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Baby names

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

Original poster

Short name for a trilingual kid

217 replies

BigHedgehog · 05/08/2021 10:46

Dear mums, it's the first time I am writing here, but I read this forum quite a lot before :)
We are getting a second baby soon, and we won't know the gender until birth, so I am preparing two sets of names.
We would like a short first name (3-5 letters maximum), but to make it more complicated, it should sound well and have no negative associations in 3 languages.
I am Russian, my husband is German and we have lived in England for the past 7 years and are planning to stay for at least a few more. We have filtered out quite a few names based on our knowledge of German and Russian culture, however I would be grateful for advice from native British mums. For example, after having read through some threads here, I realised that Kai and Ian are not widely accepted in the UK.
Ok, to cut it short, we came up with the following names and I would like to hear your opinions or suggestions.
Important: it's not really about personal opinions on the name itself - we all have our tastes. It's more about cultural acceptance and country associations I may not be aware of. Also, the name may sound exotic in one of the languages, but still sound pleasant. Thank you!

For girls, we are thinking about Liv (as a full name) or Zoe.
The middle name will be Anastasia (connected to a family situation)
I am not up for Olivia, but my concern is that there are many baby Olivias nowadays whose names are probably shortened to Liv?

For boys, we are considering Elias or Jan. Middle name is still to be chosen. Maybe Theodor.
I am not sure if Jan will always be pronunciation correctly (/Yan/), and Elias seems to be getting too popular in Germany (my concern), but not so in the UK.

Whay do you think about these 4: Liv - Zoe, Elias - Jan? Any other suggestions?
Please be mindful with "I like / I don't like" as you may hurt someone's feelings. Again, it's more about general cultural acceptance.

Many thanks!

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99Red · 05/08/2021 12:58

And I wouldn’t assume Liv was short for Olivia, I might assume it was short for Livinia. Which is also a lovely name.

EmbarrassingMama · 05/08/2021 12:58

Elias is a lovely name.

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 05/08/2021 12:57

DDs middle name is the female form of Jan. I love the name (both male and female versions) but I couldn't give it to her as her first name as it would be continually mispronounced.

nocturnalcatfreetogoodhome · 05/08/2021 12:56

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon

How do will you be pronouncing Elias? In English it's traditionally pronounced "El-EYE-as" but we have a German Elias in our school (which should be pronounced "El-EE-us") but many British people can't seem to get their head around this pronunciation and it comes out as "ELLY-ass". Just something to bear in mind!
It's originated in Greek/Hebrew. The Anglican is Elliot/Ellis. The Arabic is Ilyas. Italian Elio. So I would say it 'should' be ELL-EE-US but everyone English I know pronounces it El-Eye-Us so I would say with an English accent it's that way.
BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 05/08/2021 12:56

And Anastasia won't be pronounced the Russian way - but if it's a middle name it probably won't matter too much.

SleepingStandingUp · 05/08/2021 12:55

I like Jan, i know two, but it will be mispronounced forever. I'd go Elias, its lovely. Or Eli.

Zoe is cute, and def not overly popular

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 05/08/2021 12:55

The problem with Ilya is that most people in the UK will probably say "ILL-ya" rather than "EEL-ya".

ZeldasMum · 05/08/2021 12:54

My bilingual kid is called Zelda.

99Red · 05/08/2021 12:53

If I knew the parents were German/Russian I would actually assume Jan (pronounced Yan) was a boy.

I agree with this. I know a Johan and and a Jakob both pronounced with a Y. Then there is the famous goal keeper Jens Lehman, also with a Y. Personally I prefer Johan or Jens to Jan, but Jan is a perfectly fine name.

Elias is a good name also but like you say is becoming increasingly popular. Though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Liv reminds me of Liv Tyler and I like it as a standalone name. Zoe is lovely also.

daisypond · 05/08/2021 12:49

I really think Jan is fine. It is common to pronounce the letter J differently in so many languages, and Jan is such a well known male name. Don’t spell it Yan. Then you’d get people assuming it’s a Chinese name.

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 05/08/2021 12:48

How do will you be pronouncing Elias? In English it's traditionally pronounced "El-EYE-as" but we have a German Elias in our school (which should be pronounced "El-EE-us") but many British people can't seem to get their head around this pronunciation and it comes out as "ELLY-ass". Just something to bear in mind!

