My friend, who is from a non native English speaking country queried as to the romanization and Englishness of her nephew's name. Her nephew's first name when romanized is LeeAnn which is fairly feminine, so her and her sister are looking for a better way of romanizing the name. As R and L are interchangeable in her native language, they are considering Rian or Rean - sounding like Reeun? However the name ends up being written, it will be the official English spelling and on his passport.
I did point out that many may read it as Ryan, but that is a small concern. A bigger concern is that he will be called Durian at school and her sister plans on keeping the kid stink free, which we had a good laugh over.
What do you all think? Which spelling is better and does the name come across as a normal English name? Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.