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Baby names

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

Bilingual names

29 replies

DXBMermaid · 15/06/2015 12:05

I'm Dutch and DH is English/South African. We are expecting our second baby (a boy) and are struggling to find a name that works in both languages and that we like.

For instance the name Jonathan in English is fine. In Dutch is sounds more like Yo-nà -tan. Harry, which is perfectly acceptable in English in Dutch sounds like that dodgy guy who comes to fix your plumbing off the books.

We both like Theodore, but only in English. I love Quentin and Lucas in both languages but DH hates those names. Our daughter is called Alexandra, which we love and the difference in pronounciation are minimal.

Please help as I'm afraid we'll never find a name for this poor child!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
MarchLikeAnAnt · 15/06/2015 12:32

Benjamin?

BuildYourOwnSnowman · 15/06/2015 12:28

My kids names are horrible in German! But the kids will correct people who pronounce their name 'wrong'. We were also quite strict on correcting people so when we introduced X some people would say 'oh you mean 'Y' and we would just say that we are pronouncing it X

Otherwise,
Arlo or Arno?

kelda · 15/06/2015 12:21

Does it really matter if the pronunciation is different? My dh is flemish and my children's names are pronounced differently in flemish or english.

florascotia · 15/06/2015 12:19

Peter?
Frederick?
Sebastian?