His sisters names are [name_f]Yelena[/name_f] and Aleksiya ([name_u]Sasha[/name_u]).
I also have a friend, who is Ukrainian though, but the names in her family are Russian.
So, she is [name_f]Tatyana[/name_f] (we mostly call her Tatya). Her father’s name is [name_m]Vladimir[/name_m] as well and her mother’s [name_f]Aleksandra[/name_f] ([name_f]Alexa[/name_f]). She has two sisters, an older one, whose name is Agape (it’s Greek), and a younger one, whose name is [name_f]Anastasiya[/name_f] ([name_f]Nastya[/name_f]). She has a son, named [name_m]Bogdan[/name_m] and four nieces, named Vasilissa ([name_u]Vasya[/name_u]), [name_f]Sofiya[/name_f] ([name_f]Sonya[/name_f]), Feofanya (Fenya) and [name_f]Melanya[/name_f]
These are some awesome lists!