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There are an awful lot of nicknames on here, and I will just say straight off that I absolutely despise nicknames as first names.

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Girls:
Alyona -Strongly dislike it, but I love Yelena.
Annushka -Fine as a nickname, but unbearably cutesy as a given name.
Avdotya -This could really grow on me, I like it.
Ekaterina -Adore it!
Elizaveta -Gorgeous
Dasha -Adorable as a nickname, but hideous as a given name.
Elena -Adore this
Irina -Beautiful
Ivanka -As a nickname, sure. As a given name, no way. I find it rather harsh, though.
Karina -I find it very cutesy.
Katya -See Dasha
Kseniya -Looks so trydneigh and I don't care for the sound.
Nastasya -See Katya
Natalya -Gorgeous!
Natasha -See Natasaya
Oksana -Not a fan
Svetlana -I find it really harsh and ugly
Tanya -It's a nickname, and not even a nice one.
Zoya -Beautiful!

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Boys:
Demyen -Did you mean Demyan? Either way, I hate the name, sorry.
Fyodor -Ugly IMO
Ilya -Ditto
Ivan -I don't mind the Russian way (ee-VAHN), but EYE-van is awfully harsh.
Konrad -So harsh
Kostya -Another nickname
Lev -Not a fan
Mikhail -Love this
Miloslav -I much prefer Miroslav
Nikolai -LOVE it!
Radimir -Hate it
Rodion -Reminds me of radium
Serezha -What? The closest I could come was Suresha, which is Indian.
Vasily -Doesn't sound like a name to me. It sounds like a city or a spice.

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My favorites:
Abram
Adam
Aleksandr
Aleksandra "Aleksandrina / Sasha / Shura"
Aleksei / Alexei / Aleksey
Anastasiya
Andrei / Andrey
Anna "Anya"
Dmitriy / Dimitri / Dmitri
Ekaterina / Yekaterina "Katya / Katia / Katerina"
Elena / Yelena
Elizaveta / Yelizaveta
Eva
Gavriil
Gavriila
Irina
Isaak
Isidora
Klara
Larisa "Lara"
Lidiya
Luka
Marina
Mariya / Maria "Masha"
Matvei / Matvey
Mikhail
Milan
Milena
Natalya / Nataliya
Nikolai
Selena
Sofiya / Sofya
Tatiana / Tatyana
Viktoriya
Zhanna
Zakhar
Zoya

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