Is Reeva ok to use?

[independencedaybaby]

My husband and I love the name Reeva, and as he is Indian it's lovely that is a Sanskrit name as well.
However we are worried that there are still too many associations with the sad case of Reeva Steenkamp and just wanted your opinions on this? I guess plenty of people call their kids Oscar and don't make the association with a murderer.

Would really like to hear your thoughts on this as we love the name

personally I think it's okay. You've settled your own gripe really with the point you make about many boys being named Oscar.

Gorgeous name

It's so pretty, it would be a shame to be put off using it.

I know a 4 year old Reeva. It’s just her name, no negative connotations at all:

Lovely name. I'd go ahead if it was me.

Its lovely. And even IF people make a connection to “that” Reeva, she didn’t do anything wrong and so no one would think badly anyway. Not like it’s Myra (hindley) or anything.

I’d change the spelling to Riva

It's beautiful, but the association would put me off I'm afraid.

As a PP said, maybe change the spelling to Riva - it's just as nice.

I love it. I would maybe think of her for a few seconds but it's a beautiful name and she's not the only reeva in the world to have lived. We don't think of Oscar pistorius when we see Oscar

Wouldn’t put me off using it.
It’s gorgeous!

It's a lovely name and I would leave the spelling as it is. So yes I would call your daughter Reeva if you both love it.

It wouldn't be the first association to occur to me.

I’m afraid it would be my first association as she’s the only Reeva that i’ve Ever heard of. I’ve heard of lots of Oscars, so no association there.

It's a lovely name and not as popular as similar sounding names like Eva, Aoife and Caiomhe. I would use it especially as it reflects your Indian heritage.

Pretty name.

Is it pronounced intuitively to English speakers? If so, I would go for it. Being Afrikaans, Reeva as in Steenkamp is pronounced "Ree-uh-vuh" with a rolled R, so not the same name.

Also, even if people do make the association with that terrible case from what I read she was a lovely person

I was about to say what Raines did, about the SA pronunciation not rhyming with "diva" because ee is a diphthong.

I might not go for Reeva personally because of the word "reaver" (a robber, a plunderer; a marauder, a raider). But it's not the most obvious of associations so that probably wouldn't put most folk off!

I couldn't personally use it because the case made a real impact on me, don't know why, and it would always remind me of her murder. But if you don't make that connection, I guess there's no reason not to. Other people might though.

Oscar is a much more common name, so many that there's no particular reason to associate the name with him. Why not Oscar Wilde for example?

But I don't think I've come across many if any other Reevas and she did have a particularly awful death. Oscar is at least still alive, for his sins.

It's a lovely name, but I'm afraid that the first thing that came to mind before I'd even read the entire OP was Reeva Steenkamp.

It’s a lovely name.

And it doesn’t really matter too much if we think of Reeva Steinkamp - your daughter’s contemporaries are much less likely to know and think of her.

I think it's fine.

I'd probably change the spelling purely because if you type Reeva into google the entire first page of results are to do with Reeva Steenkamp. And the second and third pages of results too. Haven't looked beyond that.

We have a baby Reeva, when her parents first announced her name I did think of Reeva Steincamp (sp?) but now she's almost 1 it's just her name and really, she's just our 'Reeva!'