Soraya

[jinglymum]

Thoughts? Baby girl due end of month and we haven't decided any names yet.

BBQJuly - Good to hear that "here on the baby names threads" you apply the rule to the English names as well as the forrin ones. I'm sure all the OPs are grateful for all opinions regardless of how stupid. BTW it's not AIBU.

Frontpaws - YY to all the stupid comments if you have a forrin first name AND surname. I tried anglicising my first name for a while then realised that I was pandering to all those who view open-mindedness as "fluffy special treatment"

Jinglymum - if you google "Iranian names" you get some brilliant websites with lists of girls/boys names often with pronounciation and meaning included. I've spent most of my three pregnancies trawling through those sites!

Lovely name.

I know a Soraya and she is lovely and beautiful.

cashncarry

Someone who refused to engage in "pointless personal strike out abuse" wouldn't have labelled those who expressed personal opinions against the name, as "ignorant", or shown such intolerance to my misspelling of psoriasis. I checked the spelling just for you.

OP - the name is not to my taste. But that's ok. Lots of people on thus thread seem to really like it

Badgerina - I stand by my opinion that it's ignorant to poke fun at foreign names but I would state by way of disclaimer that I have suffered years of jibes because of my very long unpronounceable first AND last names - I may have a rather large plank chip on my shoulder! My sincere apologies if I offended you.

Cashncarry I agree. It would be very ignorant to do that. I'm half foreign (Dutch) with a very foreign middle name. I also got a bit of teasing so I know how you feel.

I know a (grown up,white british) Suraya who is lovely.Nice name.

It's used a bit in Spain too with the Soraya spelling (Al-Andalus influence I suppose) . I think it's lovely.

Aw thanks Badgerina - did I mention I am sleep deprived and have serious PMT too? Wreaks havoc on my post before I think function!

I'm still giggling at your comment "I checked the spelling just for you" - really put me in my place!

If you do have a look at sites for foreign names please double check them with a native who lives in the country!

I know someone who did this and didn't check and the name turned out to be a bit unusual and people were a bit at it. Especially when told 'its a xx name'. Aparently it wasn't really - a bit like someone here calling a baby 'Brooklyn' after the Beckhams or 'Heavenly Harari' (or whatever it was) like Paula Geldorf. It amused the older members of the family no end (who suggested the baby should have been called John or James - in english - so that he wouldn't get teased for having an odd name).

There are a lot of lovely persian girls names though with very sweet meanings.

'Sore ear' is how Soraya sounds? where do you live?

It is Sur - ray - ah saoifre

There are 2 Sorayas (spelled slightly differently) in my ds's reception class. I'd never heard of the name before. Pretty.

I knew a Soraya (she was lovely, bright, beautiful so I have very positive connotations!) It was pronounced "Saw-iah" to rhyme at the end with, say, Buyer (as opposed to Sore-ear?! and Sor-RAY-a that have been brought up).

Yes OP. Suraya was a serious contender for me - and I live in a white British part of the UK, with the same heritage. It would be an unusual name where I am right now, but I think it works cross culturally. And yes, I chose the Arabic version.

Off subject - my total fave Persian boys name is Bashir. Love it!

Have you picked a boy's name too?

Thanks for all opinions, I will have a search through Iranian baby name sites, I love Jasmine , hub not to keen he prefers Yasmin which I'm not keen on.

We do have a Persian surname, although most people think its Italian. No,no boys names as we have been told girl, guess we should have a back up one just I case, we have a son he's called Benjamin, we both love his name.

Benjamin is sweet! You must have a 'proper' persian name then (not an arabic or religious version). We just have an odd one. Noone knows where the heck it comes from!

Jasmin is lovely - its one of those names that most places she will go to will understand. So Yaaa-s-min when she is in iran, and Jaz-min here. Glad you didn't go for the ones with the 'ghrrrrehhh' sound. After 20 years, I still can't make the 'cat sound'!

DD2 is called Jasmine. We debated on Yasmin or Jasmine for quite some time and then settled on the latter. I think the two are fairly interchangeable and Jasmine quite often gets called Yasmin, even by people quite close to us!

I had a Sureya in my class at school, this was 30 years ago. I thought it was very exotic and beautiful. Better than the Sharons and Traceys running around the playground. She had a sister called Ayisha (sp) which is also lovely.

Yes I just asked hubs, he said its a traditional name, non of them have Islamic names, his sister is Pegah and his brother azarakhsh. All his family call Ben, Ben-ya-min.