Philip or Afanasiy

[RainbowBabyMum]

Hi
How would you pronounce Afanasiy?
Does it sound silly or too difficult to say?
I really like this name, but my husband prefers Philip and says that Afanasiy is silly name...
What do you think?

Lovely name, and quite rare in Russian as well, but I can imagine it being difficult for a kid growing up here.

Regarding patronymics, if you are going to give birth here and therefore get the birth certificate in the UK, make sure you put the patronymic name on the birth certificate as well. When you register the baby in the Russian consulate and eventually get the Russian passport, it will bear exactly the same names as on the birth certificate. We made the mistake of just putting the two names we'd selected on the certificate but not the patronymic, which means that in the Russian passport our daughter toje bez otchestva.

Philip is a really lovely, underused name.

There are lots of Antons. Or how about Vitaly?

I think it's a lovely name. If you live in a city there will be lots of different names around, your DC won't stand out. The kids my DD goes to school with have names I have never heard of before!

I'm probably going to sound very naive,but I honestly don't know so I'm going to ask....why would he have any problems with Russian documents if you break from the patronymic tradition? Its a tradition not a law so i cant see why it would matter? I agree it would be nice for him to be like his brother but on the flip side it sounds a bit unfair to me that he has to be the same as his brother instead of the individual he will be all because of a tradition....maybe I'm missing something or perhaps it's because I simply don't know anything about Russia (except that you make great vodka!) or the traditions you have there that I can't understand it lol!xx

MummyBurrows, because it's legal requirement to have patronymic name in Russian birth certificate and in passport.

Oh right! I didn't know that! I've learnt something new today,thank you :) xx

I like Afanasiy. I think people would get used to it pretty quickly. I also like Pavel. Philip is very dull.

I like Afanasiy but I would worry about potential for nicknames - eg 'afanasiy-you' when he hits teenagerdom.

Could you go for something like Pyotor? That's nice in both and similar to Pavel or Philip.

Dh says, do you like Faddey, which would be Thaddeus in English - slightly similar in the sound pattern to Afanasiy and less hard for English speakers, though I admit to me it looks like 'faddy'!

Names that I think would work well in the UK are Alexei, Ivan, Viktor or Boris.

Would you really call a child Boris?

I love Russian names. They are gorgeous as is the language.

My son is Alexander Philip, so I am a bit biased.

Oh please don't mess with the patronymic (and put it on the official birth cert). It's part and parcel of being Russian. Don't bother with the middle name thing.

If you were choosing Philip I would spell it with an F.

Afanasiy /Athanasius is an ancient Christian name that has sort of died out in the Roman west but not in Orthodox cultures. It's a bit like Aloysius or Pius or Benignus or Cornelius and other Latinate names that you sometimes find in (Catholic) Ireland among older generations (they have not returned as old man style fashionable). I like it and other similar names.

Would you consider Ignaty?

I think it's a cool name, (I should admit here that one of my favourite fantasy books uses Russian names for a group of very cool characters). I don't think that you should feel that you have to use English sounding names just because you live here now, depending on where you live your child will probably be friends with people who have all sorts of names, whether they've come from another heritage, been borrowed or made up.

ds had a Vasily in his class when we lived in London which didn't appear to be a problem (although as a child I have to admit I did think my uncle Oleg had a very funny name).

yes I would call a child Boris, LRDtheFeministDragon. Sadly DH wouldn't.

It sounds a bit like a Welsh cheese to me. A-Fan-Ass-EE.

Sorry

What an interesting name thread.

I like Alexei, Sebastian or Anton but Philip is also nice. As you've found I think your original choice would cause confusion in the UK but that's our problem not yours.

Sebastian is lovely.

Sorry, lynette.

I am sure it is a lovely name. It just feels very grown-up to me, but that's probably personal.

Names should be "grown-up", since the bearer of the name will (with luck) grow up.

What sort of area do you live in? My kids school has 30+ languages spoken, and we are v used to learning new names from all sorts of origins. I think others will get used to Afanasiy v quickly .

Yeah, fair point kitten.

Lots of Irish names cause confusion in England. Doesn't stop people using them.