My dh is Serbian, and we've agreed that we'll give our dc a Serbian first name. Our surname is double-barrelled, my very English surname followed by my husband's very Serbian name. Middle names are likely to be English.
I was wondering whether anyone could tell me their opinions on our shortlist. Many are Serb spellings of names also common in English.
Girls
V. Serbian...
Milica (it's very popular in Serbia, prounounced as written)
Mirjana (pronounced Mirry-yana)
Jelisaveta - Serbian version of Elizabeth, pronounced as written (hard j)
Isidora - pronounced as written (I know it's an English name too but I've never met one)
Ivana - kind of like it but is it tarnished by Ivana Trump?
Dragana - Dra-garna
Serb variants of names common in English...
Vera (pronounced with a short e like terror, not like the long e in the English version)
Sofija - pronounced like Sofia
Lidija - pronounced like Lydia
Julijana - pronounced Julie-arna
Emilija - pronounced like Emilia
Anastasija - etc.
Overall I think Milica is my favourite, as the spelling and pronunciation are straightforward, and it has the Millie nickname as a possibility, but it will be unusual in England and she'll be the only one in her class (though it's really on a par with Emily/Sophie in terms of popularity in Serbia). So I'd be very interested in any thoughts any one has about Milica!
Boys
We're finding boys' names quite a bit harder - many of dh's favourites sound too like girls' names to me e.g. Aleksa
He also likes Aleksander, as do I
Aleksander
Dimitrije - Dimitrije, with a slight 'ye' sound at the end
Ivan - e-Van, with the stress on the 'Van'
Jovan - yo-Van
Mijalko - Me-yalko