Your favorite Russian names

General Name Discussion
1

Since SO and I both have such a mixed heritage, sometimes the pool of names we can draw from seems endless… I really enjoy exploring all these cultures and the names in it. Lately I’ve been very interested in Polish names (I’m quite familiar with them since one of my grandparents was Polish and I speak the language) and Russian names.
I was wondering what Russian names you like, either for a girl or a boy? Some of my favorites are:

[name_u]Shura[/name_u]
[name_f]Zinaida[/name_f]
[name_f]Evgenia[/name_f]
[name_f]Polina[/name_f]

[name_m]Leonid[/name_m]
Artyom
Yefim
Achim
[name_u]Sasha[/name_u] (on a boy, not so much on a girl)

2

I love Russian names! I have zero Russian ancestry but I speak Russian and studied abroad in Moscow during college. I have some Russian names on my list although with my current circumstances I have to be concerned about accessibility in [name_u]America[/name_u]/blending with a very much not Russian surname. (Which is a pity! I sometimes find myself wishing I end up marrying a Russian just so I have an excuse to throw myself fully into it and use a name like [name_m]Vasili[/name_m]!)

My favorite Russian girls’ names are [name_f]Nina[/name_f], [name_f]Kira[/name_f], [name_f]Anna[/name_f], and [name_f]Valeria[/name_f] (the go-to Russian nickname [name_f]Lera[/name_f] is so cute!). I also like the virtue names [name_f]Nadezhda[/name_f] (which means hope) and [name_f]Rada[/name_f] (which means joy), which are lovely names in their own right and also words with a great meaning in Russian. For boys, I like [name_m]Alexander[/name_m]/[name_u]Sasha[/name_u] a lot (my favorite [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] nickname), and also [name_m]Yuri[/name_m], [name_m]Vasili[/name_m], [name_u]Nikita[/name_u], and [name_m]Sergei[/name_m]. I also like [name_m]Leonid[/name_m], in part because the nickname Leonya is so cute. (Honestly, Russian nickname culture is one of my favorite things about Russian names/Russian culture in general, it’s really quite lovely).

4

Aglaia
[name_f]Anastasia[/name_f]
[name_f]Anya[/name_f]
[name_f]Olga[/name_f]
[name_f]Raisa[/name_f]
[name_f]Galina[/name_f]
[name_f]Elvira[/name_f]
[name_f]Larisa[/name_f]
[name_f]Nadia[/name_f]
[name_f]Polina[/name_f]

[name_u]Pasha[/name_u]
[name_m]Fyodor[/name_m]
[name_m]Arkady[/name_m]
[name_m]Nikolai[/name_m]
[name_m]Dimitri[/name_m]
[name_m]Maxim[/name_m]

5

I love, love, love [name_f]Olesya[/name_f], [name_f]Olena[/name_f], and [name_f]Odessa[/name_f] but they might be Ukrainian rather than Russian… [name_f]Nadya[/name_f] is another favorite.

7

I like:

[name_m]Nikolai[/name_m] (one of my all time favourites)
[name_u]Misha[/name_u]
[name_m]Alexei[/name_m]
[name_m]Anatole[/name_m]
[name_m]Dmitri[/name_m]
[name_m]Ilya[/name_m]

[name_f]Natasha[/name_f] / [name_f]Tasha[/name_f]
[name_f]Oksana[/name_f]

8

Many of my favourite girl’s names are Russian. (I have no connections to Russian culture. I just think they have amazing names!)

[name_f]Valentina[/name_f]
[name_f]Anastasia[/name_f]
[name_f]Antonina[/name_f]
[name_f]Polina[/name_f]
[name_f]Marina[/name_f]
[name_f]Irina[/name_f]
Vitalina
[name_f]Tatiana[/name_f]
Miroslava
Aliona
[name_f]Taisiya[/name_f]
[name_f]Olesya[/name_f]
[name_f]Valeria[/name_f]
[name_f]Natalia[/name_f]
[name_f]Adelina[/name_f]
[name_f]Vera[/name_f]

[name_m]Roman[/name_m]
[name_m]Nikolai[/name_m]
[name_m]Dimitri[/name_m]
[name_m]Alexei[/name_m]

9

@findemaxa13: I agree, the Russian nickname culture is great! The same thing exists in Polish, but the Russian nicknames are the best. I love [name_f]Alyosha[/name_f] for [name_m]Alexei[/name_m], [name_m]Volodya[/name_m] for [name_m]Vladimir[/name_m] and so many others.

11

[name_f]Anastasia[/name_f]
[name_f]Anika[/name_f]/[name_f]Annika[/name_f]
[name_f]Anya[/name_f]
[name_f]Freya[/name_f]/[name_f]Freja[/name_f]
Katryzna
[name_f]Nadia[/name_f]/Nadua
[name_f]Nadja[/name_f]
[name_f]Nastia[/name_f]
[name_f]Noa[/name_f]
[name_f]Olivetta[/name_f]
Qetsia
[name_f]Tatiana[/name_f]
[name_f]Ursula[/name_f]

[name_f]Ani[/name_f]
[name_m]Dominic[/name_m]
[name_m]Erik[/name_m]
[name_u]Nico[/name_u]
Nicolaj
[name_m]Nicolas[/name_m]
Olec
[name_m]Oleg[/name_m]
[name_m]Oskar[/name_m]
[name_m]Soren[/name_m]
Tomasi
Torren
Thrane
[name_m]Yuri[/name_m]

12

I love Russian names! my favorites are:
Andrik
[name_m]Dimitri[/name_m]
[name_m]Armen[/name_m]
Ivano
[name_m]Nikolai[/name_m]

[name_f]Anastasiya[/name_f]
[name_f]Natasha[/name_f]
[name_f]Ekaterina[/name_f]
[name_f]Tatianna[/name_f]
Anataliya
[name_u]Milan[/name_u]
[name_f]Danika[/name_f]
[name_f]Anezka[/name_f]
[name_f]Svetlana[/name_f]

13

As a Russian:

Glaphira “Glasha”
Kira
Eva (ye-va)
Alisa
Veronica

Konstantin / Constantine “Kostya”
Ilya
Roman “Roma”
Andrei
Yuriy “Yura”
Yan
Zahar

14

I love Russian names! These are some of my favorites:

(E)Katerina nn Katya
Viktoria
(Y)Elena
Larisa nn Lara
Valentina
Tatiana nn Tanya
Irina
Agnessa
Nina
Tamara
Tonya
Angelina
Angela
Liliya
Anastasiya
Veronika nn Vera
Evelina nn Eva
Eleonora
Isidora
Marta
Elizaveta
Milena/Milana nn Mila
Agata
Yulia
Zoya
Anya
Nadiya
Natalia nn Natasha

Dimitri
Lev
Aleksandr
Artur
Benedikt
Maksim/Maxim
Maksimilian
Serafim
Nikolai
Dominik
Anton
Mikhail