is Kirsten a known name in England?

Hi Vibeke

Danish here to married to English man. Our son has a name that is pronounced slightly differently in Danish and English it doesnt phase him in fact he loves to know his name in Danish and often says mummy say my name the danish way..

with your name you must have had to teach the English it and they learnt? will be the same with your Kirsten

(weirdly I have cousins named Vibeke and Kirsten in Denmark)

it is a known name, yes but I have never heard it pronounced Danish style.

It's my name. I'm Scottish and pronounce it kersten. Kuursten pronunciation in Scottish always sounds quite rough.

I like the idea of calling her Kjerstin. It'll make people stop and ask how to pronounce it rather than assuming they know. Otherwise I suspect everyone will just call her Kuuursten and it'll annoy you all!

Meant to add -- Hannah is too close to Anna imo, but Emma is a completely different name..

Kirsten is lovely (I would pronounce it your way). Kristin otoh is horrible.

A child is not going to get confused by hearing a different pronunciation, as long as you and her father pronounce it the same way. That is how she will learn it and say it. I have an Irish name that Irish people pronounce different ways depending on region, and I stick to the pronunciation I learned as a child, at home.

I know a Kirsten pronounced the German way (same as your way) and it's lovely. She said that once people have heard her name out loud they remember how it's pronounced, she only has to correct people that have seen it written down first before hearing it iyswim. I tink it's a lovely name and that you should go for it.

Kirsten is a lovely name. Yes, it sounds fine to English ears and is a known name here.

Emma is nice too, and I wouldn't say it's too similar to Anna.

However, Hannah and Anna are very similar.

Kirsten is a lovely name. I'm a Kirsty but always wanted to be a Kirsten, I feel it ages better. I'm thirty now and still see Kirsty as a bit of a ''little girls name''. Although I generally think that with names ending in 'ie or y'. Just my opinion. My parents call me Kirst-ee and that is how I introduce myself, however all my teachers at Secondary called me Kier-stee.

Its like another poster said, as soon as you introduce baby, people will take the lead from you :) Good luck

I don't think people will have any difficulty with the pronunciation, once they know how it's supposed to be said. It's just that most people will assume the 'Kursten' pronunciation when they see it written down, so you/she might have to do a lot of correcting if you want the other pronunciation.

Or did I misunderstand, and you plan to use one pronunciation in the UK and the other for your Danish side of the family?

Once they know I'm sure it's fine. FWIW, though, I know a small half-Danish Freya, and she gets most put out that everyone here calls her 'Fray-a' and not 'Fry-a'

I'm an English Kirsten in my early 40's, given the name due to Scottish heritage. The only mix up i get is Kristen mostly from Americans

I don't think you'd have too much of a problem as long as you're prepared for people to pronounce it the English way and for you to correct them.

It's fairly simple for English people to pronounce once they know how too.

Another in agreement that people will take her/your lead on pronunciation - I have a French friend who lives in the Uk who has a daughter named Alice. Everyone pronounces it Al-eece despite knowing another girl who is Alice with the English pron - we follow the lead of her parents. There will always be a few people who will consistently get it wrong but not enough to veto a lovely name.

I'm a Kirsti (was almost Kjersti thanks to Norwegian family). I know two Kirstens. It's a known name but there aren't many!

Kirsten is well known in the UK - more popular in the 1970/80s, I would say, just as Kristin was in the USA.

I agree with Jemima - your daughter will introduce herself as 'Keersten' and people will follow that. I knew a Kirsten, pronounced 'Keersten', at school. Everyone knew this and pronounced it accordingly.

BTW, my name is Kirstin. Fairly unusual in the UK - I have only met one other and I'm in my mid 30s. However, I have had a life time of people (until they got to know me) calling me or mis-spelling my name as Kirsty, Kirsten or Kersten......

I went to school with a Kirsten, pronounced Kursten. To change the spelling to get the other pronounciation you could spell it Kiersten, but maybe that's just not right in either language! Kjersten, I would ignorantly think was pronounced K-yer-sten not Keersten. Nice name though!

Our next door neighbour is called Kirsten, probably late twenties. early thirties...I have known a couple of others too.

The Kirsten in our town is an adult and is universally known as "bloody Kirsten".

Because of my regional accent I pronounce my second daughters name slightly differently to the way most other people (including her father) do. Sometimes people say "you mean (normal way)" and I just say yes, it's never an issue.
I've known lots of children with parents from different regions or nations whose own parents didn't say thier name the same way and they were fine. Even very common names like Emma, Lucy and Jessica will be mispronounced by siblings (Mmi, Luli, Jeska). Your child wont be confused. Your own name probably sounds different in every region of every country you visit and when children say it, you still know they mean you.

I thought that the j might help cue people into it being a scandinavian name, and knowledge of the word 'fjord' might give people a guide to pronouncing the 'j'. Or maybe not

I would pronounce Kirsten as Kursten... Kjerstin I would probably try to avoid saying as I'd have no idea how to pronounce it!

I really like the name though - you'd/she'd just have to be prepared to do a lot of pronunciation-correcting.

Op I think Kristen is lovely but Kirsten/Kirsty always sounds too much like cursed to me-sorry.

If you say it the way you want to people may follow or (which i find) they look at you strangely and just keep saying it the way they want to, esp as they will have heard it before. If your DC was not shy ect they would correct them but if they where they might not.

I disagree colditz if they used Kjerstin people would be stumbed at first but when you said it they would be all 'ohh okay, where is that from then?' If people know a name comes from a different language/culture they are usually more willing to make an effort about pronouncing it correctly.

OP - don't like Hannah it's to bluh and v.popular. Emma is okay popular as well but less so

"Would the name Kjerstin give a better guide to pronounciation for people in britain?"

Bluntly, no. It will flummox them.