OTMAX?

[Beautiful_Anastasia]

Hi, I was just wondering what Nicky and Alix would have called another daughter of theirs. Would she have been named Xenia, after Nicholas' other sister? Or maybe Victoria after Queen Victoria of England? 
Emily x

[Grandduchess Valeria]

Maybe Elisabeth (after Alix sister). What I don't think, that they would named her Alexandra (even if Nicholas was so in love with one and would have had a "romantic day"), as the name was often connected with a short live of the Grandduchess (see Alexandra Nikolaevna I, Alexandra Pavlovna, Alexandra Mikhailovna or Alexandra Alexandrovna) and the IF abandon this name since the last one died.

[TimM]

Is it just me, or can all these Alexandra's get confusing!    Alexandra Alexandrovna 

I think Elisabeth or Xenia (I'm guessing it's pronounced Zenia) would be good choices.

[Beautiful_Anastasia]

I think Elisabeth or Xenia (I'm guessing it's pronounced Zenia) would be good choices.

No, it is pronounced [Ksenya]
Emily x

[abbigail]

Maybe Alice? After Alexandra's mother?

Haha...OTMAAA (including Alexei).

Or perhaps female diminuatives of male relatives' names...but I don't know if that was very common.

[Jarian]

I might be wrong about this but since they were of Russian Orthodox wouldn't the name have been a traditional Russian name?

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

I might be wrong about this but since they were of Russian Orthodox wouldn't the name have been a traditional Russian name?

Rather the other way around: It had to be a name you could find in the Orthodox saints' calendar.
Victoria would be OK, I think, as there were several early Saint Victorias, but Alice (short form of Adelaide / Adalheidis) would only be OK in the form Адельгейда or Adelgeida IF the Orthodox Church recognizes for example the 10th century Saint Adelaide of Italy / Burgundy, who BTW was an empress!

[Jarian]

I might be wrong about this but since they were of Russian Orthodox wouldn't the name have been a traditional Russian name?

Rather the other way around: It had to be a name you could find in the Orthodox saints' calendar.
Victoria would be OK, I think, as there were several early Saint Victorias, but Alice (short form of Adelaide / Adalheidis) would only be OK in the form Адельгейда or Adelgeida IF the Orthodox Church recognizes for example the 10th century Saint Adelaide of Italy / Burgundy, who BTW was an empress!

Oh thank you cause I was thinking of the saint names because all the Romanov's had their name days.

[Grandduchess Valeria]

Maybe Ekaterina (as is was very common too). Zinaida, Natalia or Elena were my next guesses even if not very common. But I really think Elisabeth or Xenia would be next choice. The meaning of the names might be also important, as the IF often choose names with a religious meaning (see Olga or Anastasia)

[Beautiful_Anastasia]

Yes, I was considering Elisabeth also...cool, I didn't know that, Fyodor Petrovich (that the names had to be chosen from the Orthodox saint's calendar)...why? Ekaterina just reminds me of Ekaterinburg though. 
Emily x

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

I didn't know that, Fyodor Petrovich (that the names had to be chosen from the Orthodox saint's calendar)...why?

Because everybody needs a patron saint?
It's just old tradition, it probably started as a way to distance yourself from the pagans.
I don't think it's totally impossible for a Russian to have a non-Orthodox name, though. I think there are a few modern Russians named for the legendary ruler Rurik for example, and he was no saint, not even a Christian!

Ekaterina just reminds me of Ekaterinburg though.  

Not Ekaterina Velikaya (= Catherine the Great)? :-)

[Beautiful_Anastasia]

I didn't know that, Fyodor Petrovich (that the names had to be chosen from the Orthodox saint's calendar)...why?

Because everybody needs a patron saint?
It's just old tradition, it probably started as a way to distance yourself from the pagans.
I don't think it's totally impossible for a Russian to have a non-Orthodox name, though. I think there are a few modern Russians named for the legendary ruler Rurik for example, and he was no saint, not even a Christian!

Ekaterina just reminds me of Ekaterinburg though. 

Not Ekaterina Velikaya (= Catherine the Great)? :-)

Oh right thanks Fyodor Petrovich!
Emily x

[abbigail]

Speaking of Ekaterina/Catherine, I was wondering...
Did Russians refer to Catherine the Great as Catherine or Ekaterina? I know Ekaterina is the Russian version of Catherine, but I've never heard/read about her being called anything other than Catherine.

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Did Russians refer to Catherine the Great as Catherine or Ekaterina? I know Ekaterina is the Russian version of Catherine, but I've never heard/read about her being called anything other than Catherine.

In English we call her Catherine, in Russian she was and is Екатерина, pronounced /yekateRINa/.

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Another example of a popular Russian name which is not strictly a saint's name is Svetlana, which was coined in 1803 and made popular by a ballad in 1813.
But since it means "she who shines" it's also interpreted as the Slavic translation of the names of the Saints Photina* (the many times "divorced" Samaritan woman Jesus talked with by the Well of Jacob), Lucia and Clara.

* I think that in the Orthodox Church, even more characters from the Bible are considered saints than in the West, thus extending the scope of names.