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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Russian boys' names

68 replies

Goostacean · 21/06/2019 18:37

I'm looking for some options that reflect Russian heritage in the family. Really struggling to find anything that doesn't seem ugly in English and has a nice nickname/shortening.

Alexander, Nikolai and Andrei are all out for family reasons. I like Constantin, Valentin, Stepan, Stefan... But they don't have nice shortenings, IMO. Really like Leo, but it's too popular for my liking. Front runner is probably Anton.

Any ideas or opinions please?

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Violetparis · 23/06/2019 22:12

Leon, Luka, I know a Radoslav who gets called Rad.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 23/06/2019 22:12

Leo would have to be Lev.

Original poster
Goostacean · 23/06/2019 22:06

No... too outing to explain really, but not Alexander this time sadly!

OP posts:
Teaandabiscuitplease · 23/06/2019 21:23

Goostacean

Can't be Alexander, we have an immediate family member Sasha.

Why is that a problem? It's usually considered an honour to have someone name their kid after you. I have 4 named after me!

NameChange30 · 23/06/2019 21:15

Lenin?! Hopefully that one was a joke Grin

Sorry but I don't think Mikhail is "easy enough to say".

Original poster
Goostacean · 23/06/2019 19:22

Can't be Alexander, we have an immediate family member Sasha.

I think Lenin would raise some eyebrows! Denis is a nice one, but I don't think it wins out over Constantin, Mikhail or Anton.

OP posts:
PatoPotato · 23/06/2019 19:19

How about Alexander? Nickname Sasha or Aleksey.

NavyBerry · 23/06/2019 19:16

Dennis, Vsevolod, Oleg, Yuriy, Mark, Tikhon, Timofey, Phillip, Dmitry

MikeUniformMike · 23/06/2019 19:03

Caspian?
Lenin?

MikeUniformMike · 23/06/2019 19:02

Casimir is nice.

CecilyBlue · 23/06/2019 18:50

I know a Constantin whose nickname is Costa, it's a lovely name.

Original poster
Goostacean · 23/06/2019 18:45

That's exactly the issue! Mispronunciation... and our DS has a pronounceable but unusual Spanish name, so... Imagine, like, Diego and Vladimir?! Or Santiago and Kazimir?

It's so hard! Sadly DH has vetoed Kazimir and Stanislav, sadly. I think maybe my new front runner is Mikhail (Mee-HEIL): easy enough to say, shortens to the adorable Misha, or can just be Michael/Mike when older?

OP posts:
NameChange30 · 23/06/2019 18:39

Oleg is my favourite comedy Russian name Grin

Of course you couldn't seriously use it in a mainly English speaking family living in the UK. English speakers would pronounce it wrong ("OH-leg" instead of "a-LYEG").

MikeUniformMike · 23/06/2019 18:18

I was going to suggest Ludovic but it's not Russian. Has anyone suggested Oleg?

TatianaLarina · 23/06/2019 17:04

Love Valentin, one of my favs. I like Valya and Val as dims.

Also Dimitri (Mitya)

Sophronia · 23/06/2019 16:09

Alexei
Arkady
Kazimir
Luka
Milan
Lazar
Artur
Roman
Viktor
Ruslan
Yuri
Anatoly

Original poster
Goostacean · 23/06/2019 08:10

Haha, it's a pretty particular segment of names, I suppose! The issue with Lev, and many of the others, IMO is that English speakers (and I am a native one!) massacre the pronunciation 😂 I imagine one would be forever telling people it's "Lyev", not "Lev" as in "levitate", and you lose that lovely soft Russian "L" sound...

To give an idea, for a girl I like Nina, Anna, Marina, Natalia... names that are easily pronounced in both languages. Boys' names seem so much harder on this front! Thank you for all the suggestions, I'm mulling them all over Smile

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EssentialHummus · 22/06/2019 22:21

Would Lev (rather than Leo) work? This thread includes (Russian) DH's name and the name of every male family member of his and co-worker... MN first for me!

Original poster
Goostacean · 22/06/2019 22:17

The problem with Valentin/Valeryi/etc is... baby Val? A boy Val? To me it's a female pensioner's name - no offence to any hip, young Vals out there. If baby is a girl (finding out in a fortnight) DH likes Valentina, but I have the same issue with Val.

LOVE Theo, but it's too popular for me... Same as Leo :(

I do like Phillip and Daniel, which fit the bill although the connection is very muted... But not keen on Phil or Dan. Sorry, I'm so fussy!

I do like the more Russian-sounding names but I think they can be hard to pull off in the UK- like Vladimir, Ivan, Igor, Dmitri... Dima is cute though.

OP posts:
NameChange30 · 22/06/2019 21:11

My votes (in order of preference) are Maxim, Leo and Valentin.

RageAgainstTheVendingMachine · 22/06/2019 21:07

Misha, Pasha or Vitali for me

PatoPotato · 22/06/2019 20:59

If you like Fyodor, you might like the anglicised version of Theodore.

More examples

Arthur/Artur (Артур)
Sergei (Сергей)
Ivan (Иван)
Daniel (Даниил)
Denis (Денис)
Andre (Андрей)
Simon (Семен)
Robert (Роберт)
Victor (Виктор)
Mark (Марк)
Albert (Альберт)
Philip (Филипп)
Luca (Лука)
Christian (Кристиан)

GetTheGoodLookingGuy · 22/06/2019 20:52

The Russian boys I know are called:

Nikita (Nikki)
Steven
Alex (I assume Alexander)
Emil
Artijoms (I think that's he spelt it)
David

bellinisurge · 22/06/2019 20:47

Valera

kalinkafoxtrot45 · 22/06/2019 20:33

I knew a Dimitri who was Dimka to friends. I liked that.