Eva or Evangelia? (Bit of a backstory!)

[NoNameNumber5]

This is pretty convoluted, so please bear with me...

DH is Greek, I'm from another European country. In Greece, the tradition is to name children after their grandparents. (First paternal...) We did this with DC1. In my culture, we just name children whatever the parents want. However, we did give DC1 a middle name from my side of the family.

Now expecting a DD. I want to name her after my much loved grandmother, Eva. I guess partly because DC1 is named after DHs parent. I've told my family we are doing this and they were really happy. However, on a couple of occasions I have felt that Eva is a bit... Short? Plain? Too grown up? Not sure! There's a Greek name, Evangelia, which is often shortened to Eva. However, it's not actually the same name (different origins). Evangelia is also the female version of my DH's uncle's name and he will probably claim that DD is named after him. (Not that this matters much because he lives in Greece.)

I think I prefer Evangelia, shortened to Eva, but I'm worried my family will think I'm "giving in to the Greek side" (again). We got married in Greece and baptised DC1 there. Partly because he has a very large family and I only have my divorced parents and one sibling.

Another thing is that the Greek side of the family (in Greece) may not end up calling her Eva, which my family might find annoying. I know that you can't necessarily decide what nickname your child will have.

If you read all that, you deserve .

Eva is a beautiful name. I don't think it's "short" at all - two syllables is great.

There are different prounciations though - i work with a Spanish lady who pronounces it Ay-va but I've also heard Ee-va.

I do agree that a longer version of Eva is a nice option...what about Evangelina?

I prefer Eva. It's classy and not try-hard (like the longer versions seem to be). It's a beautiful name actually.

Threenanger That would just look like we had misspelled the Greek name. Evangelia and Eva are the two options we are choosing from. Or maybe possibly Evangeline, as that's the English version. I don't really like girl names that end in -ina. I think they sound a bit too 'cute', maybe.

I don't like Evangelia...it's a bit fussy. I also think it will be constantly mispronounced/misspelled if you live in the UK (or anywhere where Evangelina is more common).

I think Eva is nice on its own although I do understand the idea of having a longer name with a nn, if only so you can long-name them when they're in trouble.

I love Evangeline. You could maybe have Genevieve. Or Evelyn. Aveline. Eviana.

Or go with Eva and use Evie when she's little/as a nn.

I do understand the idea of having a longer name with a nn, if only so you can long-name them when they're in trouble. Haha, I don't even know why I want a longer version, but maybe that's it!

Also, just to reiterate: I'm not looking for other suggestions. It's between those two. Or possibly Evangeline.

I agree with Nuff said, if you live in the UK most people will assume it is Evangelina and the 'n' has been missed out by mistake. To be honest I even read it as Evangelina to begin with.

Personally I'd just call her Eva. That's what her name would be, there no need to over complicate it. Eva is lovely, simple to spell and easy to pronounce.

I really don't like Evangeline. Or Evangelina. It's the "jelly" sound in the middle. I do like Eva though!

A first name - middle name - surname combo works just as well when they are in trouble anyway!

That n auto corrected in there! (But I don't like Evangelina or Evangelia)

Does anyone know how popular Eva is at the moment? I know Ava is very popular, and my other child has a top-10 name.

Then I still prefer Evangeline.
I’m not a fan of Evangelia... it feels somewhat unfinished to me.

Eva is lovely, simple to spell and easy to pronounce

Just to be awkward, the pronounciation of Eva in both Greek and my language (which happen to be the same) is actually not how you say it in English!

English-speaking people usually pronounce it Ee-vah, whereas we pronounce it more like the first two syllables of Evangeline. The 'e' is more like the word 'ever' than the word 'eat', if that makes sense?

Eva was 25th last year I think. Evie was 16. Ava, top 10. So quite popular as a name group!

I think it will be constantly mispronounced if you want it said as 'ever' rather than 'ee-vah'.

I prefer just Eva, on its own. It's popular because it's lovely. And the connection to your Grandma is more direct.

Here are the latest stats. (2018 data is released in September)

I think I'm becoming convinced that Eva is better... Thanks Mumsnet jury!

How about Evelina? It would have the short “E” from your language (are you Polish?) too.

I have an Eva. I love the name. I was going to name her Evangeline but decided to just stick with Eva in the end. Congratulations on your pregnancy x

I think it will be constantly mispronounced

I think I'll just have to accept that others are going to pronounce it differently.

@MakeAWhish

Thank you! So exciting. :)

It is a nice name but I just immediately think of Hitler sorry.
I doubt most would though. I also had to read your post a couple of times to work out what the longer name actually was.
Go with your heart

We're a Greek-European mixed family. I think Eva is a great name and know a Greek called Eva so nobody will be looking for the longer name. You just correct people who get it wrong. I'm always correcting people who get my name wrong. I don't care - I still love my name. Anyone from most of Continental Europe will say it as we say it. English is one of the few languages to elongate vowels in that way.