Percy, Milo, other Greek boys' names?

[SK28]

We're expecting our first in January, and have more or less agreed on a girls' name, but are struggling with boys' names. We're looking for something of Greek origin as DH is Greek Cypriot, but something that is not TOO Greek, will be easily pronounced in the UK, and won't be said TOO differently by English family and Greek family.

We both like Percy. Probably short for Persius.
We also both like Leo. Probably short for Leandros.

We're not so keen on the long versions but like the idea of a longer name that can be shortened.

I love Milo, but DH isn't as keen, largely because it's not short for anything. I'm also toying with Finn (short for Phineas).

What do you guys think of any/all of these? I think our issue is we don't like the longer versions as much as the short versions...but boys' names with Greek origin are so difficult without veering into the territory of gods and mythology!

Just stick with Alexander and you'll be fine anywhere inside or outside Greece with that and Alex. You could even Alec him if you wanted.

Jason?

I also love Milo, but I'm Australian, and it's the brand name of a malty chocolately drink, so for my family it would be a bit like calling a child Horlicks.

I know a boy with a Greek father and English mother called Andrew. I'm not sure if he's Andreus to his Greek family.

Nicolas/Nicholas is a nice solid name that works well in both, although there is the spelling issue.

Thanks guys. Moxon, there are Alexanders in the family already, and we don't love it - would like to find a name that we'll be more than just 'fine' with if we can (especially as we're going to have the same challenge with subsequent children!)!

Sanity, I heard about the chocolatey drink from a South African friend too! We don't have family in either of those places, so hopefully that doesn't have to rule it out for us, but really useful to know! My FiL is Andreas (Andrew) and we're trying to avoid family names for a whole host of reasons... You're right about Nicos and variations of it, will see what DH thinks.

Alas.

Nicholas ( is it Nickolas in greek?) NN Nico.

Theo?

X posted!

If the greek spelling is Nicolas without the k I'd not use that version as it will be seen as Nicola's and I can't write the phonics but it's not the same

Theo is nice, and would work in both, I think?

Constantino - nn Tino

I personally love Milo. It was on my list for both my dd's had they turned out to be boys!

There is a little Stelio at ds's nursery. I think it's a lovely name and really suits him.

Hektor?

My good Cypriot mate is called Andreas and we call him Andros, and I don't know if it's unusual to have that as a nn? but I love him to bits all the same.

Percy, Leo and Milo are not abbreviations that you would commonly come across in Greek but if you like them does it matter?

How about Christos, Stephanos, Spyros, Constandinos, Pavlos? They are all fairly easy for English speakers to pronounce.

Petros?

The classics are George/John/Andrew/Alexander but you know that!
Otherwise Theodore is good. Lucas works in both. Ditto Philip, Anthony.

I would be tempted to throw caution to the wind and call him Achilleas or manoli or a omething cool and let the English struggle with it but having said that I didn't with mine!

Oddly, all the greek boys we know are named Theo (none of them know one another!)
Theo is a lovely name, but I really like Milo too.

Isn't it Perseus in Greek? (Persius Latin)

Milo isn't really used as a Greek name. In fact it means apple in Greek. The Greek side of the family will think that is very odd (although you may think that if gwyneth can carry off an apple so can you...!)

Lambros, George and Angeli (pr. like Angela but with e at the end instead of a) are popular Greek names.

Boo and Celestial - I'm not Greek, just DH, so we don't want a name that's really really Greek. Baby will already have a Greek surname. So that's why we're considering nicknames/abbreviations that are less Greek, and why we aren't throwing caution to the wind as suggested! Milo is a funny one - it's close to the word for apple, though not pronounced the same, and I've definitely come across Milos as a name of Greek origin, but it is less clear than some of the others :)

Nerf Yes, that was a typo, I preferred the spelling of Persius so we were playing around with it but Perseus (or Persus) would be the Greek I think.

I really like Theo, too - DH isn't so keen but not sure why - it's definitely on my list so maybe I'll bump it up a bit!

It's so tricky - many of the names suggested (George, Christos, Andreas etc) are family names already. And others I just feel are too Greek really... for girls it's much easier to find names of Greek origin but that aren't overly Greek. It matters to me that baby's name won't automatically suggest 100% Greek identity, as that's not my heritage, which is why we're struggling so much with this.

Thanks for all the suggestions :)

I have an unpronounceable Ancient Greek name. It's unusual even in Greece, while some of my English friends simply cannot say it ('fs' combination which some people can only pronounce 'ss' or 'sf'). As a result I named my Greek children Lily and Max because they were the easiest names I could think of!

The complication with Milo is that Greeks will struggle with the correct pronounciation and may well call him Meelo (=Apple). Percy and Leo should be easier to pronounce more faithfully to the English version.

It IS tricky for boys - which is why I ducked it and gave my girls greek names and my boys English ones! That was my way of dealing with their dual heritage... Because there just aren't that many Greek boys names that the English can manage apart from George, Nick, Andreas, John, Alexander...
Funnily enough the English name we used for DS2 is Miles! So not Milo but not far off. I can tell you the Greeks think it is bizarre and can't pronounce it... My-yelles. They joke that he should be called Kilometres in Greece as it is a metric country... Ho ho ho! Sigh.

Lysander is nice

Celestial Thanks for the insights and also for sharing your approach Maybe I should try to persuade DH that for a boy we may need to be looser with the Greek restriction... Problem would come if we never had a girl as I know his family wouldn't like no Greek heritage reflected in names (despite surname being Greek) so if we ended up with only boys with English names I'd be villanised!

Boo Lily and Max are such lovely names! They aren't Greek, are they? Did you get family pressure to go with Greek names?

The Milo pronunciation thing resulting in them calling him essentially Apple is a bit of an issue but DH immediate family are in London, it's aunties etc in Cyprus so I don't think it's the end of the world if they struggle a bit or think we're weird. I'd rather that than people struggling here, like you've experienced.

Milo needs more pondering for sure...