[k8c]

Hi, Lisa. I live in St. Petersburg, so may be able to shed some insight.

He has no idea that his name is Mikhail. No one would call him that for years and years. He's Misha to one and all. (One friend here in Russia who is 27 says he is looking forward to the day when he gets to use his "grownup name".)

I think the closest pronunciation is more like

Mee ha-el (and the "h" is...throaty).

I think I'd name him Michael and then call him Misha. Or, name him Mikhail and call him Misha. I wouldn't try to call him by the Russian pronunciation of his name b/c it has phonemes that we don't use in English. It will sound silly.

But, if you really don't like Michael, you might consider keeping Mikhail as his middle name. I've heard from many families whose children didn't want the "adopted from Russia" stamp that an unusual name gives them--particularly when they're tweens and teens. If you don't want him to use Michael as his name, I'd avoid Mikhail as a first name.

Of course, he could always use his middle name or initials...

One family I know solved the problem by using the name "Peter" since their son was from St. Petersburg.

(as per your btw: Although we don't recognize it, there are very American names. While at drama school in England, the only people who couldn't immediately peg an American by their name alone were the Americans studying there!)

Just my two cents! Names are one of the more FUN "dilemmas" we get to face as pap's.