StColumbofNavron · 05/08/2021 12:44

They all work and are fine. You’ll be introducing any DS to people as Jan (Yan) so they will just say it that way. I think you are overthinking, plus on MN given the nature of the forum people do overthinking when giving you the connotations.

I know a Pandora and an Atilla and if you ask on MN both get some negativity - Pandora’s Box and Atilla the Hun etc but in real life it’s just their name and no one ever says oh Pandora and her box - they might think it but get over it and then it’s just her name.

All of your choices seem very standard to me and not at all controversial.

HalfTermHalfTerm · 05/08/2021 12:43

I really like Zoe, it’s lovely. I like Liv too, but to me it is very much a short/pet name for Olivia so I personally wouldn’t use it on its own.

Jan is nice. If I heard about an older person called Jan I would think it was a woman but actually if I saw it written down and knew it was a baby or toddler I would probably assume it was a boy! I guess because there aren’t many girls about called Janet?

Ian isn’t ‘unacceptable’ but it is (to me) very, very dated in a similar way to Keith/Kevin/Nigel. All normal names, but not one that I would give to a baby unless I was naming them after a loved one.

I think Sara and Ada might fit with your requirements. Maybe Max too, for a boy?

nocturnalcatfreetogoodhome · 05/08/2021 12:37

@GlutenFreeGingerCake

I think Jan would be mispronounced, my dd has a Polish friend whose name is Jogoda and she says it is always mispronounced by teachers and so on.
I agree, I would spell it phonetically and start it with a Y. Yanus means Peter.
GlutenFreeGingerCake · 05/08/2021 12:35

I think Jan would be mispronounced, my dd has a Polish friend whose name is Jogoda and she says it is always mispronounced by teachers and so on.

KurtWilde · 05/08/2021 12:29

I have an Elias so I'm biased, I think it's a lovely name.

Zoe is also lovely, I'd go with that.

nocturnalcatfreetogoodhome · 05/08/2021 12:28

For girls -

May? Maya? Maia?

Una?

Ana? Ani? Anastasia? Anora?

Mona? Ramona?

Lila? Lili? Leila? Lola?

Kaya? Kaia?

Ava? Avie? Eva?

Kat? Katy? Katiana? Katrina? Katherine.

Lena? Lana? Elena? Elana? Ilyana?

QuimReaper · 05/08/2021 12:27

Kit / Kitty could work too.

QuimReaper · 05/08/2021 12:27

How about Nadia? Or if you like Liv, maybe Liza?

I like the Theo suggestion too, for either a boy or a girl.

Bumpsadaisie · 05/08/2021 12:24

Michael works well in English, German and Russian?

Ditto Max?
Thomas (Tom)?
Alexander (Alex) ditto?

Catherine/Kate
Anna
Alexandra
Maria
Anastasia/Natasha
Julia

OlivePenderghast · 05/08/2021 12:24

I like Jan. There was a boy at my school called Jan in 90s/00s and occasionally teachers would pronounce it with a hard ‘j’ at first but everyone here knows that jan with a soft ‘j’ is a boys name and not super unusual.
I’ve never met any females Jan’s under 50.

cariadlet · 05/08/2021 12:23

@Lanique

Although I've always spelt Zoe with the umlaut - Zoë
I had a Zoe in my class years ago who spelled her name with the accent. I was putting it over the e until her mum told me that the "umlaut" went over the o. I had to really bite my tongue.

You get an umlaut over the o in some German words (eg schon) to change the pronunciation (and sometimes the meaning) of words.

But the same mark in Zoe should go over the e and isn't an umlaut; it's a diaeresis and shows that 2 adjacent vowels should be pronounced separately.

Rant over. Glad to have finally got that out of my system. Sorry for the derail.

nocturnalcatfreetogoodhome · 05/08/2021 12:22

I know a little boy called Kuba and he's Jakob and he's genuinely the coolest person I've ever met.

Duvetflower · 05/08/2021 12:22

Chloe? Cleo?

nocturnalcatfreetogoodhome · 05/08/2021 12:21

Joe? Josef?

Leo? Leopold? Leonard? Lennard?

Vin? Vincent? Vincenzo?

Tom? Tomasz? Tomas?

Roo/Rudi? Rudolpho? Rudyard? Rudolf?

Oto?

Yan? Yanus? Yanny? (Aware this is phonetic, could also work with J)

Jake/Jak? Jakob?

Eli? Elias? Elon?