Bento for a boy

[monkeygone]

OH is Brazilian and we live in Brazil. Bento is a very old Portuguese name.

Does it sounds ridiculous in English though? What with it being kind of almost the word "bent"?

Yes, makes me think of bento boxes too.

Box in North America too. All the fast food chains advertise them for their lunchtime combos....
I love Bentinho though. And Ben is fine.

Made me think of Fray Bentos pies

Okay everyone, let's move onto Bentinho - thoughts?

I am not originally from the UK and even I thought of Fray Bento.
I wouldn't use it.

Bentinho sounds slightly better

How about the Spanish version, Benito

We thought about that, but then I did a search on here and found an Italian person saying Italians would be offended or think you were a right wing nutjob, and we decided it wouldn't be worth the bother. He might grow up and fall in love with an Italian for all we know!

I like it but I'm in Brazil as well so not the best judge!
I don't think Bentinho is a good idea because Brits will butcher both the "ti" and the "ho" sound. He'll be called Ben-tin-hoe!
How about just Ben?
I have three boys with names that work in both countries and work in schools so I have lots of suggestions if you're up for alternatives.

Hi Caipora!

I think Brits can handle the "inho" suffix, thanks to Ronaldinho and other footballers

Agreed about the ti sound, but we'd just tell them how to pronounce it anyway. But yeah, it does seem like maybe it's not the best choice.

I'd love to hear your suggestions! We've thought about many names and we strongly dislike most of the common Brazilian boys names, unfortunately! That's why we started at looking at some older, more classical names (lots from Portuguese heritage).

Another one we like is Nuno. What do you think?

How do you pronounce Bentinho? Not Ben-teen-ho?

How do you pronounce Bentinho? Not Ben-teen-ho?

Ben-cheen-yo

I've never heard of Nuno. It certainly works in Brtian but does sound a lot like Uno.

When we were in the UK one of the children had a Ronaldinho in his class. Pronounced, I kid you not, Ronaldeeno. DH was horrified.

If you're not into the common names have you already vetoed Lucas? Top 10 in both countries.

Here's my suggestions:
Davi
Alex
Domonic
Thomas/Tomás (not if you're in a Sh area though, nothing worse than Tomash!)
Oscar (DH veteod this as being an old mans name in Brazil, but it could make a come back)
Samuel
Caio
José
Mateus or Mateo (DH veteod Mateo as he's passionatly anti Spanish )
Arthur (I know the pronounciation changes slightly but it's a classic in both countries)
Bernardo
Emanuel
Vince
Octávio
Eduardo or Eduard
Marcos
Luís

Have you considered Benedicto the di would be a subtle change and not be too different.

It's possibly one of the hardest things to come up with names that work in two countries. Between Britain and Brazil though I found Brits more adaptable to new names than Brazilians. Or maybe Brits are just less likely to take the piss

I don't think Bentinho is a good idea because Brits will butcher both the "ti" and the "ho" sound. He'll be called Ben-tin-hoe!

I think that depends. I agree that it will probably be mispronounced by most people reading it but more often someone is introduced to you verbally so they would know how it is pronounced (but not how it is spelt!)

I have no idea how to spell the names of a lot of DCs friends but I can pronounce them all correctly as I've heard them.

OP If you live in Brazil I don't see a problem ( I missed that in your first post) and I think it makes a difference whether you son would have a Brazilian surname

(Surname would only make a difference in the uk though)

Bentinho is nice

I know nothing about football and would never have got ben Cheen yo from bentinho. I'd have thought it ben teen o

" When we were in the UK one of the children had a Ronaldinho in his class. Pronounced, I kid you not, Ronaldeeno. DH was horrified."

how should it have been pronounced then?

It made me think of the pie, it's a nice name though

I know a lovely half-Brazilian Thiago. Not wild about Bentinho, though I agree that people in the UK should be able to cope with the ending - I think you're right about avoiding Benito as you would Adolf...

Now I'm craving Japanese food.

Honaldchinyo

Thiago is a great name. Also forgot Jorge, you could spell it George and tell people it's the English Jorge.

No, not nuno - reminds me of nuny which is what some people call their lady parts (not sure which bit it refers to which is why I'm being vague)

Benno is the Dutch version, I like that!