Strong Russian names?

[NinjaKangaroo]

I'm Russian born and bred. Don't live there now, and have a DD named Sofia.

I like Artem for a boy...I like strong sounding names for girls (although I admit Sofia doesn't match that but that was more down to ex) but maybe a long elegant name (like Anastasia) which can be shortened?

Any ideas, as I'm stuck?

[steppemum]

I thought Artem was pronounced Artyom in English?
Dimitri/Dima
Vitali
Yaraslav
Sasha (Alexander)

Natalia
Natasha
Katerina/Katya
Emilya
Nadeshda/Nadia
Tatiana (I love this name)

Can't remember any more!

[JeanSeberg]

Igor
Sergey
Boris
Ivan

[bodandbagpusssittinginatree]

Xenia

Alexei
Yuri

[ThisIsMyRealName]

I like both the names you have suggested [helpful]

The only problem with Anastasia is people will think you've named her after 50 shades of grey!

I like Katya and Natalia. (And love Artem for a boy)

[anothernumberone]

Elena I adore that name and valoude and arsene for a boy.

[bodandbagpusssittinginatree]

Diminutive of Anastasia?

Would Anya/ Ania be authentically russian?

[steppemum]

Anya is very Russian

I love the name Svetlana (Sveta for short) as well

I think of russian princesses when I think of Anastasia, not 50 shades of grey, but then I have refused to read it!

[nikkihollis]

Girls:
Anechka
Artemiia
Jevdokija/Eudoxia/Evdokia
Katerina
Dominika
Feodora/pheodora
Stephania
Viktoria

Boys
Stefan/Stepan
Georgy/Georgii
Anton
Ilya
Dominik
Mikhail/Mischa
Nikolai

[NinjaKangaroo]

Natasha has bad connotations unfortunately (it's like calling a kid 'gold digger'- I hate the stereotypes and so on and I love the name, but won't name my child that iyswim).

Svetlana is nice. I quite like the nn Lana I think, sounds more English? I like Natalia. Not sure about Tatiana, I like the nn Tanya for it however. My exMIL was called Victoria, so won't use Viktoria. Anastasia is beautiful, I like Ana and Anya actually for a nickname, that would work. I like Katerina and Katya, as Kat is a very strong sounding name imo, and also Elena, but my neighbour is called Elena, which puts me off

Fr boys- Nikolai- like it. Mikhail isn't really my taste unfortunately. Sasha- well, I like the name Alexandr and it would be a reasonable shortening, and his friends would be able to give him Alex/Xandr as an English nickname too, definitely top of my list right now. I don't really want to Anglicise it with Alexander/adding an e, I know an Egor (not an Igor) and I don't really like the name, but thank for the suggestion.

Thanks to everyone So far, my favourites are Anastasia, Svetlana, Katerina(Katya) and Elena for girls, and Nikolai and Alexandr for boys.

[AdoraBell]

Why the bad connotations with Natasha? I thought it was a kind of unofficial version of Natalia.

I've only met one Russian person though, so not exactly an authority on the subject, sorry.

[TheBookThief]

I don't know any Russian names but I knew a woman once called Polina which I thought was very pretty.

[mathanxiety]

Natasha is a term used for sex slaves. It's a sort of generic/fantasy name for young women from Eastern Europe/Russia in the minds of people who have an interest in forgetting their humanity.

I like:
Irina
Zinaida
Zoya
Nadezhda

Anton
Lev
Marat
Stanislav
Yuri

[TamerB]

Google 'Russian names for girls' or ' Russian names for boys' and you get alphabetical lists.

[winkywinkola]

Anya

[baskingseals]

I love Tatiana and Zinaida. I also like Oksana. Beautiful names.

[tomverlaine]

Larissa (Lara)
Daria
Inna

[Britishseamonkey]

What's Masha short for? I always liked Masha
I like Zoya too- which I understand to be the Russian equivalent of Zoe? Meaning life??

[crashbangboom]

Tatiana - Tania as nn?

Natalia

Love Katerina

[Whichonetochoose]

How about Elizabeth (Elizaveta in Russian)?

[tomverlaine]

Masha is short for Maria - similarly you get Dasha as a shortened form of Daria and nasha for naria

[SantanaLopez]

These names are all fabulous

Nastia is another nickname isn't it? Pity about the 'nasty' link because it sounds lovely.

[AdoraBell]

Thanks Math I had no idea.

[jkklpu]

Milena (Mila) and Alexei are my favourites

[Umnitsa]

Elizaveta
Marina
Nina
Olga
Alexandra
Valentina

[Xfirefly]

Svetlana I love. if it's not Russian then please correct me