Scandinavian version of grandmother's name - thoughts please

[FjordMor]

argh names names...I'm 22 weeks pregnant & feel like I just can't win. I want to name our girl after my recently deceased father's mother as I'm very attached to that side of my family which has almost totally died out & it's a family tradition to use family names. If I tell people I want to name her after my grandmother they think that's boring & unoriginal. When I tell them the 'Scandinavianised' version of her name I'd like to use (which I think is lovely) they look at me exasperated & say stuff like 'can't you just use her name as a middle name and give her a lovely 'normal' name instead?' :(

Quick background: DP is Norwegian, I live in Norway and DD will be brought up in Norway so name must be 'Norwegian-friendly'.

So - my grandmother's name was Edith Beatrice and she used to be known as 'Edie' or 'Dede' (pronounced 'Deed') and also 'Edie Beatty' all of which I love. However - Edith and Edie in Norway is pronounced like 'Eddie' and 'Eddith' which I don't like for a girl (and also my cousin just had a girl called Edith). There is a name here 'Ida' - pronounced 'eeda' which I love but which is VERY common (c. 3 in each class). I would like my daughter to be known as 'Edie' or 'Dede' like her grandmother so I either use Ida and use 'Idi' (so she'd have a common name in Norway and all the UK relatives will call her 'Eye-da', which I don't like so much) or I thought 'Dida' or 'Dide' (both pronounced 'Dee-da'; variations of the Scandinavian name 'Ditte') which I love and enabling me to use nicknames of 'Dede' or DeeDee (although I'd spell it the Norwegian way - Didi). This latter name 'Dida' when I revealed to my bessie (I'm so set on it) provoked frowns, no positive comments and mild bewilderment which upset me more than I expected. 'Edie' is so popular in the UK at the moment I didn't think this was an 'out of step' sort of name. It's all a bit upsetting as I'm so set on naming her after my grandmother and DP's all for it (he has 2 girls already so it's kind of up to me - as long as his family can pronounce it and it doesn't mean anything strange in Norwegian).

Thoughts?

I have to say I don't like Dide or Dida, because they are going to be pronounced "Died" and "Died-a" in the UK.

I see what you're trying to do and think it's a lovely idea - but you might need to be a bit more creative yet. How about Aida (Ay-eeda) - would that throw the Norwegians too much?

I'd go for Ida, as you say it's popular in Norway and you know it's for your Granny!

What about deanna? That way you could use the nicknames you mentioned too?

I don't see the problem with Dida - people will pronounce it whatever way you tell them it's pronounced. If your child will be living in Norway, I would say it makes a lot of sense to have a name which will be easy for the Norwegians to deal with than worrying so much about how it would be pronounced in Britain (presumably by people who haven't been told the correct pronunciation? Surely your family and friends would know).

I have known Scandanavian girls called Ditte and Dita, and nobody had any trouble pronouncing their names. Actually, as Dita is such a well-known name, this might be an easier way to explain the pronunciation. And nobody says 'Die-ta'.

Thanks Thumbwitch - I think Aida would be hard to pronounce in Norwegian and sound ugly to them. It also literally would sound something like 'Ah! In that case...' - phrase a bit like 'ah! well then...'!! :) I do see your point, but my idea was to send out annoucement cards with an addendum explaining how to pronounce the name, since if we chose almost any Norwegian name (that I like, it seems) I'd have to. Dida, at least, is not common, if even existing in the UK and people can adjust when told how it's pronounced (I thought...). Edith is quite common in Norway and it would be almost impossible to try and impose a different pronunciation (and it's literally like 'edit'). I mean, I have a foreign friend in the UK who called her child 'Elias' and it didn't take long for people to pick up it was to be pronounce 'Eli-ASS' not 'El-EYE-as' as it would be for example in Wales. An Irish friend called 'Mairi' who has spent most of her life in the UK only has to tell people once that her name is not pronounced 'My-eree' but 'Marry' and they get the hang.

I spend my early life with plenty of girls named 'Lisa' which I of course pronounced 'Leesa' by instinct who then went on to insist it was pronounced 'Lie-za' or Sara's that were 'Sar-ra' and not 'Sair-ah' and it wasn't difficult to adjust. I take your point entirely I just wonder how much of a stumbling block it really would be? I mean if it really is (happy to consider the consensus on here) I'll probably end up going with 'Ida' but attach it to a 2nd name to make it more unique (common practice here - see 'Ida Maria' the singer) but I'd still have to tell Brits it's pronounced 'eeda'. The only other viable name in Norwegian with that sound is 'Vida' which I'm not so keen on but is also in my family.

Ooh big cross-post! Kazriina not so keen on Deanna and might be harder to get right here 'Danna' or 'Dayarna' would be likely ways to pronounce...but I like your thinking :). Would need to spell it 'Diana' here to get the 'Dee-anna' pronunciation, then it would be 'Die-anna' in UK. It's a difficult balance...

badtime - good point :).

I actually agree about Dita - no one would think of saying Die-ta - but Dida is too like Dido, IMO. So Dida would need explaining.

Ida-Mae is a nice name? I know Mae/May is quite a common middle name but it goes nicely, I think.

Another idea: how about Beate? How would that go in Norwegian?

