Old Russian names include Zhdan (Ждан), Peresvet (Пересвет), Lada (Лада), and Lyubava (Любава). Soviet-era names include Vilen (Вилен), Avangard (Авангард), Ninel (Нинель), and Era (Эра). Names borrowed from other languages include Albert (Альберт), Ruslan (Руслан), Zhanna (Жанна), and Leyla (Лейла).
Alina, Alena, Adelina, Albina, Alya: Meaning “bright” or “beautiful”. Alinoshka: Meaning “light”. Alyona: Meaning “shining light”. Anfisa: Meaning “flowering”. Anika: Meaning “grace”.
Between 1902 and 2007, the five most popular first names among residents of Moscow and the surrounding region were Alexander, Sergei and Vladimir for boys and Tatyana and Yelena for girls.
Along with Natalia and Anastasia, other Russian girl names in the US Top 1000 include Angelina, Annika, Kira, Mila, Nadia, Nina, Sasha, and Vera. Popular girl names in Russia include Yelizaveta — the Russian variation of Elizabeth — Polina, Varvara, Ksenia, Alina, and Yulia.
The most popular neutral names are Saša and Nikola, both with a slight Russian (or East-Slavic) connotation. Other names of that paradigm are Áda, Jarka, Jára, Jindra, Jirča, Jirka, Kája, Mára, Míla, Mira, Míša, Míťa, Nikola, Péťa, Saša, Stáňa, Sváťa, Štěpa, Vlasta, Zbyňa, Zdena.
Russian patronymics
Patronymics are used in combination with first full names and imply respect and distance between grown up people. So, for example, it's traditional to address your boss, a doctor, a teacher, a senior colleague, parents-in-law using their name plus patronymic.
'Elizaveta' (Eлизaвeтa), a Russian form of the name, has been in the top 10 names given to baby girls born in Moscow, Russia in the past 10 years.
The Russian Empire, also known as Imperial Russia, was the final period of the Russian monarchy from its proclamation in November 1721, until its dissolution in late 1917. It consisted of most of northern Eurasia. The Empire succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad.
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.
Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721)
Russians use three names: first name, or имя; middle or patronymic name, or отчество, which is their father's first name plus a suffix meaning "son of" (ович) or "daughter of" (овна); and the last name or family name, or фамилия.
Russian names for boys range from the familiar (Nikolai, Ivan, Vladimir), to the under-the-radar (Matvei, Leonid, Rodion), to the utterly unknown (Timofel, Innokenti, Yelisei). Along with Nikolai and Ivan, other Russian boys' names that have featured in the US Top 1000 in recent years include Valentin and Dimitri.
For women, a patronymic comes from the father's name with a suffix. Usually it's either -evna or -ovna. For example if you meet Lyudmila Nikolayevna/Людмила Николаевна, you already know tha she's the daughter of a man named Nikolai. While Ekaterina Aleksandrovna has a father named Aleksandr.
The first double surnames in Russia and Eastern Europe were known and used in medieval times. Having a double surname was a privilege and an indication of a higher social class. The practice of adding a second surname arose because of the need to distinguish between members of the same family.
Sasha is a gender-neutral name of Russian origin, meaning “defender” and “helper of mankind”. This solid and heroic name is the Russian short-form of the Greek name Alexander or Alexandra, which means “to defend man”.
Lyubov, Liubov or Lubov is a female given name, meaning “love”. It is of Slavic origin, coming from the basic word l'ub (Latin: caritas).
Arman: It sounds somewhat masculine, and means “warrior,” but this bold Russian baby name can also be used for a boy or girl.
Doroteya. Description: This name is the Russian version of “Dorothy.”
At just six years old Alina Yakupova has amassed more than 24,000 Instagram followers — and is one of the world's most in-demand models.
The standard word for 'beautiful' in Russian is красивый, but it is not the only one. Find out a few ways to say beautiful in Russian with this free lesson. The Russian word красивый can be used to describe both men and women: красивая женщина beautiful woman.