DH and the unpronounceable baby names

[Olinguita]

DH (Indian) and I (white British) have our first baby on the way in September. I suggested that we give the baby an Indian name to reflect their culture. We don't know if we're having a boy or a girl. We have a girl's name shortlist sorted, but boy is proving tricky.

The problem is, the only names that DH has come up with are things that are tricky to say (Atharv, Satyameva), or that sound a bit odd to the British ear - stuff like Shlok, Parth, Sachet, which I worry that a kid could get teased about, or which would be constantly misunderstood/mis-spelt in adulthood. I don't want to be insensitive to his culture or narrow minded BUT I also don't want to give the child a name that is going to cause challenges in daily life as they grow up. The problem is that my normally easy-going DH is getting REALLY defensive about it and is refusing to budge (maybe late pandemic/Dad-to-be jitters, who knows....!)

He has vetoed all of my suggestions of 2-syllable Indian boys' names on the grounds that they are too common, or there are acquaintances of ours that already have those names, or he just doesn't like them.
To give you an example of where I was going, my list included:
Roshan
Pranav
Ishaan
Rohan
Ivaan
Vivek
Niren
Nayan
Varoun

I'm pretty familiar with Indian culture and speak Hindi, and from what I've observed, most of my Indian and British/Indian friends have tended to favour more contemporary, easy-to-pronounce baby names similar to those on my list. So I don't think I'm wildly off-base but I could be wrong.

My questions for you:

1. Has anyone hit an absolute roadblock with their partner about baby names, and how did you deal?
2. Any cool Indian boy name suggestions? (If you hadn't clocked from the names suggested already, DH is Hindu)

On top of all this, my very traditional British family are piling on the pressure to give the child a "proper" English name like William or George and won't drop the issue. The joys of baby-naming....

I think the name Johan is nice. It reflects your husbands culture but also if the child choses to fit more western sounding names, he could go by Jo.

Sharath?

Disclaimer: no idea which part of India or language it comes from!

I know someone who says that babies aren’t named for a year in India so you’ve got a long time to wear DH down!

I was going to suggest Sachin, but I’ve just seen he doesn’t like that...

Ravi or Virat would be my other suggestions. Does he like either of those?

I think the requirement of the name being suitable for both of the child’s cultures is a good one. That’s not to say that any names that aren’t commonly used can’t be used, but I would take into account how easily pronounced any name would be, the impact of any local accents, and how easy the name would be to live with. That goes for all names, not just ones from different cultures. My father in laws accent ruled out quite a lot of names that I initially loved!

Arja
Ashni

I work with a man who is Hindu and he is called Jay (that may well be a shortened version of a longer name?) but that could work?

Pankaj? It’s nice easy pronounced name.

DH and I are not British. We knew that we’re going to come to the UK when DD was born so prepared names suitable for both languages. I had a final say because 1) it was me who gave birth and 2) she’s got his surname.
My experience is that nowadays people are coping with unusual names quite easily and children are especially tolerant. I’m saying this as a person who’s got tricky name and surname. I usually need to spell them out really slowly . I use shortened version of my name which is easier.

Friends of mine who are a Marathi Hindu / white British couple wanted names that work in both languages for their children. I remember they had settled on Jay for a boy (but they had girls in the end).

not much help OP - but we (both white British) found boys names really hard to agree on. Luckily we had girls, but the only boys name we ever agreed on was David. We'd have come to blows if we'd had 3 boys.

Ashwin
Remi

We had this problem. DH is white and I come from an ethnic background. I was really keen for a name that worked in both cultures but it needed to be a name that worked well with my culture. As you say, growing up in the UK, around your family, means the child will be exposed to his British heritage from an early age whereas my heritage will need to be emphasised as otherwise he won’t know anything about it, hence why I wanted a name that worked. However, DH was adamant it needed to be a traditional English name.

I proposed several names which DH vetoed. After I had the baby, he was so proud of what I just did he let me pick the name!

I have got a boy called Dinesh and I know an aravinda shortened to Ravi.
Dh wasn’t too keen on Dinesh until he was born and then let me chose it and he suits it perfectly.

I think the name Johan is nice. It reflects your husbands culture but also if the child choses to fit more western sounding names, he could go by Jo

Isn't this pronounced 'Yo-han' though? It is in my DH's country.

Have you stopped being polite and said this is ridiculous, I’m growing this baby and am going to push it out my vagina or have my abdomen and uterus sliced open to get it out and have still been very sensitive to your cultural background, am giving the baby your surname and have agreed baby can have a name from your culture, and you don’t seem to care about finding a name that I like OR that will work for your child, you’re just sitting there thinking of you? Unless you can start thinking more like a partner and dad I am seriously reconsidering the surname- I’m growing the baby and I matter too, there is no good reason this child shouldn’t have my surname.

I would stop worrying too much about pronunciation and just think about names you love yourself. Your dh may be more receptive if you're talking about your own likes and dislikes rather than some theoretical problem of the future.

I have a friend/colleague called Abhishek, shortened to Abhi - he's a lovely person so it has great meaning for me.

The anglo-indian families I know have boys named
Rohan & Ishan
Rohan & Nayan
Kiran
Shay
Nihal

How about Ani? (Aniruddha)

Parth on your DH's list sounds OK.

Another vote for Ravi

How about Abdhi?

I absolutely love the name Rohan though.

Love Ravi.

Also Rahi?

Kishan?

Wait until after the birth .. your dh may be more amenable at that point 😉. And you may have a girl anyway.

@Melitza

Have none of the pp’s ever come across Irish names? Hard to spell for uk folk and pronounced differently to how they look. I’ve not known any Naimhs or Siobahns get teased or bullied about their names.

Niamh. Siobhan.

Point made re pronunciation v spelling.

Harish

I'm Indian and totally agree with you OP. Also, and I'm not saying you have to be trendy or whatever, but the kind of names he's suggesting are rather old-fashioned and I haven't heard them for years, kinda like the Gary, Colin and Steve type British names. Most Indian names in the UK these days are a lot less harsh sounding and more easily pronouncable by non-Indians.

I like most of your list and agree with a pp about Ravi.

Also Kian (only recently realised its a Hindu name as well as Irish!) Ajay, Rishi, Khilan, Kishan, Jiten, Jai, Bhavin..?