Agatha, Melanie, Sebastian

[RainbowBabyMum]

Hi
I'm from Russia, but live in England, so I mb can't understand what the perceptions of names would be.
Could you help me please?
What do you think about:

Agatha
Melanie
Sebastian (for boy)

all good, love Sebastian!

I have to say one of my favourite names is Tamara though!
I also like Valentina and Sergei!!

(I'm Hungarian, learnt a bit of Russian)

I prefer Valentina and Sergei

Thank you:) I like Sergei, but I'm not sure it sounds very nice in English. And I don't like Valentina at all, sorry:(

I quite like your choices.
Agatha is old lady chic, Melanie is retro, & Sebastian is fairly widely used. They all sound fine to me & I think if you like them, use them.

Love Agatha and Sebastian.

Sergei rocks!

And you are Russian, so I'd definitely go for that - even if for a second name!

I like all those, Alexander is another name that crosses over perfectly too. My son also has a Yanis in his class but I think he may be Latvian rather than Russian.

If you're Russian, I'd probably choose a Russian name that works well in English - much cooler and unusual!
I like Melanie - classic, feminine and underused these dasy. Sebastian is nice but I really dislike Seb or Sebbie (sounds so weak). Sergei is a great name!

To be honest I would prefer Russian names like Aphanasy (or Afanasy) for a boy and Evdokia or Efrosinia (Ephrosinia) for a girl. But I think they are too strange and unusual for England and I don't want to shock people:)
So I'm looking for something that sound good on both languages.

I really wouldn't worry about that shocking people, I know really weird names that parents chose just to be different.

you are Russian, so if you want to keep your kids Russian names good for you!

people will get used to it!

I like Evgenij and Anastasia too (not sure how you'd spell them)

I LOVE Evdokia, how gorgeous!

I agree - Evdokia and Afansay are great names that not only have meaning to you and your child's heritage, they are also lovely names that aren't overused in the UK. Your child will be well remembered with his/her name!

Another vote for choosing the name you love! People will soon learn to spell and pronounce it.

Agatha has made a comeback, I do like it, very elegant. Melanie is a pretty name. Sebastian is a great name.

Whichever name you choose, in Britain there will be some way of shortening it! The Russian names you mention sound very striking and attractive, don't be afraid to pick something unusual.

I love Evdokia and Ephrosinia. And Sergei.

Ephrosinia sounds like aphrodisiac (prosexual booster), so I'd avoid that one!

I really like Agatha and Sebastian.

Agatha - catholic martyr, burnt at the stake, it's almost so unfashionable and clunky that it's fashionable in that 'im so brave and posh i can use a yuk name' kind of way

Sebastian - jmo, but boring, wannabe posh. What do you shorten it to? Seb? blah. Bash? so wanky!

Melanie- I like this one! it's a bit dated but it's not tarnished by time. It's pretty and it would be unusual without being try-hard or weird.

What russian names would you think would work in the uk?

I like Melanie and Sebastian both can be shortened nicely and sound nice in England. I personally don't really like agatha, I think it's the ag sound I don't like but that might just be me.
I didn't know Melanie was Russian learnt something new today!

I like the look of the other names but how do you pronounce them? I wouldn't worry too much about what others think if they sound good to you though!

Ok, honest associations for me:

Agatha - frumpy Victorian maiden aunt
Melanie - 1980s, bad perm (hairstyle)
Sebastian - for years this was considered almost unuseably posh and over-the-top, but it seems to have been rehabilitated, and I've actually changed my mind about it now that I've met a few real people called it; think I quite like it.

Agree that as long as it's pronounceable in English a Russian name would be fine.

Vera
Darya
Tamara
Milena

• I love all these

Thank you very much for your answers.
Well. There are a lot of Russian names (or not Russian, but international) which I think works in UK or could be simply transformed. For example
Maria (Masha)
Elena (Helen)
Anna
Natalia (Natasha)
Sofia (or Sophia)
Elisaveta (Lisa)
Ekaterina (Katya)
Lidia
Margarita (Rita)
Irina (Arina)
Viktoria
Veronika
Polina
Alexandra (Sasha)
Marfa (Martha)
Vera
Zoya

For boys

Nikolay (Nickolas)
Mihail

Timofey (Timothy)
Petr (Peter)
George
Stepan (Stephen)
Lev (Leo)

The problem is that most of them are very popular in Russia and especially here among russian people or I don't like them or my husband doesn't:)

Lilliana maybe?

Think it can be hard choosing our baby names wherever we come from

I think Agatha is a great choice, nice granny chic but not popular.

Melanie seems very dated in a less good way. It was popular in the 60s and 70s (goes with Debbie, Jackie, Joanne and Louise). I don't think it ever had been before, so it exclusive to 35-55yo women now. Makes me think of melons. Melody I nicer I think.