Russian names shortlist - What do you think?

[anyagoogle]

Right I come from a Russian family and have a very very russian name. OH has a very very English name and has always hated having such a common name (esp his surname) so any DCs will have my surname.

But we still want soon to arrive DC1 to have a Russian name but one that can equally be sort of english sounding.

So what do you think:

Girls

Elena
Zoya
Yekaterina
Sofiya
Larisa
Nataliya

Boys

Alexandr
Alexei
Daniil
Dmitry
Ivan

Elena - v nice
Zoya - reminds me of Soya
Yekaterina - hmm no, 1st word association thought was yukaterina
Sofiya - like this (Zofia is 1st choice if we ever have DD)
Larisa - don't like but only because I know someone with this name
Nataliya - ok

Alexandr - good choice
Alexei - no no no Alexei Sayle! Yikes!
Daniil - reminds me of Dannii Minougue
Dmitry - don't like
Ivan - Ivan the Terrible

Elena - bit dull tbh
Zoya - doesn't do much for me
Yekaterina - I love the sound of this but I reckon it's a bit too quirky for the English audience - nobody will EVER spell it right etc.
Sofiya- pretty - but Sophie and Sophia are both fairly common in England
Larisa - Like this
Nataliya - and this

I also like Olga and Tatiana

Alexandr - also bit dull - would you call him Sacha though - because I think that is nice.
Alexei - trying too hard
Daniil - see above for Yekaterina
Dmitry - makes me think of spies for some reason
Ivan - I agree - the Terrible? Come on!

Friends have a Nikolai - I like that. Also Mischa - is that the diminuitive of Michael?

Ooh I really like Zoya,easy to spell easy to pronounce even if you've never heard it beofre. when I saw the thread I thought of Anastasia. For boys I'd go with Dmitry or alexei

Are you planning to use the Russian pronunciations? Cause some of them would be pronounced differently in Russian and in English, I think. That's how we made our decision, picked a name that would have a similar pronunciation in both languages.
I like Nataliya, can't decide on boys' names

northern we would probably go Shurik or Shura for Alexandr. DSis uses Sacha.
And OH wants it as Alexandr I would much prefer Aleksandr as I think people would just assume there was a e in it an write it with one.
I thought of Ivan Bunin, not the terrible, but there was the great one as well ;)

Oh and definatly can't have anything Ana-/Anna- like.
riksti we kind of thought we would do Russian pronounciation - if they are russian name why not , I've never had a problem using russian pro with my name (but then it is a known russian name here). But suppose if the pronounciations were similar would probably be better.
northern Misha is a Mikhail which is my DDad so can't have that

Shit - DSis is Sasha not Sacha damn touchscreen (I will preview, I will preview, I will preview)

Elena - erm
Zoya - really like
Yekaterina - Love it but maybe not if you don't want something v. russian
Sofiya - Sophie etc is ppular
Larisa - love it
Nataliya - okay

Boys

Alexandr - I like it and would be with you on the Aleksandr and I like Shurik and Shura
Alexei - nope
Daniil - like it
Dmitry - reminds me of disney so yes.
Ivan - Cameron so nope.

I like Zoya and Nataliya for a girl and Alexandr and Daniil for a boy

Zoya and Elena for a girl and I think Alexsandr for a boy

MustControlFistOfDeath-are you Polish?

I like Elena,Sofiya,Nataliya and Zoya for a girl. Alexandr, Alexei or Ivan for a boy (oi, Turgenev was an Ivan as well, for example).

Anastasia
Tatiana
Ludmilla
Ekaterina

winny dziendobry! I'm not, but DP is

Anoushka

Can't have anything with Ana-/Anna- in it. five in russian you basically never have diminutive names on BC (which ushka/oshka is.)
Tatiana reminds me of my bro first girlfriend my god she was a right slut.
Ludmilla I don't like

i quite i Ivan!!!! but I like all your boys names

not so keen on the girls though - Larisa is pretty

Olga is nice too

what about
Alina
Viktoriya
Dariya
Lidiya
Florentina?

Iryana
Medena

Boris
Kaspar
Loki