Change baby boy name for baby living between the UK and Greece

I’ve taught several Greek Ioannis/Yannis and also Romanian Ianis/Iani.

I would bother changing it. It’s a lovely name.

The one thing I would do is label all his stuff Yannis for school because it sounds more like the name when random playground assistants are trying to rehome coats etc. Also, don’t label some stuff with Ioannis and some stuff with Yannis, to an average British person the names are not connected enough to make the link and little boys have difficulty recognising both as their name in writing.

@TopThreeFTW It is the Greek tradition. I'm English and live here but still named ds after my Greek fil. It would have upset him to do otherwise and whilst he wasn't my favourite person I did respect him.

Oof I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I think Alexander is a wonderful name. I also wouldn't be naming my child after a FIL who lives in a different country and is married to a woman who made me feel awful postpartum. You'll never be 100% comfortable with it.

Ioannis is a lovely name. I wouldn't change it!

We hear it a lot where I am but only on men who are over 50 years old. It was a top 20 name in the 1950s and 1960s.

Only 6 Ians were registered in Scotland last year.

What do you call him now?

I don’t know how to pronounce this name, I would probably say
eye-oh-anniss but if I heard it I would then be able to say it correctly.
However I think you should name you child whatever you want. The name means something to you and it will to your son too. People have trouble pronouncing all sorts of names including usual English ones.

I know people who struggle with the name Iain because it's the Scottish spelling of Ian (its another version of John) - pronouncing it as Ee- ayn, rather than E-un.
They're just knobs and says more about them than it does about the person with the name.

I think Yannis is very easy to pronounce and pleasant-sounding, Ioannis less so but is a lovely name nevertheless.
I’m half Greek with a non-Greek name. My brothers were formally named Charalambos and Philipos (sp?) but were Charlie and Philip or Phil always, including by our Greek dad.

I don't see the problem with it, but I suppose that tastes differ.

We're probably more used to hearing the name in Scotland.

Exdh is Greek and our 4dc all have greek names - the first 2 were born there and we were planning on staying there but came back to UK when dd1 was 7. They are used to their names being mispronounced and I don't think they were bothered at all. Ds is named after fil and we call him Hari. It never entered my mind to change their names or add another name.

I think English speakers will be able to say Ee-oh-annis once corrected, but would probably say Johannes or Yannis if they were reading it aloud for the first time (both nice enough too). I don’t think he’ll get a random mangling along with a pained look like you might with some names (thinking of Irish names like Saoirse).

I’d stick with Ioannis, provided you still like it. I think it has a lovely sound and prefer it to the close alternatives.

@IsItBeesThoughLooshkin , it does seem weird but I can understand why they do it.

Some names just don't work outside their own language. Your choice is to put up with whatever mangling you get given or you opt for a 'nickname' that works.
Example: Krzysztof calling himself Kris.

Also, any links between Ian, Euan and Ioannis are so tenuous you may as well just use a completely different name. Like Alexander. (Or is it Alexandros?)

I think the Greek tendency to anglicise names (Giorgos/George, Ioannis/John, Charalambos/Harris) is a bit weird, tbh. (Most) English people are not idiots. They understand that people from other places don’t necessarily have names that sound taken from an Enid Blyton novel. Don’t erase your national identity just to make some hypothetical British people’s lives easier.

@Tabarnak , Io is a Greek goddess.

What does he think his name is? What do you call him day to day?

London is one thing.

North Norfolk. for example, another.

Call him Ioanis but in the Uk Nickname Io (eye-oh)

If you are in London he definitely wouldn’t be bullied for a Greek name. The level of diversity means kids are used to names being from different countries , to new names , unfamiliar names etc.

Ioannis is a perfectly fine name and people should try harder to say it

@tarheelbaby , 6 baby Ians were registered in Scotland in 2025. That is hardly plenty.

@Batshitdoesntfallfarfromthetree , Every school in the UK is pretty multicultural now and has a wide variety of names so it will be fine.
That isn't true. There are lots of schools that are not multicultural because the local population isn't.

Our childrens' names are Scandinavian and yes, they sound different ind UK than Scandinavian. It's okay!

Ioannis is great. I wouldn't change it after a year.

If you really must have a British name, would you consider Euan?

It's much closer to Ioannis than Ian and much more modern sounding (even though it's an old name).

I'd stick with Ioannis for the birth cert and passport, and just introduce him to British people as Ioannis, known as Euan.

But as someone with an Irish name living outside of Ireland, I'd never try to water a name down for the sake of stupid people who can't cope with anything outside of their very limited frame of reference. Don't pander to people like that.

I don't know what sort of people you've been encountering, but honestly I don't understand the problem with Ioannis.

Stick with it. Seek out British people who are more intelligent, for company.

It's clearly the name your husband wants too, and I'm not sure why you haven't understood that.

Depends where you're living. I know lots of Yannis's or Yanni's but live in North London. Every school in the UK is pretty multicultural now and has a wide variety of names so it will be fine. Incidentally halfway between London and Athens is a place in Italy called Caorle which would've been a cool name