Renan?

[ShamanYou]

My DD is thinking of changing her normal, generic, first name to Renan. I know she's not a baby but seemed the best place to post this!

Are you asking for opinions on the name?

How old is she? If she is over 18, let her crack on.
It's a boy's name meaning 'little seal' apparently

What on Earth for? It sounds like ‘Renal’

@MikeUniformMike
I think that's Rónán or Ronan you're thinking of...I haven't heard of Renan before.

I've only ever met one and he was a Brazilian man. Weird choice for a (presumably) British woman but not really a lot you can do as it's her name.
The ren has the same sound as hen so nothing renal about it.

@LizzieAnt, There's a philosopher called Renan, and I thought is might be because of him.. I googled the name and it said it was from the same origin as Ronan.

@MikeUniformMike
Maybe you're right, I don't know the origin of Renan tbh. Rón, pronounced like roan in English, is the Irish word for seal, hence Rónán/Ronan. I think renin is the name of an enzyme, and Renan reminds me of that, so I wouldn't be a huge fan, but each to their own

Too similar to Renal...

Yes, renin is an enzyme. Had to look it up.

I'd suggest she saves the name for a pet, or uses it as a nickname.

Are you asking for opinions on the name?

Yes. She's over 18 for clarity. She's British, yes.

It reminds me of a medication for kidney disease.

Meh. Her business and she'll probably only care what her peers think.

Her decision then OP.
I know someone who changed her name to something quite different at 18, but she changed it back.

Does she want our opinions?

Why doesn't she like her current name?

Oh dear.

No, it isn't very nice.

She's probably worked quite hard to go right round the houses and ended up right back at a boring, fairly random sounding word.

Is she trying to get some kind of gender-neutral name? if so it definitely doesn't work - the 'Ree' sound reminds me of Rebecca, Rhiannon, Rina... she's be Ree for short in five minutes flat which is probably not what she's aiming for.

Completely reminds me of renin (enzyme) and renal. Not nice sounding at all.

Agree with pp, my first thought was renal. I don't love it as a name at all I'm afraid.

Makes me think renal too.

To sound like renin the stuff from sheep's stomachs used to make cheese? I wouldn't..

Renan? Sounds like a kidney drug

Sounds like a drug for kidney disease.

There was an Israeli boy at my college called Renan.

@MikeUniformMike
Thanks for the new information. Just did a little digging too and it seems Renan can be a Breton form of Ronan (after St Ronan of Locronan, an Irish pilgrim saint who settled in Brittany). Interestingly, the French pronunciation of Renan is not unlike the Irish pronunciation of Ronan. It really doesn't sound much like Renan as it would be said in English though. Interesting how languages and names evolve, isn't it?

Sorry, read 'French' for 'Breton' above.

I think that this could be hard for you as her parent. Your child's name is really the first thing you give her, and you think hard about it. You could feel your daughter is saying she doesn't think what you gave her is good enough. She wants something better. That must be very hard to understand ,unless of course you called her Boudicca, which I doubt. Has she explained her reasons for wanting a change?