HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Nikita Malkin

[Sergei DRW]

The Pens just played against a pretty good Nikita last round...[/QUO

Still sounds feminine.

Looks like only in Russia the name is strictly male. The rest of the world regards it as female since it ends in "a" which is feminine in Romance languages.

Its Greek derivation is "Victory". Pretty fitting for a kid of Geno.

Lots of Russian names end in "a" - Ilya, Danila, Nikita.