Ilya is great for someone else. It makes me think of
Ilya Kuryakin, which is a positive association. (
Come to think of it,
Ilya's partner
Napoleon Solo is a positive association too, particularly for a namenerd.) :-) For those too young to know what I'm talking about, check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_U.N.C.L.E.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057765/
Olga's not so hot for me. I have all the requisite stereotypical images in my head, sorry.
Andrey's handsome, though I prefer
Andrei or
Andre (depending on the combo). I've never heard the name Bayr but it sounds cool.
Tatiana's on my PNL.
I have several Russian names on my PNL, actually, more male than female.
Aleksei / Alexei - love this because of my son
Alex. One of his nn's is
Alexei, and has been for many years. I choose to spell it with an X or KS depending on what it's paired with (
Derek Aleksei compared with
Alexei Fox)
Denis - I love the origin; I posted about this a while back and most of the feedback I got was negative; most people prefer this name spelled with 2 N's, though pretty much the same people admitted they didn't like it either way. As with all my other faves that have alternative spellings (like
Alexei above), I spell it with one N or two depending on what it's paired with (
Denis Alexei versus
Dennis Connor)
Dmitri - again I like its origin, but I just think it sounds hot
Elena - though it's not solely a Russian name, of course; and I consider it interchangeable with
Helena depending on need
Larisa - but I grew up with someone named
Larissa, and I prefer the 2 S spelling for that reason
Milena - she's right there with H/Elena for me
Nadya - but I like
Nadia better
Nikolai - because I love
Nick and
Niko but can't stand
Nicholas
Tatyana - but I like
Tatiana better
Valentina - yet again, sometimes I use
Valentine, and sometimes
Valentina, depending on the combo
Viktor - probably my favorite Russian name for either sex; but, yes, sometimes I use
Victor (
Victor Benedict versus
Viktor Nikolai)
Russian names that intrigue me which don't yet rise to PNL level include
Anton,
Ivan,
Sergei and
Vladimir.