Yahya or Eesa?

[Aaliyah1]

I need some help guys with the two above names. We are having a baby boy and like these two names. I wanted to know the opinion of non Muslims (Muslims too ) of what you think of them. I'm swaying towards one but my DH is swaying to another

Yahya is the Arabic for John and Eesa is Arabic for Jesus.

[weirdthing]

I met a little boy a while ago called Yahya - I asked him his name then asked him to repeat it about 5 times because I couldn't get my head around the weird sound. So sorry, but I don't like it.

[harrietspy]

My son has one of each in his class, but there are lots more Eesas in the school. I love Eesa! Where I live (in a big city) it's a mainstream name.

Happy choosing!

[BettyMacdonald]

Love Eesa. Funnily enough my pregnant Muslim friend and I were discussing Arabic boys names last night. I shall squirrel that one away for her

[Coconutfeet]

I used to teach a Yahya and he was a lovely boy, so I really like the name. I'm surprised people think these names are difficult to pronounce.

[TheWoollybacksWife]

They are both lovely names. I don't think many of us tell other people the meaning or origin of our names on a regular basis.

Many football fans people will have heard the name Yahya thanks to Yaya Tourè - although he spells it differently the sound is familiar.

As a matter of interest which name so you favour OP?

[CrimboTango]

I like Eesa more, but prefer the spelling of Isa. Phonetically simple and it is a beautiful name.

I'm non Muslim but recognised them easily as Muslim boy names. Jesus and John are both considered prophets in Islam, what's so confusing about that?

[redgate]

Yahya is nice, but the first thing it made me think of was Toure - midfielder for Man City.

[BillyBanter]

Yahya is a bit more confusing wrt how to pronounce it. Eesa is nice. :)

[Lottystar]

I really like Eesa too. I'm from a White Catholic background and it's a lovely name that's easy for anyone to pronounce. At the end of the day you just need to go with what you and your husband are happy with, Britain is a multicultural country and I think anything pretty much goes

[LadyIsabellasHollyWreath]

Isa (pronounced Eesa) is the little boy who dies in a drone attack in Homeland. I think both names sound nice, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they do look odd to Anglophone eyes - a bit like a toddler sibling's mispronounciation as an earlier poster said. It's absolutely up to you whether you care about that and want to go a bit more international, or whether you love the names so much that you are happy to shrug off the odd double-take.

[PiratePanda]

Eesa, but please spell it Isa. No other word in English starts with two E's. Except Eeyore

[SootikinAndSweep]

Bloody hell, the OP isn't asking for a name that is an English name! This thread is going the same way as the Irish 'has someone dropped a load of Scrabble letters' ones.

How is Yahya pronounced, OP? And is Eesa with an 's' sound or a 'z'?

[bugsyclaus]

Non Muslim non football fan here. I prefer eesa, that may be because I've met an isa ( pron eesa) but never heard of yahya.

[bugsyclaus]

Really pirate? How about eel?

[zinher]

Eesa is pronounced with an S. How it's written is how it sounds

Yahya is pronounced yah- ya with an emphasis on the h in the middle

[Lullabyte]

I like Eesa and I like how you're spelling it. Truly great name. That one gets my vote, OP I hope it's a vote for the one you want!

[StrangeGlue]

Thanks, I didn't know if it was yah-ya or ya-hi-a.

I prefer eesa

[PollyCazaletWannabe]

I rarely say this , but a lot of the posts on this thread are really quite rude. Why in earth does a name have to be 'English' for it to be acceptable?

OP, I prefer Eesa. It is easy to pronounce and sounds lovely. Good luck choosing!

[Lullabyte]

bugsy

or eerie?

or eek? EEK!
(my favourite kid-friendly expression to use when trying to avoid the words 'oh, shit' or 'fuck' )

[Sharaluck]

I'm surprised people are unfamiliar with these names to be honest. I have met a couple of both.

I prefer Yahya :) (and I didn't know it was Arabic for john, so that is interesting).

[Passmethecrisps]

I am a bit taken aback by some responses here. Mind you,OP did ask for opinions!

I prefer Eesa but I wouldn't think twice of either in the nicest possible sense. I don't worry about what names mean or whether that name specifically matches the cultural heritage of that child.

[Notawordfromtheladybird]

I like Yahya, but I prefer the more common (or at least in Egypt) spelling of Yehia. It's written how you pronouce it. Yahya, would make me say "ya" not "ye".

[Aaliyah1]

I prefer Eesa (pronounced phonetically at ee-sa), so I'm kind of glad that the majority have voted for that! I have seen the spelling as Isa but there is a girls name which is spelt the same but pronounced I-sa so that could be confusing.

I like Yahya too but feel that it won't be pronounced properly. It's Yah-ya but feel people will say Ya Ya (as in yeah yeah iyswim). And is also associated with the footballer as other people have mentioned.

I'm looking for a name which had a Muslim identity but still works well in the UK. There are names such as Adam, Harris, Danyal etc which appear in both cultures q commonly but not really the route I'd want to go down.

Musa is a lovely name too as someone mentioned.

[sonlypuppyfat]

My DS is ieuan and that's Welsh for John.I think they are both lovely names.

[Aaliyah1]

Also I don't mind the negative comments! I did ask for opinions
I am looking at the names from a point of view were they are normal to me.

I wanted to see how other people see them, would pronounce then etc All points of view are welcome!