Strong Russian names?

No, but my mother's maiden name is not a million miles from Noonan weirdly enough

Ha ha math DP has just said, wonder if your lot were noonans.

mathanxiety never knew that about you! We found Anastasia (spelled that way) back in the early 1800s in family records, in Co. Cork (where DPs family are from). The last one was DPs great aunt, born before the Famine, the last irish speaker on the family farm. She was known as Ansty. As you were...

Fyodor, Konstantin and Dmitri are good too.

A little abrasive? Or corrosive?

Go for Petrochemical. That would be indeed strong and unique :)

Roksana
Sveta/svetlana
Anoushka
Ilyana

That is, she is at least third generation, probably much more, as in my mother's neck of the woods, old naming traditions tended to be widely honoured -- the great aunt would have been named after someone else and so on and so forth back into the mists of time.

It was indeed used a lot in Ireland. I have a third generation one aged 12 . We used the -sia spelling as my mum found her name had been misspelled in the register of births and so she got the more unusual (in Ireland) Russian version. They were going for Anastatia to name her after a great aunt.

I think the version used most in Ireland was Anastatia, which is Latin afaik, and was also used in Medieval English along with other variations (pr Anastay-sha and sometimes shortened to Staysha).

There's a very funny book called 'The Tailor and Ansty' (pr Ann-stee) by Eric Cross about an old couple in Cork iirc.

holycowwhatnow I think you and DH both know something I didn't!

I have an irish Anastasia who is 2!!

LynetteScavo Anastasia was used a lot in Ireland years ago- you won't find one under 70 now and the pronunciation was dreadful - Ana-STAY- sha, or STAYsha for short. Dreadful. So different to the beautiful Russian name. If you'd called your dd that, your head would be melted by your Irish relatives pronunciation of it.

I love the name Yefim (nn Fima)

Yes, Stacy is pretty crap! I think it was used here because it was sort of aspirations but she is one of the sAints named in the litany for the Christmas mass. Quite a cool saint, as it happens. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_of_Sirmium

We discovered, after we named both dds, that there were two sisters in the family with same names back in the 1830s, which was quite something.

rhetorician I only found out Anastasia was used a lot in Ireland after we chose not to go for it. If I had known, I think I would have stuck to my guns, as DH's family are from Ireland, and we have an Irish surname.

Haven't a clue how to spell them but these are the names of the children we met in Russia when we adopted DD and the names of some of the carers (mostly in their 40s/50s)

Girls Boys

Nazdya Sasha x 2
Dakmina Dasha
Anya Ramon
Kristina Sergei
Sonia Andrei
Kirill
Tanya
Katya
Valla
Grunthilda (No not really, that was what we nicknamed the only horrible carer in DD's baby home)

I love the name Anastasia (DS2 would have been Anastasia - the only reason we didn't call DD Anastasia is that DH said it might get shortened to Stacy which is my least favorite name ever) I think if I had another girl I would definitely go for Anastasia, shortened to Ana.

I also love Tatiana (DD's middle name)

I also love Boris and Vladimir. I knew a little boy called Vladimir, and when he was called from the other side of the park, it just sounded so cool. I also love Conrad.

There are so many great traditional Russian names.

How about Alina? I was at school with an English one, but know lots of russian ones too. Also love Pavel and Piotr.

Marina?

Vania for boy.
Olga for girl.

Also, have a look in the saints calendar, see what's close to date of birth and if you can get inspired?

I have an Anastasia, we are not Russian, but it was a family name in my DPs family (used quite a lot in ireland actually). I adore it, she is only 2, so is usually called Annie, but think we will use her full name as she gets older. It's pretty, feminine, strong, unusual, not hard to spell. It is a little long is the only objection you might have

Orofondo Pacha is short for Pavel.

Some lovely names here. Love Artem & Anya/Anje. How about ...

Kirill (nn Kir)
Constantin/Konstantin
Igor (nn Igor)
Alexandr (nn Sasha)
Ilya

Valentina
Severina
Elizaveta (so many nns!)

Sorry that was petroV Not petrochemical

Pacha might have connotations of the club circuit (pacha cherries/ Ibiza club remixes etc)

I love svetlana nn Lana and also petrochemical and andrei for boys!

Very interesting about the 'Natasha' meaning/ connotation in Eastern Europe!