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Baby names

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

Original poster

Too French?

41 replies

Pleatherandlace · 29/04/2019 09:35

We are a French family living in the UK. We are weeks away for the birth of our (final) child, another girl, but are really struggling with names.

Both of our older two girls have French names but ones that are easily spelt, pronounced and understood here. We really love Anais this time but aren’t sure if this is a step too French? Will we be subjecting our daughter to a lifetime of having to correct peoples and spelling it over the phone? Will she hate us forever? For reference we also have a difficult “foreign” surname.

What do people think? Thanks.

OP posts:
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Mummaofmytribe · 29/04/2019 11:15

Very pretty

ElectricDreamz · 29/04/2019 11:14

Just checked and it's Noel Gallagher's dd. Was thinking it was Mick Jagger or someone

ElectricDreamz · 29/04/2019 11:12

I like it pronounced the french way but have heard English people pronounce it A nay iss.
There was the daughter of a rock star called this who was a children's tv presenter and her co presenter pronounced it A nay iss so maybe that's how she pronounced it

Littlechocola · 29/04/2019 11:11

It’s not that unusual here. It’s beautiful.

ThanksItHasPockets · 29/04/2019 11:08

It's an-eye-eece.

I think the confusion partly arises from the fact that is should be spelt Anaïs, with a diaeresis over the i. Many people will leave this off and spell it Anais, which if it were a name would be pronounced an-ay according to French pronunciation conventions.

SPR1107 · 29/04/2019 10:40

I would be guilty of saying AnAY too Blush. How is it pronounced?

Madamedeluxe · 29/04/2019 10:40

I think a lot of people won’t know how it is pronounced and find it difficult to say. I have heard people call the perfume ‘Anay.’

Lavenderblues · 29/04/2019 10:39

Anaïs is lovely!

MooBaaLaLaLa · 29/04/2019 10:22

I think it's pretty well known in the UK, one of the Gallaghers has one if I remember correctly.
You will get some mispronunciation but no more than with Aoife or many other names.

ThanksItHasPockets · 29/04/2019 10:20

People will very frequently mispronounce it and leave off the diaeresis, I’m afraid. It is beautiful though if you can live with this.

koality · 29/04/2019 09:57

Oh god I would say 'A-nay'Blush
Yes she might have to correct people but it is a pretty name and if you love it go for it.

Sagradafamiliar · 29/04/2019 09:55

It's lovely and been around long enough for people in the UK to have had time to get to grips with it
Congrats

Original poster
Pleatherandlace · 29/04/2019 09:51

Thanks, I was also thinking about the 80’s perfume connection!

OP posts:
TheBulb · 29/04/2019 09:43

I have a foreign first name and surname, as does my son, and unless you are the sort of person who is upset when a dental receptionist mispronounces your name, or that people on first meeting will need to be told, often, how to pronounce it and I'm not it's fine.

I concur with the pp that a lot of British people's context for the name Anais is the perfume, and that they often pronounced it AnAY-AnAY, which I could see getting annoying quickly. It's a lovely name, though.

ArsenicNLace · 29/04/2019 09:40

Yes it does depend how you pronounce it. If properly with the accent An-eye-ees. Fine. Lovely name.

But Anay just makes you sound uneducated.

BriocheBriocheBrioche · 29/04/2019 09:38

It’s one of my favourite girls names! I do think people may struggle with pronunciation though. Lots of people pronounced the perfume Anais Anais as Anay Anay.

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