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Baby names

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

Original poster

Baby girl names that work in English, French and Greek...

85 replies

MissMarion · 04/09/2021 12:07

Tough one... I'm French, my partner is Greek and we live in the UK and expect a baby girl for the end of the month. We've really been struggling to find names that work in all 3 languages... but I really want to as I don't want her name to be mispronounced by anyone. Any suggestions?

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daisypond · 04/09/2021 17:59

@leavesthataregreen

How about Anya/Anja as a less common version of Anna?

And I know Sophia/Sofia is over used but it is still the best girl's name ever. If I had a girl I couldn't resist it.

The thing is, Sophia or Sofia aren’t French names. The French is Sophie.
drspouse · 04/09/2021 17:57

And things that have a -th like Thea will end up with T in French.

luannlele · 04/09/2021 17:57

Alexandra or a variation (Alexi, Alexa, Alexia)
Eleni or Eliana
Lucie, Luciana, Lucille
Rachel
Thalia

leavesthataregreen · 04/09/2021 17:56

How about Anya/Anja as a less common version of Anna?

And I know Sophia/Sofia is over used but it is still the best girl's name ever. If I had a girl I couldn't resist it.

daisypond · 04/09/2021 17:50

Yes@ Jourdain is right. The pronunciation and emphasis will change between English and French and Greek too, even if the spelling is the same.

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 04/09/2021 17:46

Phoebe
Thea

Normandy144 · 04/09/2021 17:45

Claudia

Jourdain11 · 04/09/2021 17:45

Nothing works in French if you're looking for the same pronunciation Grin It's the emphasis onto the last syllable. So even Marina, for instance, becomes Marih-NA.

Every name gets this treatment, regardless of nationality. The British PM is BorEES JohnSOHN. You just gotta suck it up. My daughters have names which can be French or not, but their names are pronounced completely differently in France.

AlphabetAerobics · 04/09/2021 17:41

Alexandra

Palavah · 04/09/2021 17:38

Maria

Palavah · 04/09/2021 17:38

Christina
Phoebe

daisypond · 04/09/2021 17:38

Marina.

JassyRadlett · 04/09/2021 17:38

Would Leda work in French?

(Penelope definitely doesn’t work in French if you’re looking for the same-ish pronunciation across all three languages.)

Lucia23 · 04/09/2021 17:36

Elena

ozzyfroggy · 04/09/2021 17:34

Julia, Juliette, Rebecca, Cléo, Mona, Jessica

MrsBertBibby · 04/09/2021 13:52

Nina? Estelle?

Anna is a fantastic name.

User5827372728 · 04/09/2021 13:51

Elodie

CaptainMyCaptain · 04/09/2021 13:35

Melissa

dirtyfries · 04/09/2021 13:33

Francesca, Ava, Evangeline/Eva, Larissa

SprayedWithDettol · 04/09/2021 13:30

Catherine/Katherine

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine

MySerenity · 04/09/2021 13:30

Clara

Original poster
MissMarion · 04/09/2021 13:28

Wow, so many answers! Thank you.
Sophia and Anna are definitely on the short list. They're just a bit too common, but we're running out of options...
Sadly I can't go with variations of Helen as it's too close to her cousin's name, same with Zoey and Chloe (the curse of having children after everybody else).

OP posts:
Jourdain11 · 04/09/2021 12:36

Daphne?

MoiraNotRuby · 04/09/2021 12:31

Sofia

Elleni

Pelagia

Mia

Emily

dementedma · 04/09/2021 12:28

Anna