Thoughts on these girls’ names?

[AlackAlasAlackaday]

We’ve got twins (b and g) turning up later this year and are starting to kick around name ideas. What do people think of the following for a girl?

Alexandra (would be Sasha day to day)
Iris
Julia
Nina
Raya
Zoya

(If they sound like an odd selection it’s because we’re a Russian Jewish family living in London, so the name has to work in a couple of cultures.)

Surname is a typical Eastern European surname, M———a.

And other suggestions welcome!

Love Alexandra / Sasha.

Zinaida/ Zenya; Nadezhda/Nadya?

Only like Julia

Love Alexandra/Sasha or Julia
Nina I like

Iris I don't like and becoming very popular
Raya- I'm not sure if pronounced Rye-ah or Ray-ah?
Zoya is ok

I think Alexandra/Sasha is my favourite!

cheese Raya would be the former pronunciation but I imagine she’d get the latter a lot. I think we’re ok with that. Our older child is Ada, pronounced Aah-da, and people manage.

In that case, I like Raya

Alexandra (would be Sasha day to day) - love it - I’d go for this, stands out without being odd, and speaks nicely to your heritage
Iris - too many of them around
Julia - nice name, getting popular
Nina - as a nn for Janina, Anna, Anastasia etc, I like it but find it nothing-y on its own
Raya - no
Zoya - no

Katerina nn Katya ?

A suggestion from me - Thalia

Do you have a name for the boy?

I like them all, i just wonder about the ones that end in "a" working with your surname, it could be a bit rhyming if you're not careful.

Raya makes me think of the new Disney movie

Love the first three, don't like and of the second three.

bing no, not really. Same criteria apply. I like Samuel, Mikhail, Nikolai, Ivan but DH hasn’t really weighed in yet.

emma they will all rhyme, basically. Thanks to the idiosyncrasies of russian naming conventions our son will have a surname ending in v and girl will have -a. And Russian girls’ names tend to end in -a.

I'd choose Iris and Nina

I wouldn't choose Raya as its from a current Disney film.. Zoya is not really my style but I love the others, especially Iris and Julia.

I like Nina from your list but also wondered about Hana/Hannah, Matilda, Maria, Roza or Suri...

Ooh, I hadn’t heard of the Disney film @ChocOrange1! That’s probably the end of that one.

@SE13Mummy some of those work in one culture but not the other. I find Maria a bit Catholic, for lack of a better term , and the short form is Masha, which I don’t like. There’s also Marta/Martha, but it’s really not my cup of tea.

Thanks all!

Apart from Maria, I know of Russian Jewish females with those names @AlackAlasAlackaday!

Alexandra/Sasha for sure!

I really like Raya (either pronunciation) but it's unfortunate that the Disney film is out around now.

What about Roya?

Nina is lovely as well, simple but sophisticated IMO.

Love Iris and Nina. Not that keen on the others - particularly dislike Sasha.

I like Julia and Iris. Zoya is a (great) character from the Shadow and Bone fantasy series and definitely sounds more exotic. Nina and Raya are a bit wishy washy

Love Alexandra & Iris. Don't like the others.

I have a fondness for Tatiana clearly. Also Oksana & Dasha/Daria.

Ariella, Magdalena, Kazia, Raphaella

Love alexandra /sasha, iris and nina. Not keen on the others sorry.
Also love Samuel and nikolai out of the boys names you mentioned