Save Spyridon!

[JessieMcJessie]

Just came across this on another site - a Greek American man has agreed with his wife that he can name their first-born son Spyridon if he gets 10,000 signatures online.

www.yahoo.com/parenting/father-to-be-creates-online-petition-to-settle-116406209757.html

His wife, who is Russian and called Kseniya, hilariously commented:

I dont want to call my son something I cant even pronounce .

The "petition" (linked in the article) is clearly very tongue-in-cheek and I don't think that this is a genuine case of patriarchical bullying. But more to the point, Spyridon is a very cool name. I presume it's pronouned "SPY-rih-don?"

I've signed up...

As a russian speaker, I can confirm that it's an old fashion russian name too, so Ksenia is talking out of her bottom :)

It's pronounced Spi-Ri-don AFAIK

How do you pronounce Kseniya differentkindofpenguin?

I think the kid would be very happy to have a name that sounds a bit like Spiderman.

Not heard of that one before! But I did get the pronunciation right first time, before I read the comments!
It does remind me of 'Spyro' though, the little purple dragon thing - a game I used to play on the play station when I was a bit younger!

Both seem greek to me. Spyridon is the formal version of Spyros and is probably shared from Greece to Russia because of the Greek Orthodox religion (Agios Spyridonas).

the mum's name sounds like the Ancient Greek for Xenia the goddess of hostesing and welcoming strangers.

Boo you have explained it much better than me!

I didn't know Ksenija was a name of Greek origin, but it makes sense! My own name is a very popular russian name of Greek origin too!

I pronounce it kseniya, emphasis on the "e"

I know one! I thought he was Greek though

I was going to comment that Spiridon/Spyridon is also a Russian name. Like many Greek names it has a Russian equivalent thanks to the Orthodox Church connection.

I would pronounce Kseniya 'Ks-IN-iya'. It's another shared Greek/ Russian name.

(The wife is apparently Belorussian).

I've come across Kseniya once before but can't remember where. In my head it's kuh-sayn-ee-a. Pretty, I think.

Not a fan of Spyrion!