I love Edie. I think it's really pretty. I'm not sure I'd like it to be pronounced Eddie though. I know that doesn't really help your dilemma, but I wanted to post and tell you what a beautiful name it is :)

Thumbwitch - Beate, YES. Was going to try Ida-Beate but found that here it's pronounced a bit like 'Bay-art-te' so thought of using 'Bitte' or 'Bitti' which are pronounced more like 'Bee-te' or 'Beatty' (and means 'little' or 'tiny' which I thought was quite sweet! :)) No matter what it's on the list for the middle name!

Hobs - thank you! :) Me too! It's a bonus for me that it's my grandmother's name AND I love it! She was a really lovely lady too!

My grandmother was Norwegian, and her name was Eda, pronounced eee-dah. She spent most of her life in Australia, and English speakers had no problem with her name. It was a bit strange and ethnic I suppose, but it reflected who she was.

I love the name, and I adored her.

Fjord, I've just done a very bad accent in my head and gone "eedy beety" - not necessarily a good mix! Sorry. It's a lovely name though.

Is the only problem with Edie the Norwegian pronunciation? Couldn't you just ask the relevant people to pronounce it the way you want it?

I really love that name. It's almost making me broody again!!

I love Didi/Dida and Ditte / Dita. I agree with other posters that people will say the name how you tell them it's said. And it must be Norway-friendly before UK-friendly if this is where your DD will grow up.

For what it's worth, I read your names as Dee-dee and Dee-da - I think most folk will. Dita von Teese isn't pronounced Die-ta, after all.

Ida is very common here (Berlin).... doesn't mean much though!

Thumbwitch - that was one of my grandmother's nicknames but I see your point in a different accent.

Hobs - yes. Problem is 'the relevant people' are going to be all the people she comes across in her life/school/work etc in Norway as she's likely to spend most of her life here. So like Janoschi points out, it's the people in the UK that will be a minority group in her life - hence why I was more inclined to use a Norwegian version/spelling and tell them how to pronounce it. Ida - 'Idi' for nickname sounds the same. There used to be rules about what you could or couldn't call your child in Norway, although I think they've been relaxed a bit now.

I'm glad the names are getting some love anyway :) - this cross-cultural stuff can be complicated sometimes...

Feel your pain - I'm Welsh, DH is German. The struggle to find anything that worked for both was a ruddy nightmare! Welsh is all W's and DD's, which is a soft 'th' sound. Both horrible to hear in a German accent!

What about Dita? As others have said, it doesn't have the "Died-a" problem, would be pronounced Deeta in both places.

Alternatively, what about Idie - this would be pronounced Eedie in Norway (I assume). In the UK I expect people are equally likely to say Eedie or Aydie - but it would be fairly easy to teach them to say Eedie I think.

I would say Dide and Dida "died and died-a", as I'd assume they were like Dido.

minipie - Idie wouldn't work as the spelling in Norway - it would be pronounced more like 'Idea' or 'Eedea' as the 'e' would be sounded but more like an 'uh' sound at the end. I could only use 'Edie'/'Idi' as a nickname anyway. It's not a name on it's own so as far as I'm concerned, so the spelling of a nickname isn't of much importance. You're right about 'Dita' but it does take it away from being a name of my grandmother.

Is this 'Die-da' thing such a problem? I mean people have been calling girls 'Diana' for years 'Die-anna' and calling the Di or 'Die' for short. I've never heard problems about that one. And I know lots of 'Di's. Has never occurred to me to think of it in terms of 'die'.

Janoschi - yes, my family's Welsh as was grandmother in question :) - I had 'Gwen' another gggrandmother's name on my longlist but 'w's in Norwegian are hopeless. DP can't do the G+W together and they can't pronounce 'th' sound either. My name ends in a 'th' and everyone just pronounces it with a hard 't'. Doesn't matter how often I say 'it's pronounced this way' - they just can't do it. Hence my sensitivity to how names are pronounced.

Oh it's not that Die-da is bad per se, it's just that it's not the pronunciation you want.

I wouldn't worry about the Die sound, no one has a problem with Diane. It's all just what you are used to.

I think you should just call her Edith, and insist on it being pronounced to your taste, people will learn very quickly.

I really do think that if you told people that the name was 'Dida - pronounced like Dita (not like Dido)' they would be able to get the hang of it. I don't think it would actually be much of an issue. People get the hang of Irish names easily enough, and I think something like Aoibheann (or even the popular Aoife) is much trickier than Dida!

How about switching the names round to Beatrice Edith?

Ah! Sorry FjordMor! I didn't realise you were in Norway. Must read properly in future That's a shame. Ida or Idi are lovely names too. I'd probably opt for that rather than risk a pronunciation of Eddie. It's a shame as Edie is really a beautiful name. We considered Edith if we had a girl (I love old fashioned names), also Evelyn and Iris (though I'm not sure either could be shortened to Edie / Idi).

Fwiw, I actually think Dida is a nice name. I'm not sure why it didn't get positive comments! Saying that, none of our girls names got positive comments, and I think most relatives were pleased we had a boy!!

No worries Hobs - I'm not sure I was completely clear that I both live & am settling here in Norway.

Developments on the name front today! Persuaded DPs dad to show me their family tree & it seems that his only surviving (and beloved) grandmother's mother was called...Ida so that name would have additional special meaning. It has certainly thrown some extra fuel on the fire!

Sorry, I got lost somewhere through your post, however my advice is that you should name your daughter the name that you love and that you want. Don't tell anyone else , don't worry about other's reactions. It's your child and you need to be happy with it - no one else.
Use the name that you love and keep the announcement until afterwards!