Einar...

[fourcorneredcircle]

Hello all... we have had a girl's name in mind for years, since we saw a painting of a woman with the name. The name's Elin (how funny that there's already a thread running with that name!). We want a Celtic/Welsh or Icelandic/Norse/Danish name to represent our heritages BUT it's really important to us that the name is said as it's written. I have a Gaelic name which I have spent my life explaining.

Anyway, we are officially on team surprise, so have been looking for a boy's name that we like and that "fits" our criteria. Also, it has to fit with a second name we have no choice in... Ronald shudder.

Any thoughts on the name Einar for a boy? It's Danish/Norse and means "warrior one"

I love it. It doesn't "go" with Ronald ... but then, what does?!

I'm not sure if it's as straight forward as Elin pronunciation wise.

I'm reading it as:
'Eye nar'

But I can also see it being seen as:

'E (long e) nar'

Am unsure which it is supposed to be?

As you can guess from my username, it's a common name where I'm living and I really like it.

From my part of Norway, it would be pronounced "eye-nar". I can't imagine pronouncing it differently, but that's probably because I've been introduced to so many. Perhaps more difficulty in the UK though?

I'm reading it as Aye Nar, which is Yes No where I live.

I wasn't sure how to pronounce it either. I thought eenar. It reminded me of eimear so thought it might be a girls name as I wasn't familiar.

Eye-nar. Always makes me think of the Sugar-cubes.

But I could see some people saying it A-nar. And that might be a minefield in the playground.

Ay-nar with a rolled r would be the pronunciation in the part of Norway I lived in (and pronunciation does vary a bit across the country) - I think it's really nice but would probably pronounce eye-nar in the UK. How had you envisaged it being pronounced OP?

I like it - would pronounce ein like nine ein-nar. A bit like dime bar I suppose?! Iyswim

In South Africa "Eina" is something like "Ouch!", so that puts me off a bit. Not sure OP.

We live in Scotland and have an Einar. He fits in well and we haven't had any problems.

Should have said it's mostly pronounced eye - nar but we pronounce it ai-nar as we have Icelandic roots

I'd envisaged Aye-nar (which is how my norther accent probably pronounces eye-nar!). I might try writing it down for a few people and seeing what I get :D

We already have a Karl in the family Sally so would probably lead to confusion!

Are there sugar cubes called that orchid I had no idea! I don't think other children would call him Anna... surely when he meets them at 2/3/4/5 they won't read his name so will accept his pronunciation... and then by secondary they'd be too full of themselves to pretend to read badly! I am a secondary teacher though... how cruel can five year olds be?!

We also had

Finnur
Olafur
Ragnar on our list

Kirk Douglas in my favourite film The Vikings

orchid is talking about the band The Sugarcubes (Bjork, Einar, etc), which was my first though too .

Well there you go, I seem to have a general "why not" and I've learned that Bjork has been around a lot longer than I realised!

I love it (I first came across it in The Danish Girl - Einar Wegener was an amazing artist and imo a cool namesake to have).

Yes, it was the band...

Five year olds can be pretty cruel..but not as cruel as teenagers. I wasn't insinuating that they'd call him Anar or Anna. I was trying to hint that they'd say Anar does Anal.

orchid yeah...ok, that I can imagine! But I think it will be ok... "Ei" doesn't sound like "A" in our local accent.

Besides... kid will have to have developed a thick skin by high school to have dealt with "Ronald Macdonald"!