Orfeas

[Elenaki]

Bear with me here.

I'm interested to know how a few 'foreign' sounding names strike English speaking ears. DP is Greek but has been in London for years now after coming here as a student. I'm English but speak Greek as a second language so am submerged in the sounds and 'feeling' of Greek names...such that I've lost all objectivity. Help!

We'd like to give the DC that we're trying for a Greek name that - either has an English equivalent/nn or is comprehensible as they go through school in England. Here's our list

Boys
Alexandros/Alexander
Orfeas (said or-FAY-as) - I am particularly curios about this one as DP loves it
Rafail/Rafael (any Greek mnetters out there - this is quite uncommon on the mainland, right?)
Leonidas/Leo

Girls
Ines (LOVE this)
Anastasia (his mother's name)
Rafaella
Nefeli

Would really appreciate your opinions!

I'd spell Orfeas as Orpheus and I know people who'd happily name their child this, though others would roll an eye.
Raphael is not unheard of

I love Ines as well
Nefeli is lovely though I've never heard of it.

Just go for it - there's nothing on the list that's really odd sounding.

But think about spelling, there are some you've spelled in a 'foreign' way and though it doesn't really matter, you'll get a lot fewer mix ups if you spell them more classically.

Ines is lovely as is Anastasia. I know a little Rafael, it's a lovely name. I know Orpheus is an X Men cartoon character and this would put me off it a bit.

Orpheus is a more intuitive spelling for Brits.

I was thinking of Orpheus and Eurydice
Eurydice is nice too [helpful]

Aaah! I didn't know Orpheus is an X-Men character! Like Anxious, I was also thinking of Orpheus/Orfeas and Eurydice or just the name, which is in general use in Greece in any case. Oh gosh, i've basically got a list of characters - what with Leonidas there too.

Regarding Orfeas. If spelt Orpheus, are we going to be forever battling against the assumption that we've picked it as a 'trendy' or made-up seeming name?

Any other ideas for Greek/Greek rooted boys names?

My DS is Raphael, so I obviously love the name. It raised a few eyebrows back in Greece as it is fairly uncommon but not unheard of - we had people thinking that it was an offering (or however one says "tama" in English) to St Raphael who apparently helps infertile women get pregnant. The vast majority of people said it's lovely though, although you'll have to decide whether you'll pronounce it the English way RA-pha el or the Greek way Ra-pha-IL.

I love the other names on your list too, although Alexander is far too popular nowadays I think. Other names on our list were Lucas, Stephanos/Stefan and Phineas/Phileas. I'm currently pregnant with number 2, also a boy, so I'll be watching this with interest!

My sister married into a greek family - she has a Theodore (she liked the meaning) and he would have been Persephone if he had been a girl.

Other family names are Buki, Elena, Petros, Nykolas, Stavros, Stelios and Thea.

Orfeas looks like it should be the name of some kind of Institute of Taxation, or something equally dry and official.

I love Raphael.

My neighbours in the 1970s had a dog with this name. We said it "Or-FEE-us". He was a large black terrier thing who got shaved in the summer but leaving the mustache effect around his face. Perfectly nice animal. Called "Orfy" for short.
But still a dog's name in my mind. Sorry!
Isn't it something to do with the underworld, too?

Would you say "EYE-nez" or another pronunciation for Ines?
The Greek lady I know living in USA called her DC Alexander & Cassandra.

Alexandros/er and Anastasia

I know a Greek Rafail. Nobody bats an eyelid over his name. It's nice. And Ines is lovely.

Not keen on Orfeas but I like the other boys suggestions. Ines or Rafaella are lovely for a girl.

Have you considered Yanni? A great greek name that I don't imagine anyone can get wrong!

Thanks everyone!

Say I also love Lucas/Lukas! Forgot to add that to the list above.
Regarding pronounciation - probably we'd pronounce Rafail it the Greek way to Greek friends/relatives and the English way to everyone else. I didn't know that about the saint, but still think it is a lovely name.
Ragged Ines would be pronounced 'e-NES' - and that is hilarious about your neighbour's dog. More so for the fact that many Greek men of the older generation have said moustache

What I love about Greek naming traditions is that over there, nobody bats an eye at cooing over a baby with a name that we'd think was crazy here. E.g. "Ohh little Andromedi is so sweet!" Though I wouldn't go that far out myself, it is lovely how the ancient and the modern just blend so seamlessly.

Camarelia That's true about Yianni/s but there's no way we could use it with our surname. I also like (but not love) Ioanna for a girl, which is the female equivalent.

Personally love Alexander/os and Anastasia....they are Greek but have a fit in a lot of countries and truly international names are good in my opinion...and so many diminutives too ;-)

My Cypriot/English friend's middle name is Panayiota. She doesn't much like it but I have always thought it sounded pretty nifty. Her name is Katerina (pronounced with 4 syllables).

Athanasia for a girl?

Just to add that Orpheus reminds me of the submarine in the BBC short series, The Deep: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_%28TV_serial%29

Dogs with moustaches, X-Men and submarines! Eeek.

Athanasia is nice too. Had considered that, with Nasia as a nickname. However, it is very similar to Anastasia (which also has Nasia as a nn) and would probably opt for Anastasia over Athanasia due to family connections and general portability.

Leaning towards Ines right now...but I seem to change my mind every day :(

Some names below that I like but haven't made the short-list for various reasons - for anyone like Say looking here for inspiration:

Ilias
Iordanis
Theo(doros)

Thomai
Thalia
Ioulia
Melina

I have n Alethea and a Callia and if DC4 is DD4 I will have an Eris (no Greek connection just a love for Ancient Greek plays/Homer/mythology). I really like Thalia and Ilias from your last list!

Orfeas is lovely and when I read it I instinctively knew how to pronounce it, if that makes sense? Whereas I struggle with some other names (from any country!) I also like Leonidas, it's a very strong sounding name and Leo is a great shortened version. For girls I like Ines, Anastasia and Rafaella but not so keen on Nefeli

I like Rafail/ Raphael. It's quite unusual over here but not unheard of. Not like Ikaros (one of my son's friends) which really is extremely rare!

Orfeas is also unusual, but as you said no one in Greece bats an eyelid at this sort of thing. I imagine people in the UK are so used to names from all over the world cropping up, that no one should make a fuss about it, especially if you keep to the Greek pronunciation and spelling to dissociate it from the X-Men, etc.

I love Leonidas too, I nearly used it for my ds2!

Some suggestions/ ideas from my family/ relatives:

Ariadne
Danae
Despina

Filippos (works well in English too)
Paschalis
Stefanos

I also know a Panoraia, which sounds nice in Greek, but I'm not sure about it in English, and an Alkmini, which I also like a lot in Greek.

Thank you alexpolismum (DP's father is from there - if I've guessed correctly!)

Ariadne is beautiful. I like your more 'exclusively' Greek suggestions too. That's what we're struggling with in a way, liking some names which sound lovely in Greek due to their meaning, but sound odd in English. Panoraia is a classic example.

Though it wasn't a suggestion as such, we hadn't thought of Ikaros. We really like it...enough to make the short list!!

The difficulty with Orfeas and Ikaros (for example) is that there's no run-of-the-mill English sounding equivalent. Given that DC's surname will also be Greek, there's no way out of always having a 'foreign sounding' name in total. How have you negotiated that? Or does it not come into it, living in Greece anyway?

Thanks anyone for your great suggestions and feedback. Much appreciated!