Russian names?

I like traditional names that aren't too common and DF is Russian so we're looking for something that fits both criteria.

Not only does the name have to sound nice when it is pronounced in both Russian and English, we also have to consider the shortened version of the name and it's all a bit too hard at the moment.

The top names on my list are Roman or Nikolai for a boy and Natalya or Nadya for a girl. Alexander/Alexandra is out.

I'm not a fan of common Russian names like Ivan, Yuri, etc. but am open to all and any suggestions :D TIA

Anastasia
Rudolph (Rudi)
Boris
Natasha
Annushka
Sergei
Oxana
Anatoly
Ilya
Nikita
Nadya
Alexei
Luka
Darya
Lidya
Larisa
Konstantin
Katerina
Isaak
Dmitri
Grigori
Fyodor

I love Nikolai.

My favourite Russian names are
Dimitri
Vladimir
Anatoly
Rasputin

Anoushka
Anastacia

Not sure if it is Russian but Emil.

Tatiana, Tania,Tanya is a cooolll name ;), Katarina, Annika, Anoushka.

Nicola
Anika
Tonya
Katie
Anna
Anya
Vera
Veronika


Antonio
Rudolf
Boris
Viktor
Ignacius
Zephan

Katinka.

Dimitri (Dima)
Tatiana
Vladimir

Thanks Girls!

Vera, Veronika and Lidiya are all maybes, I'm not sure about Catherine/Katherine and the many variations. Sorry Tanstar I'm not a big fan of Tanya either :redface:

The diminutive form of Natalya and Anastasia is Natasha which DF thinks is a prostitutes name :rolleyes: and he has a relative called Nadya so I would have to work on him to come around to any of those names. I figure that I get to decide this time because I was the one who compromised on DD's name (Alexandra) because I didn't and still don't really like Sasha which it is shortened to.

Dimitri and Anatoli are also maybes.

I love Natalya, shame. What about Saskia?

From your list I like Roman for a boy & Natalya for a girl. But all your faves are nice IMO.

We wanted to name our DD (if we had one) Zoia (like "Zoya") but my niece was Zoe. Still love it. When we were in China we had some russian friends whose little girl had that name. She was gorgeous so that probably influenced our thinking. :)

I think Saskia is more of a dutch name Kim. I don't mind it but it's too close to Dd's nicknames, Sasha, Sashka, Sashula.

Zoya is different, I hadn't heard of it before and I think it could grow on me. Although when I googled one site came up with "This Russian version of Zoe is saddled with the unfortunate, whiny "oy" in the middle"