Orfeas

Elenaki, I just remembered something. Are you planning on registering your baby as a Greek national? If you do, you'll probably have to keep in mind the spelling of the name you choose in English and how it will be transliterated into Greek - they tend to be very rigid. For example, DS's name on his birth certificate is Raphael. When DH went to the Greek consulate to register the birth, they could only register him as Rafael (with an epsilon, as opposed to an eta to get Rafail) because the system allows them no flexibility as to how roman letters are transliterated into Greek. So in order to get Ariadne spelled correctly in Greek for example, the name in English would have to be Ariadni. There is slightly more flexibility in transliterating the Greek original into roman letters (so we managed to get DS's name spelled with a "ph" in his passport, to match his birth certificate, even though the strict rule is that phi is turned into f, not ph). All a bit confusing.

Phew, sorry, long post. And they may be more flexible in London.

yes, that's a nice place too. I hope things do improve in terms of work! I like it here and don't really want to have to move back to the UK!

Incidentally, my grandma couldn't pronounce my dc's name either, but it doesn't matter. She has trouble with the (Irish) name one of my cousins chose too. She tends to use terms like "my little ducky" or "Granny's little flower" or whatever, and that solves the problem!

Elenaki yes, you've guessed correctly! Nice place to live, on the whole.

I didn't worry about not having an English sounding equivalent, or having a foreign surname (my dc also have their father's Greek surname). I didn't think it was important these days, whether in Greece (where the surname is not foreign, of course) or in GB, as I said, there are people in the UK from all over the world. Besides, I think it suits a foreign surname to have a foreign first name, if you know what I mean. It doesn't sound odd. You don't expect Mr Papadiamantis to be called Bob, do you!

And my English relatives have been extremely positive about my dc's Greek names. My dd is Ariadne, and EVERYONE back in the UK has said they love the name!

I like Rafail/ Raphael. It's quite unusual over here but not unheard of. Not like Ikaros (one of my son's friends) which really is extremely rare!

Orfeas is also unusual, but as you said no one in Greece bats an eyelid at this sort of thing. I imagine people in the UK are so used to names from all over the world cropping up, that no one should make a fuss about it, especially if you keep to the Greek pronunciation and spelling to dissociate it from the X-Men, etc.

I love Leonidas too, I nearly used it for my ds2!

Some suggestions/ ideas from my family/ relatives:

Ariadne
Danae
Despina

Filippos (works well in English too)
Paschalis
Stefanos

I also know a Panoraia, which sounds nice in Greek, but I'm not sure about it in English, and an Alkmini, which I also like a lot in Greek.

Orfeas is lovely and when I read it I instinctively knew how to pronounce it, if that makes sense? Whereas I struggle with some other names (from any country!) I also like Leonidas, it's a very strong sounding name and Leo is a great shortened version. For girls I like Ines, Anastasia and Rafaella but not so keen on Nefeli

I have n Alethea and a Callia and if DC4 is DD4 I will have an Eris (no Greek connection just a love for Ancient Greek plays/Homer/mythology). I really like Thalia and Ilias from your last list!

Just to add that Orpheus reminds me of the submarine in the BBC short series, The Deep: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_%28TV_serial%29

Athanasia for a girl?

My Cypriot/English friend's middle name is Panayiota. She doesn't much like it but I have always thought it sounded pretty nifty. Her name is Katerina (pronounced with 4 syllables).

Personally love Alexander/os and Anastasia....they are Greek but have a fit in a lot of countries and truly international names are good in my opinion...and so many diminutives too ;-)

Have you considered Yanni? A great greek name that I don't imagine anyone can get wrong!

Not keen on Orfeas but I like the other boys suggestions. Ines or Rafaella are lovely for a girl.

I know a Greek Rafail. Nobody bats an eyelid over his name. It's nice. And Ines is lovely.

Alexandros/er and Anastasia

My neighbours in the 1970s had a dog with this name. We said it "Or-FEE-us". He was a large black terrier thing who got shaved in the summer but leaving the mustache effect around his face. Perfectly nice animal. Called "Orfy" for short.
But still a dog's name in my mind. Sorry!
Isn't it something to do with the underworld, too?

Would you say "EYE-nez" or another pronunciation for Ines?
The Greek lady I know living in USA called her DC Alexander & Cassandra.

Orfeas looks like it should be the name of some kind of Institute of Taxation, or something equally dry and official.

I love Raphael.

My sister married into a greek family - she has a Theodore (she liked the meaning) and he would have been Persephone if he had been a girl.

Other family names are Buki, Elena, Petros, Nykolas, Stavros, Stelios and Thea.

My DS is Raphael, so I obviously love the name. It raised a few eyebrows back in Greece as it is fairly uncommon but not unheard of - we had people thinking that it was an offering (or however one says "tama" in English) to St Raphael who apparently helps infertile women get pregnant. The vast majority of people said it's lovely though, although you'll have to decide whether you'll pronounce it the English way RA-pha el or the Greek way Ra-pha-IL.

I love the other names on your list too, although Alexander is far too popular nowadays I think. Other names on our list were Lucas, Stephanos/Stefan and Phineas/Phileas. I'm currently pregnant with number 2, also a boy, so I'll be watching this with interest!