Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

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

Updated shortlist: Shanaya, Serena, Eliana for a baby girl (Indian)

33 replies

meera454 · 21/12/2020 12:01

Shortlist: (top 2 = Shanaya or Serena)
Shanaya (pronounced SHA-NAAA-YA, like Shania Twain), the spelling Shanaya is the Indian spelling
Serena
Elina/ Eliana (saw these on another thread and think they're quite pretty and Indian-sounding), similar to the Indian names Leena, Leela and Ila but different.

As a wild one... we quite like Larissa (totally unrelated to our culture but we like the name and it is our Western name option incase we decide to go for a completely western name. Would this suit a British Indian baby or is it too Greek/Russian?)

The ones we ruled out thanks to all of your wonderful and helpful comments:

Jiya (sounds like jeer)
Ruhi/ Rohini/ Ruhani (not international enough, too old school for us)
Maya (overused and a bit bland for us)
Siya (sounds like see-ya later)
Ananya (sounds like a-nun)
Aria (masculine name in some cultures, harsh sounds to our ears)
Leela (too simple as a first name and overly common in India, parents not keen on it)
Anushka and Anya (too harsh sounding)

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
YoniAndGuy · 21/12/2020 17:58

Serena is the one I'd go for if you are aiming at a name which will also work in Western culture. It's lovely, familiar, unusual but not unknown, lovely sound.

meera454 · 21/12/2020 17:39

@Redcart21 Thank you for your suggestions! Helpful to know that Eliana is such an international name. Sha-ny-a is the pronunciation im after, like shun-eye-a :)

OP posts:
Redcart21 · 21/12/2020 16:41

Love Serena. I like Shanaya too but if you hadn’t spelt it out, I would have pronounced it Sha-ny-a. That may not bother you though.
Eliana is a gorgeous name too. I think it’s quite international too as I know 3- 1 english and 2 African.

meera454 · 21/12/2020 16:01

Thanks @M0rT and @Zofloratheexplora ! :)

OP posts:
Zofloratheexplora · 21/12/2020 14:48

I like Larissa and Serena

M0rT · 21/12/2020 14:45

I like Eliana and Larissa, I didn't even know Larissa was Greek/Russian so definitely not too much so Smile

meera454 · 21/12/2020 14:41

@MercyBodle I think when you say Anya in an Indian accent and in Hindi, it can sound a but harsher than the other names, the 'n' and 'y' is stressed a lot more

OP posts:
MercyBodle · 21/12/2020 12:39

I like Serena or Larissa (perfectly fine for any baby -not too Greek/Russian).

(And I can't hear anything harsh sounding about Anya - very gentle to my ears!)

Swipe left for the next trending thread