Do you think these names are a bit too tricksy?

[theQuibbler]

I am going to have another little boy in May. DH is French and ds will have very long and hard to pronounce surname, so the name needs to be able to be (nicely) shortened. I already have one son with a short name, ending in O, so a bit loathe to go down that road again.

We had agreed on Théodore - short version Théo,(pronounced Tayo), but I've gone right off it because of how it ends.

My favourite now is Élian with Eli as a nickname.

These are the others on my shortlist, but I worry that they may be a bit tricky for English tongues. Mind you DH is desperate to relocate back to France, so that may not be an issue in a couple of years.

Any thoughts on my list? Please and thank you!

Remy
Maël
Gaëtan
Chaï
Lévon

Not 'Remy' for remedial reasons! I don't really know french names.
I like Elian best out of your list i think....

Elian shorthened to Eli is lovely. How would you pronounce it though? With a short or long 'i'?

How are you pronouncing those?

I like Remy the best on that list from an English perspective as it's a recognisably French name.

In English people will definitely forget and/or misunderstand the diaeresis, so changing pronunciation of most of your list.

Mael is a bit difficult in English because it sounds like 'male' and 'mail; also for me is the start of 'maelstrom' which isn't positive.

Gaetan I like but the 'gay' thing in English might be a problem.

Chai I just see the word for 'tea' in various languages.

Levon just seems a bit odd and might be pronounced 'leaven' (I do see 'levain' as well as the US girls' name Levonne/LaVonne etc. )

I like Eli too.

I hadn't thought about Remy like that!
Eli would be with a long E (eee- lie) in English and a short e in French.
Pronunciation in English
Remy (like Rennie, but with a M)
Maël (May -el)
Gaëtan (Gee -tan)
Chaï (Chi, like the beginning of chide)
Lévon (Lee-von) - oh, that sounds awful, doesn't it,'leave it on' jokes coming to mind.
Chaï - tea - yep, that's out, I think.

Thanks - this is clearing my head a bit and making me think hard :-)

I like Elian, but I think people might get confused by short 'Eli' - I would pronounce it 'ellee' if I knew the full name, or knew it was French.

I think the first idea of Théodore was by far the best of these!
Théo is really lovely.
What does it matter if both boys have names or nicknames ending in 'o'?

(Three of my five have names ending in 'an' and I didn't think twice about it!)

From your list, I like Théodore best.

Remy - is ok, makes me think of Rattatouille

The others are quite difficult for Brits, I think.

We avoided names with an accent (German DH) because of pronunciation and writing issues - UK companies don't often have the accents on their keyboard.

Elian is very nice, and I'm sure most people will quickly get used to it said Eee-lie.

Thierry or Pierre? Hugo?

I love the word tricksy. Sounds a bit French too. Tricksy DeLaFeu. Brilliant.

I know a chap called Gilbert who's French. I love it. He's Gil to most people.

after reading the pronounciations i like Mael. Gaetan sounds nice and theo but that may be pronounced Theo a lot rather than Tayo.
how do you pronounce Elian, is it eh lion? i like Eli.

Theodore or Remy.