Does my baby boy's name sound too girly? Should I add a middle name?

[AmalFish]

Hi everyone,

I named my now 2 year old Eisa. At the time I liked the look of it and the meaning (its Arabic for Jesus). To be honest I didn't really think too hard at the time about names and just liked this one. Since then he has been called Elsa more times than I can remember and I am starting to worry about him being picked on at school. Its too late to change his name but I am considering adding a more distinctly masculine middle name- is that a silly idea? what do you think of the name Eisa, is it too feminine? Any middle name ideas? Thank you!

When people say Elsa they are clearly just misreading and converting the visual appearance of the name written down they don't actually think your son is called Elsa so consider alternative spellings? I'm more used to seeing it as Issa.

I take it people call him Elsa because of how it is written and that Elsa is far more known in the UK than Eisa. So it's not Eisa itself that is feminine. I don't know. Does he have a middle name? Unless you used it in conjunction all the time, like Eisa-Sam or Eisa-Hugo, it's not going to change anything

I don't think it's weird as I think names, like clothes, don't have a sex. However tbh I would assume it was a girl upon reading the name. Not sure how adding a middle name would help, unless you plan to start calling dc by the middle name only.

I agree with Parthenope, I have only seen Isa spelt with an I (and one S) not an Ei, so i wonder if changing the spelling would help?

It doesn't sound feminine, but then it is a familiar word to me.

No I guess I wouldn't start calling him by middle name, it was more an idea to give him other options when he is older in case he wanted to use them together or interchangeably.

Boys names ending in 'a' are rare in the UK, so I expect the mispronunciations were just assumptions (Elsa being familiar, thanks to Frozen, Eisa not being a name that many Brits would be familiar with).

Your DC has had this name for two years, so I would just leave it as is. No one takes any notice of middle names in this country - I couldn't tell you what the middle names of my DC's dearest friends are and struggle to remember those my nieces tbh - so I'd just brave it out and make sure that the 'i' in his name is clear so people can see that it's not an 'l'. As he gets older he'll be able to correct people when they get it wrong.

Also, is it pronounced eye-sa, or ee-sa? As a Brit I'd assume the latter.

Thank you for your response :) it's pronounced Ee-sa

I think we went with Eisa instead of Issa because we wanted to avoid the eye-sa pronounciation. Frozen and Elsa didn't even cross my mind at the time, haha a bit silly thinking about it now as it's such a popular name apparently.

I've only ever seen it spelt Isa. Pronounced Ee-sa

I wouldn't add a middle name or change it. It's a nice name.

Can you drop the I? Esa looks a lot more masculine like Asa imo

I read it as Elsa. Familiar with Issa but not Eisa.

I agree, change the spelling to Issa.

Adding a middle name wont stop people calling him Elsa.

Oh I see, if pronounced Issa then that is the short for Isabel in some languages.
I think it is a nice name

It's not feminine so don't change it. People are assuming that it's a typo. For example some people like "unique" spellings so somebody called Kateyy probably had people spelling her name Katey, Katie..

It's a beautiful name and not girly.

Gorgeous name. I know several, spelled Issa, Eissa, Eesa.

Leave it as it is - lovely name btw. Although the spelling has been different we have quite a few Isa/Eesa named boys in our school . It's a popular Muslim name

Thank you everyone :) really helpful comments

Eisa is a great name and not at all feminine! Ezra, Noah etc are all boys names ending in a.

Don't spell it Isa, that's short for Isabel!

I've only ever seen it spelt Isa. Pronounced Ee-sa

I’d pronounce that spelling Eye-za, I am Scottish though!

I'd consider changing it to a phonetic spelling, so literally Eesa. Visually you lost the connect with the princess.

If you don't want to go as far as changing his birth cert then you could do it informally in cards, invitations texts etc just explain to f&f why.

I don't think you need to change it, it's a lovely name. The one I know spells it Essa.

Issa is a brand of ladies clothing. I definitely wouldn’t switch to that!

Don't change the spelling!

If people mispronounce Eisa, I'm sure they'll learn very quickly once corrected.