What about Ferdinand? (German/English dual heritage)

[BabyLabyrinth]

I've already posted on here looking for boys' names that are pronounced similarly in both English and German (DH is German, we live in Germany).

What do you lot think of Ferdinand? I think Ferdy is quite sweet as a nickname.

Other names we like (although the first two aren't pronounced the same in the two languages ...):
Arthur
Jonathan
Alexander

Other names I like that DH has vetoed:
Sebastian
Rueben
Tristan
Christian
Thomas

I wouldn't worry too much about it sounding the same, your ds will get used to being called a slightly different name by Granny than Oma .
Ferdinand for me says 1st world war, no other connections really.

Another possibility is Timothy although Tim was in the German top 10 list last time I looked.

Are you asking your question on NetMoms.de or similar?

I like Ferdinand, Ferdy is lovely.

Really like it , especially Ferdy.

I love Ferdinand - it was on my list (but DH vetoed it). DS is called Wilfred.

I like Alexander best of your options.

Frederick
Julian
Dominic
Stefan
Samuel
Felix
Edmund
Oliver
Tobias
Maximilian
Leo
Christopher
Matthias
David
Adam
Daniel
Jasper

What excellent taste you have -I'm also living in Germany with a German OH and you've got our prospective first and second names in your top three :)

Ha! I started a thread in this name a few weeks back
It's my no 1 favourite boys' name for this baby. While I don't worry about pronunciation, baby is 1/4 German so I do like that connection (although many MNers seem to think it's a Spanish name???).
Other names that might work in both languages:

Albert
Benedict
Henry
Maximilian
Jonah

Ferdinand is awesome! It was actually suggested by another poster when I had my own name thread here a little while ago, and I loved it but DH said no.

Ferdy is cute for a littlun and cool for an older boy, plus Ferdinand the bull and Ferdinand Magellan the explorer are awesome namesakes

Ferdinand is lovely. Frederic is also lovely.

Ferdinand brings to mind, for me, Rio and Anton.

I prefer Alexander from your list.

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions. I'm pleasantly surprised at the amount of people that like it! I kind of thought everyone would laugh

DD has a name that is actually quite hard for the Germans to pronounce, it would seem. I don't mind that it's different, though - to be honest, I now pronounce it that way when speaking German, too. I just thought it might be easier for the next baby if it were the same or very nearly in both languages.

Binged, funny! Whereabouts are you? Not up north by any chance?!

DH was talking about Ferdinand the Bull the other day. I still haven't looked it up!

Herbert, no, not asking anywhere else. Why? Mumsnet education has taught me to stay away from Nethuns at all costs, although I'm not entirely sure why ...

Tim was an ex, so I don't much want that name! Alexander and Maximilian are also both in the top ten here in Germany. Frederick is lovely, but DH isn't so keen.

Only 9+4, so still got a bit of time to go before a final choice has to be made

Hi BabyL
I meant the German version of Mumsnet rather than Net Mums in the UK. Was dd born in the UK or did you not consider pronunciation.

Otto?

We have a Maximilian and everyone assumes we are German!!

We are a Scottish/German family but in Scotland.

Our name criteria have always been that they need to be the same pronunciation in both languages to avoid confusion.

For boys our list was

Frederick
Philipp
Maximilian

though we wouldn't have gone for Maximilian if living in Germany due to popularity.

As it happened we had a DD.

We had a final list of

Helena
Frederika (Frieda)

and went for the second name.

I'm now pregnant again and a boy will most likely be Philipp and a girl Henrietta.

Oh, and about Ferdinand. I think it's ok in the UK as people would just assume it's German and normal but what is the perception of the name in Germany at the moment? I know that old names are slowly coming back there as well in certain social groups but you don't want to be too out there.

Hugo is coming back in Germany as far as I know and is nice in English.

And YY to Christopher. Lovely name.

Oh, I see, Herbert! No, I haven't asked on a German forum. I might ask a couple of my friends what they think. Older names are definitely coming back in here, so it might not be considered that out there ...

I'd wanted to call my DD her name since I was about ten. DH speaks fluent English without an accent, and he loved the name. He didn't think there would be a problem with the pronunciation either ... Maybe PIL are just making a meal of it ... She was born in Germany (only 14mo).

I just had a look at the top baby names in Germany for 2012 and apparently it's number 168 (ahead of Hugo and Thomas!).

Frederika is a lovely name for a girl, Cheese. I love Frieda as a nickname.

Christopher has been used in the same generation on my side, so that's out.

Oh, if it's considered along the same line as Hugo and Thomas and you both like the name, I'd go for it.

I'm not sure what my families reaction would have been if we had chosen "British" names, but I do know that I would have been annoyed by the constant wrong pronunciation. But I am like that. i have no patience either for my mum when she's trying to speak English. We're raising DD bilingually, with a strict OPOL approach and so it is important that people like my mum, who have bad English grammar and pronunciation stick to German.. Yet she doesn't get it. I'm not sure anymore why this is relevant. I'm moody at the moment.

Anyway, if Ferdinand is making a come back in Germany anyway, go for it. You might be having another girl though

Btw, I'm horrified to see Frieda as the 37th most popular name in Germany at the moment. Damn.

We're doing OPOL, too. Nobody on the German side ever tries to speak English to DD or to me, so that's ok :)

DD is Amelia never looked at baby name lists once!, and PILs call her Amelie, Emily or A-me-LI-a. Never just Amelia. My friends and other Germans all say A-MAY-li-a, which is fine (and what I say when speaking German so people don't think it's Emilia). PIL are a case unto themselves, though.

They might be rather pleased with a good German-sounding name like Ferdinand! Putting me off slightly.

I only know one little Frieda, if that makes you feel any better! (And she's very cute.)

Were you also brought up biliingually?

No, I'm just German.

Really? I wouldn't have thought Amelia to be a complicated name for Germans. From your post I expected it to be Eilidh or something.

Being German, I would have said A-me-lee-a. Is that close?

We had much faces from DH's Scottish family about Frederika but they can deal with Frieda. I really hope for another girl so I can see their "Henrietta face".

For a split second I was a bit hmmmm, but then it hit me that actually, Ferdinand is quite cool.

Reading with interest because we are in the same situation - it's hard isn't it?? It's led to some funny suggestions, because when it's not your native culture you're going purely on the sound of the name without any cultural connotations attached. I suggested Florian and Tobias which were laughed at soundly by the ILs!

On the plus side I moved to Germany when I was 5, with a name very difficult to pronounce in German. Didn't make a difference, I got used to having 2 pronunciations very quickly. Even if one is very mangled...

I love Ferdinand -- the Bull is a delightful story.
Oskar might be another for you to consider if you decide against Ferdinand?

Frederika nn Frieda is gorgeous too. I love Frieda on its own as well.

Love Ferdy!