I’m in love with Russian boy names, but my husband thinks they are too unusual or sound girly. Some favorites include [name]Aleksei[/name], [name]Mikhail[/name], [name]Nikolai[/name] and [name]Ilya[/name]. My husband is part Russian, so I don’t think my choices are that unusual. I’ve poured through name lists to find names more commonly used in [name]Russia[/name] that he would like. Please give me some usable suggestions that could work and opinions on using Russian names in [name]America[/name].
[name]Dimitri[/name]
[name]Isaak[/name]
[name]Konstantin[/name]
[name]Lev[/name]
[name]Luka[/name]
[name]Pavel[/name]
[name]Sergei[/name]
Russian male names: Browse Names - Behind the Name
Top 10: http://isabellasnow.hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-Russian-Baby-Names-Boys-and-Girls
Grischa- Rhymes with [name]Mischa[/name], it’s like Russian [name]Greg[/name]. It makes me think of [name]Grey[/name] & reminds me of the name [name]Mischa[/name] without any connection to an American d list starlet 
Evgeniy- Yev-gzenie. Like [name]Eugene[/name], but I like how soft the name is.
[name]Konstantin[/name], [name]Boris[/name] & [name]Maxim[/name] are stronger sounding choices that I really like.
I assume your more drawn to the more “Russian sounding” names but here are a few that work well in Europe and the US that are also Russian.
Yulian
[name]Anton[/name]
[name]Feliks[/name]
[name]Sasha[/name]
[name]Igor[/name]
[name]Adrian[/name]
[name]Boris[/name]
[name]Misha[/name]
Vitali
You could also name a son [name]Elijah[/name] and nn [name]Ilya[/name]. Provided you like [name]Elijah[/name] and your DH would agree.
I love Evgeniy! Total GP, but it’s so cool. I love the idea of [name]Alexander[/name] nn [name]Alexei[/name], [name]Lev[/name], [name]Konstantin[/name], [name]Pavel[/name], [name]Michael[/name] “[name]Mischa[/name]”, and [name]Alexander[/name] “[name]Sasha[/name]”. And [name]Ilya[/name]! I totally adore [name]Ilya[/name]. I know someone in the UK who knows a little boy named [name]Ilya[/name] [name]Benjamin[/name]–I thought that was such a handsome combo for a little boy.
What about using a more classic name, with a more Russian nickname? Like:
[name]Michael[/name] “[name]Misha[/name]/[name]Mischa[/name]”
[name]Elijah[/name] “[name]Ilya[/name]” ([name]Love[/name] this so much; I nearly added it to my own list!)
[name]Alexander[/name] “[name]Alexei[/name]”
[name]Nicholas[/name] “[name]Klaus[/name]/[name]Nikolai[/name]” (okay, so [name]Klaus[/name] is more [name]German[/name], but you get the idea.)
I remember reading a novel once about a girl named [name]Ekaterina[/name] who visited her homeland of [name]Russia[/name], and fell in love with a Russian policeman named Vadeem. I thought Vadeem was pretty cool after that. Although I think [name]Vadim[/name] is the traditional spelling–they might have just spelled it Vadeem to get it pronounced how they want…
[name]Alyosha[/name] from ‘The Brothers Karamazov’
[name]Aleksandr[/name] “[name]Sasha[/name]”
Arkadiy
[name]Nikolai[/name] “[name]Kolya[/name]”
In 2011, the top 10 boy names in [name]Russia[/name] were:
[name]Daniil[/name] – Similar to [name]Daniel[/name].
[name]Maksim[/name] – You could call him [name]Max[/name], recognizable due to [name]Maksim[/name] Chmerkovskiy.
Artyom – Perhaps.
[name]Ivan[/name] – Definitely.
[name]Aleksandr[/name] – Would get misspelled but not bad.
[name]Kirill[/name] – Maybe no.
Dmitriy – Perfectly usable.
[name]Nikita[/name] – Probably not in the US.
Andrey – Usable in the US.
[name]Mikhail[/name] – Perfectly usable in the US and obviously not uncommon in [name]Russia[/name], either. 
Some others:
[name]Anatoli[/name]
[name]Anton[/name]
[name]Demyan[/name]
[name]Lazar[/name]
[name]Leonid[/name]
There’s also [name]Denis[/name]. It’s not Russian per say but I’ve known a few Russian men with the name.
[name]Liev[/name] or [name]Lev[/name] is also a nice & timely choice with the popularity of [name]Leo[/name].
I think [name]Ilya[/name] is a great suggestion as well.
First thoughts of names of hockey players (generally familiar to people in the States)
[name]Evgeni/name- I [name]LOVE[/name] this one! I named a pet fish Evgeniy once, after [name]Evgeni[/name] [name]Malkin[/name], not gonna lie.
[name]Pavel[/name]
Artem- I really like this
[name]Anton[/name]
Andrey
And other Russian names I think could work for being usable in the States:
[name]Viktor[/name]
[name]Lev[/name] - [name]LOVE[/name] this!
[name]Roman[/name]
[name]Artur[/name]
[name]Danil[/name]
Filipp
[name]Maksim[/name]
[name]Milan[/name]
Radomir (this is bad@ss)
Names of people I’ve known in [name]Canada[/name] who have survived just fine:
[name]Bogdan[/name]
[name]Konstantin[/name]
[name]Misha[/name]
[name]Dmitri[/name]
Gleb
[name]Nikita[/name]
Ohhhh I love Russian names It’s a shame your husband isn’t as keen. [name]Ilya[/name] and [name]Nikolai[/name] in particular are lovely Arkadiy and [name]Vasiliy[/name] are my favourites.
[name]Niko[/name] and [name]Ivan[/name]
edit: my bad, apparently [name]Niko[/name] is Greek