Scheherazade

It’s a beautiful name and it’s not hard to pronounce, it’s more the spelling but it’s not so unusual that you can’t look it up.

I have an unusual name and honestly it’s not been much of a problem. I chose a nickname I love but it has never really bothered me when people ask how to pronounce it. I’ve always also found that once they ask, people do make the effort to pronounce it properly. It’s was quite nice not having to share my name.

I know someone with this name. She is known as Shez.

It is a beautiful name.

I wonder if it will be problematic for those who don't know how to pronounce it or spell it and need to have that frequently explained.

My sister is called this and we call her ZaZa. I love it.

It's not so much the actual stories that worries me, more the fact that she is telling the stories to avoid being the next in a long list of murdered virgin brides after the Sultan caught his first wife cheating on him:
https://artuk.org/discover/stories/scheherazade-the-story-of-a-storyteller
And she is so good at storytelling that in the end the Sultan falls in love with her and repents his ways, and that's somehow OK....

Sorry, but it makes me think of a cross between a Pokémon and an energy drink.

I’d also share the same concerns about spelling frustration and mispronunciation.

But it really is up to you. If you both love it and keep going back to it, go for it.

It’s a beautiful name and I know one who goes by Sherry.

I had a surname most of my life that was long and Cornish in origin. It came from my dad’s side of the family. I changed it when I found out how he had treated women in the past. I chose my mum’s surname which is a really common surname.
The joy of being able to tell people my name without being asked how to spell it or pronounce it is absolutely blissful to me. So no, I wouldn’t use that name.

Pretty name but think of your when older and at school learning to write her name

I have a friend mum of twins and they have 4 and 8 letter names

4 letter wrote her easily

8 struggled for a while and says to mum why could I be 4 letters as well

Yours is 12

I think it’s lovely and not too difficult to spell or pronounce. I have one of those constant spelling/correcting names and I love my name. My daughter has a long name too and learned to write hers long before school started.

I have to look up all the Amelia/Emilia Sophie/Sophia/Sofia Nia/Nya/Mia/Mya/Mayas too in order to get the correct name so I don’t think that’s a barrier in itself.

I was at school with one. It’s such a beautiful name. She did get it abbreviated to Shaz or Shazza though - feels a bit inevitable so if you specifically want to avoid that shortening, then it may not be the right name.

I think it’s gorgeous.

It's a beautiful and beguiling name. Sheherazade was a learned and noble woman who read One Thousand and One nights to King Shahryar.

It's 4 syllables, so no longer than Isabella, Arabella, Elizabeth and Felicity

Unless your surname is Rimsky- Korsakov I wouldn't. It will be intensely irritating to your daughter over many decades, and a five syllable name seems excessive. I have an unusual name and am known by my second name, and it just gets so annoying explaining it all over the years, particularly in an internet world. She may even struggle to fit her full name on some online forms etc.

I have a 7 letter name I've been needing to spell out for over 30 years, I love my name but people are dumb and it's an arse. Easier Persian options are available, I like Darya, I know a Salome. You could pick a modern heroine's name rather than a historical fictional one. Mahsa? Nazanin?
It's a shame the known Achaemenid and Sassanid historical women's names aren't the easiest (if you live in the UK).

It's a gorgeous name, I'm assuming you know the 1001 Nights / Arabian Nights story? It's probably the main reason most western people will know the name and not the easiest story to explain to small children, that would be my only worry.

It's a beautiful name and one I would have used if I hadn't been overruled. I may be slighlty biased as I spent some of my childhood in Iran.

Ok, I hope it didn’t say anything wrong.
I just remember as a teenager I loved the name and I still think it’s so pretty.

@KimKardassion , Sade is nigerian-born. A bit strange to shorten a persian name to a nigerian diminutive. I think Sade was big in the late 1980s. I think she was on Live Aid

@madeinmanc , me too when the shortening is not obvious, or if shortening to a standalone name that sound different (Elias - Eli, Penelope - Poppy etc)

I once had someone tell me I could shorten my name to Ann from something like Susan.

What about Sade as a nickname- like the singer (I think she was around in the 90s?) I like that pronunciation.

Sorry, I reconsidered my position and I suppose I find the shortenings bizarre but if most people find it OK, then that's OK.

That said, meaning aside, I think it is such a shame to shorten such a beautiful name, though it's almost inevitable in English society with all longer names 😕

I do love the name, by the way 🙂

Scheherazade (/ʃəˌhɛrəˈzɑːd, -də/)