I can understand Tchaikovsky, but Lenin carries some pretty heavy baggage, and given today's culture, more people are going to remember Lenin than Tchaikovsky. Sorry.
My mind immediately jumps to
Ilya Petrovich, the fiery-tempered lieutenant in Crime and Punishment. Kind of a jerk, but deep down he's okay.
Misha, to me, sounds very feminine. I know that it's a male name in Russia, but in
America, it's pretty much reserved for the girls, and disagreeing with it isn't going to change it. It'll just get little boy
Misha teased.
Mikhail is great, though.
Maria is lovely, but Mashka looks morbid and kind of cruel. I don't care for it much, but you'll probably be the only one using that nickname.
Gavril is great.
Gabriel is, in the eyes of a lot of people, overused, and this makes a nice alternative.
Dmitry has a wonderful sound, but I much prefer
Dmitri or
Dimitri. Great choice. Ethnic, but with flair.
Mitya and
Dima are not great for me, though.
Mitya sounds girlish and
Dima is too close to demon for my taste.
Aleksandr nn
Sasha is fantastic.
Alexei is great for me, but I have family connections to the Romanov family, so that may be a little biased on my part. It's a fantastic name, though.
Anastasia is one of my all-time favorite girl names.
Love it, love it, love it. Also, the nn
Anya is on my PNL and would stand well on its own.
Lev is wonderful. In Hebrew, it means "heart," and I would use it in an instant.
Ivan is great, but
Vanya sounds and looks like "vain," which is never something you want stuck on your child.
Modest... yuck. Sorry. Besides, no one is going to say it correctly.
Yaromir looks too much like Boromir and Faramir from the Lord of the Rings series, and for that, I dislike it.
Agafya is clunky and overwhelming, so no.
I wouldn't use Bayr, as no one is ever going to pronounce it correctly, and it looks/sounds (in American pronunciation) like a medicine for arthritis. Bad choice.
Olga = old. Sorry. Middle name, maybe?