Boy Name Opinions, Please :)

[bigbee]

Hello ladies,

Need a bit of help with a few boys names please. All are Russian names to go with an English last name J

My OH and I are both finding it really difficult to decide, as we are worried about pronunciation, shortening and are just not sure how these names sound to English speakers. Here is a bit of a shortlist.

Matvey - might be shortened to Mat, which my OH is not too keen on. *my favourite*
Nikolai - can be shortened to Nik or traditionally Kolya. My OH is worried it sounds too much like Nicola though J
Nikita - would be shortened to Nik or Niki. Ironically this is a very “macho” name, but it is a bit of a girl’s name in the UK?
Kyrill - no short version.
Ruslan
Grigoriy – my great-grandfather’s name, but sounds too Greek rather than Russian…

I am looking for any sorts of opinions, really. My OH and I can’t decide, and we don’t want to ask friends.

P.S. This is not really a driving factor, but the baby will be mixed race (dad is black, I am Russian/North African mix)… So we feel we can get away with an unusual name.

 

[Belfa]

One of my all time favorite names is Nikolai, I think it's definitely a boy's name and nothing Nicola! Not sure on the others but wouldn't be keen on Nikita as I did think that was a girls name! I like Alexi (is that the right spelling?) too but it's probably too similar to Alexis? x

 

[Nonabean]

I like Matvey and Nikolai.

 

[giuliaplus2]

i like Matvey best It's lovely and original

 

[bigbee]

Thanks ladies Much appreciated!

I love the name Matvey, but now my OH is saying that he doesn't like it being shortened to Mat (one of this brothers is called Mat), and he is adamant the name will be shortened and noone apart from my mother and I will call the child by his full name!

I wasn't keen on Nikolai, and I wouldn't have picked it. My OH chose it, and I like it now it's quite an old fashioned name.

And Belfa, yes - it is Alexei (or Aleksei). Nice name too, thank you!

 

[Durhamchance]

I have to agree that Nikita is a girls name here, I used to know a small flighty thoroughbred mare with that name and it suited her perfectly lol!

 

[Pismo]

I also like the name Nikolai, was even on our list before OH veetoed it. We cant get away with lovely unusual names like that (apparently! - according to OH)

x

 

[bigbee]

Durham, ok... So that rules Nikita OUT! Haha

Nikolai is certainly growing on me. I hadn't considered it before OH suggested it, but really like the sound of it now

 

[JJ Mum]

Nikoli is lovely and I associate it with being a strong Russian name
Nikita is def a girls name here

Matvey is lovely but I don 't like Matt too , nothing wrong with Mathews just too normal for me

Grigory lovely too as I like gregory

 

[Selina13]

I like Ruslan! Xx

 

[Gingerjv]

Nikolai is a great name! Name of a saint (19th of december is a holiday of St. Nikolai when you need to put presents under the pillow of babies

 

[bigbee]

Thank you ladies. It is so difficult, as my OH is concerned Nikolai is too much like Nicola! It's like saying, David is sounds just like Davina, or something along those lines.

So tough! Think we are settled on a girl name, so half way there I suppose.

 

[buttonbear]

One of my friends little boy is called Alexei and I just love it!

I agree with the others re the names, OH and I are the same with shortening names etc can love the full name then not so much on the shortened etc. Its hard as names are always shortened it seems!

 

[bigbee]

Haha, button.... I like the name aleksei, the problem is...I used to fancy a boy at school called aleksei. And this name just reminds me of him a lot!

 

[buttonbear]

Ohh no!! Yeah that ones out then haha!!

 

[Gingerjv]

Did you think about any other names? What about Vladimir, Constantin, Ivan, Dimitriy, Vladislav?

 

[bigbee]

Thank you for the suggestions and Yes, of course. I don't think there is a russian name I've not considered... my oh is a tad picky.

The ones you've suggested, Gingerrjv:
Vladimir - my grandfather's name, but also Putin's!
Constantin - not keen
Ivan - not keen
Dmitriy - associate it with someone I know who is an arsehole
Vladislav - really like it but OH is not keen.

Just not sure what to do. He just doesn't like any of my suggestions! And I have explained how important it is to me that the baby has a Russian name.

 

[Orion]

I really like Nikolai - and it doesn't remind me of Nicola, it reminds me more of Nicholas.

 

[Gingerjv]

Thank you for the suggestions and Yes, of course. I don't think there is a russian name I've not considered... my oh is a tad picky.

The ones you've suggested, Gingerrjv:
Vladimir - my grandfather's name, but also Putin's!
Constantin - not keen
Ivan - not keen
Dmitriy - associate it with someone I know who is an arsehole
Vladislav - really like it but OH is not keen.

Just not sure what to do. He just doesn't like any of my suggestions! And I have explained how important it is to me that the baby has a Russian name.

Hmmm you husband makes this task very difficult to be solved So i guess you know more about russian names than and already considered all of the variants? have you thought of Andrey, Anatoliy, Alexander, Arkadiy?

 

[bigbee]

Orion, I agree. And that's an amazing argument! I am going to tell him that tonight.

Gingerjv, yup! All of the above haha my mum keeps referring to the baby as Andrey (Andrusha), which is annoying. Anatoliy is nice actually

And you're right, he makes this task even more difficult than it already is!!