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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Help me find a Greek girl's name

91 replies

echonarcissus · 19/07/2012 00:02

Hello all, I'm new to mumsnet and expecting DD2 shortly. I want her to have a Greek name like DD1 but I want one that people can pronounce in the UK (we live in the UK but are from Greece).

DD1 (age 6) is called Xanthe and no one here can pronounce it so she is always called 'Zanthe' rather thank 'Ksanthi'. I know that X is pronounced Z in the UK but am surprised that people apply that to a foreign name. Especially as the X sound exists in the English lanuage, ie 'tax' and 'box'.

So this time I want a Greek name that Britsh people can pronounce. My ideas so far are:

Thalia
Arianna

And that's as far as I have got despite wasting hours thinking about it Grin.

I have lurked here for ages and you all seem friendly, wise and honest. What do you think of the two names? Can you suggest any others?

Thanks all

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HelenofSparta · 21/07/2012 19:50

Ariadne?
I have a Hermione

victoriassponge · 21/07/2012 18:34

Thalia is lovely. Also really like Eleni & Katerina.

Alice or Alicia - means noble / truth
Alayla - means war goddess!
Aria - means melody

alexpolismum · 21/07/2012 12:27

My dd is called Ariadne.

Her English relatives have no problem at all with this, and you could use Arianna as a nickname for it if you like.

Linnet · 21/07/2012 01:19

Calista is lovely and means Beautiful
Calliope is the name that I wanted to call my dd1 but I was talked out of it, shame really as I think it's a lovely name.

mamakubica · 21/07/2012 00:49

Isn't Artemis a boys name?
no, Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, e.g. the original Diana.
When i was teaching in Greece, there was a lovely girl called Artemis, with a brother called Adonis.....

mathanxiety · 21/07/2012 00:42

Theoni (an easier to pronounce version than Theone, which looks like 'the one' to some)

Eirene

Penelope

Theodosia

SPsFanjoLovesRussellHoward · 21/07/2012 00:17

Evangelia

It's my half sisters name. Her mother is Greek.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 21/07/2012 00:14

Isn't Artemis a boys name?

FringeEvent · 20/07/2012 22:24

Despina

mamakubica · 20/07/2012 22:19

sounds like a car

crumpet · 20/07/2012 22:10

Clio?

MadRambler · 20/07/2012 22:07

I love the name Ariana, but I would as it's my DD's name. There are lots of lovely names on here. I'm not sure Echo is the way to go though (?). MIL is Greek so she was happy with our choice of name (pushed for Ariadne but lost!).

HalleLouja · 20/07/2012 21:56

I have a boy cousin called Artemis.

I like

Eleni. I was vetoed.
Zoe
Chrystalla
Helena
Mary / Maria - not my favourite though.
Ellena
Andrianna
Irini
Louisa
Katerina

I even like Theodora when I was pregnant must have been the hormones.....

I did get one on the list. My husband is English so didn't share my taste.

drcrab · 20/07/2012 21:46

We know Greek/English people whose daughters are Athena and Alexandra. We have an Artemis at nursery.

CoteDAzur · 20/07/2012 21:45

The problem with Artemis is the difficulty of finding a nn.

I know one and her mum calls her "Missy".

TheBuskersDog · 20/07/2012 21:38

Had a girl in our class this year called Artemis, no pronunciation problems and always called by her correct name so no unwanted nicknames. She also loved it when they studied the Ancient Greeks and everybody learned who she was named after.

sayanythingrogerjustrogerme · 20/07/2012 21:36

Echo would be pronounced completely differently in Greek though, wouldn't it? Ee-h-o with the emphasis on the o? I totally understand where you're coming from, by the way, I have a Greek name that's hell to pronounce properly in any other language and is also taken to be a boy's name too (it ends in -o). So we took great care to make sure that our boys' names would be written and pronounced more or less the same way in Greek and English.

If we had a girl, she'd be Emilia, Chloe, Phoebe or Leda.

There are some stunning Greek names but too often the mythology is incredibly sad (or disturbing!) - Cassandra, for example.

Good luck!

blondieminx · 20/07/2012 21:34

I used to work with a Theoni which I always thought was pretty.

Love Ariadne ... but that was one of a long list veto'd as too unusual by DH!

tempnameswap · 20/07/2012 21:26

Kalista?

CoteDAzur · 20/07/2012 21:25

Eleni (lovely name)
Electra (strong, good name but only if you can ignore the mythology)
Cassandra (as above)
Athena

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 20/07/2012 21:23

Ooh I have 2 new ones not (I think) on the thread yet:

Kalliopi
Anthippi

pixipie151 · 20/07/2012 21:19

I love Antigone, which someone has already suggested. Just think, you can call her Tiggy for short, Im so envious!!!!

MsIngaFewmarbles · 20/07/2012 17:22

Ianira
Cassandra

MsIngaFewmarbles · 20/07/2012 17:21

Artemisia
Gelasia

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic · 20/07/2012 17:18

Well we called our DD Lydia, although she was originally going to be called Sophia (know too many Greek and English Sophie/Sophia's though) Toyed with Anastasia with the boys (before we knew they were boys! Grin) but knew I'd get annoyed correcting the pronunciation.

Off the top of my head I know quite a few of Helen/Eleni, Stella, Liana, Georgina, Demi, Christine, (mainly second generation, so born in UK to Greek speaking parents)

DD goes to school with Zoe, Athena, Sophie, Agni and Pavlina (all Greek)