Sorry I couldn't answer your post about Finnish names! It was very interesting, and I had alrewady ideas, what to write. I think I'll PM you tomorrow morning before going out.
You had good luck with the Russian speakers - both
Ilya and
Andrey are on my PNL, and
Tatiana is another name I adore. They're all, including
Olga, pretty random (actually there are only about fifty Russian names for both genders that are used on 90% of people. "Russian" names, like
Aglaia, Nikandr,
Akulina, Panteleimon or
Praskovya aren't actually used like at all, though in the last ten years there is a nationalistic trend of using very rare folk-related names, like
Vasilisa, Dobrynya,
Yegor,
Gleb,
Uliana and so on.)
Think Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. It is not a girl name actually. - Ilyich is in both cases the patronymic name. You may know that, but I've seen too often people thinking that Ilyich is an actual name.
The pet form is Ilyusha but he did not use it and I only used it twice. - Your
Ilya came from "a good family". Ilyusha is the more... um, not upperclassish, but... Oh, just take a look at this wiki-article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligentsia - I mean that people who are related to this "social class" use Ilyusha, but the slang/lowerclass form you see more often is Ilyukha. The same thing with
Aleksei -
Lyosha is the "educated" form, Lyokha the form you hear on the streets.
I love
Ilya very much because of the associations I have with it and the soft sound.
My friend's (Fyedya - or
Fyodor Vladimirovich.) elder brother is
Ilya, my mom's best friend's dad, who was a good friend of my grannddad was
Ilya Gesselevich, a nice scientist who stays often at us is
Ilya and a great ballet teacher I happen to know is
Ilya.
His middle name is Felixovich - Patronymic name, you mean? His dad was a
Felix. A friend of mine,
Kirill, is also officially
Kirill Feliksovich. And a famous ballerina,
Matilda Kshesinskaya, was Feliksovna.
Mikhail I don't like that much but I love Misha-
Mikhail is on my PNL. It has great associations, too. (Actually for every Russian you can find some nice association because of tons of bearers)
Maria I love Mashka for-
Masha is the more regal form. Mashka is a little more familiar.
My mom calls me Mashka when she wants something (like cleaing the floor) from me. But yeah, I love
Masha - just think of all the characters by Chekhov named
Masha!
Gavril I think is my favorite, and I love the nickname Ganya- This is from idiot, rigth? Originally
Gavril is Gavrila Ardalionovich (Ardalion is anothr name you don't see today). I have never gotten, why does Dostoyevsky all him Ganya, but f. ex.
Aleksandra is never
Sasha...
Dmitry I love, and Mitya and Dima-
Mitya, please!
Dima is horribly trendy, but right now
Mitya is considered very old-fashioned. I love it because of my ex-classmate (aka D1) and because in one of my favourite films (
Nine days in one year
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054803/) the "main" character is
Mitya Gusev played by
Aleksei Batalov. Just look at him!
http://www.portal-slovo.ru/images/3397_11.jpg But I like
Dima, too - my other ex-classmate, the one who was
Dima (aka D2) was very clever, unbelievably good at chess and maths and had a great sense of humour.
My first crush. :D Btw, whe he lived in Russia, in his class were either five or four Dmitrys (I don't remember).
Aleksandr nn Sasha- Ha, I call
Sander sometimes
Sasha! I've also tried Shurik (see
Shura), but he didn't like it. Weird, but I never call him
Alex.
Aleksandr is a lovely name - my granddad is
Aleksandr Lazarevich, btw. There isn't anything special in it,
Aleksandr is one of the most random names in the world. Much worse than
John or
David.
Alexei is growing on me, will someone sell me on it?- I can try! (On my PNL spelled the Czech way) Take a look at
Aleksei Batalov! :D Ok, Lyuosha or
Alyosha are both very sweet and soft nicknames.
Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi (not
Lev) is a good writer with a good sense humour. Though I don't like him that much after reading "the Vampire" - it was too scary for me. (I was 11, but the traumas are alive)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_Konstantinovich_Tolstoyhttp://www.poems.md/aleksey-konstantinovich-tolstoy/don-juans-serenade-1798.htmlIf you like ice skating, there's
Aleksei Yagudin. And well,
Aleksei has such a shy, friendly feeling in it - funny, when you think about the meaning. Every
Aleksei I have known (this is funny but both
Mitya's and
Dima's fathers are named
Aleksei) has been more or less intuitive, good at school and charming. A little quiet sometimes. I also think that
Aleksei is much more modest, simple, peaceful and "smiling" than, let's say
Aleksandr. Oh well, I'm not good at selling names. :)
Aleksei is like wine, you need some time to start liking it.
Anastasia -
Anastasia is definitely not exotic!
http://www.behindthename.com/bb/arcview.php?id=3252458&board=baby
Lev - On my PNL :) Lyova is a sweet nickname!
Ivan and Vanya - Thinking of adding it to my PNL.
My dear friend is named
Ivan, but he doesn't like it when people call hime
Vanya, because it is "too childish". I don't agree, and my other aquaitance named
Ivan says it is a pleasure to be
Vanya, though he is irritated by its trendiness. (Belongs to the folk name-trend. Russian
Ivan is a little like British
Jack) And Vanyechka sounds very sweet! Do not forget "Uncle
Vanya"!
Modest - Was some time on my PNL. I don't know
anyone named that. Tchaikovsky's brother was
Modest and there's
Modya Mussorgsky.
Yaromir- Never heard in real life. Pretty and very rare.
Yaroslav is much more popular.
Agafya- Lol lol lol lol! In Russia there's a cheap and trendy soap/shampoo mark named "Recepies of granmother
Agafya".
http://www.nirgos.com/setuza/agafia.jpgBut meeting a real
Agafya is as possible as meeting a bloke named Herbert-Bartholomew.
A couple random ones like Afanasiy- Hate
Afanasy. Maybe because I really dislike
Ivan Bunin, who was Afanasyevich. And, though "The Master and
Margarita", "Days of the Turbins" and "A Heart of a Dog" are all great works I read again and again, I have no personal symphaty for
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov. :P
I don't want to list all the Russian names I like - they're basic to me that it would be actually the same as "list all your favourite English names. Tell me, how do you feel about English names" for you. :D