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....

YANBU.

Rohan is a wonderful name.

I have a friend named Rajesh; not sure if he is Hindu but it's a very stylish and dignified name.

Ravi is good.

I know a Srijan here in the US.

@BabiSiarc explains it really well, especially this point:

wonder if your husband feels similarly? A name like Hari sounds a good compromise for example but perhaps he fears it will just be anglicised to Harry by your family and will lose it's feel as a reflection of his heritage?

DH and I are different ethnicities and cultures. We named DS a name that works in both cultures but is not so common in my culture. Even though I was born and raised in the UK, and DS’s name is from both cultures, I do feel a twinge of sadness that he ultimately has a very anglicised name that does not reflect his mixed heritage.

I know a Tarrin and Ellian, lovely boys

Roshan and Dhillon.

Both names I think work well in English, easy to pronounce.

Your husband sounds a bit unreasonable in suggesting difficult to pronounce names...We Have many Indian / mixed friends around the world and most of them now prefer more modern names that are slightly Indian sounding, have Indian meaning but are easy to pronounce globally. So picking an Indian name doesn't mean that it has to be a hard to pronounce name. Some names that I have heard from friends & Family that l like are:
Boys:
Aarav
Vihaan
Samar (pronounced "summer")
Kabir
Aarnav
Ishaan
Kiyan / kiyansh
Reyansh
Aryan
Ranbir
Viraj

Girls:
Aliya / Alya
Aarna
Sameera
Samaira
Myra
Meera
Maya
Kiara
Rhea

If you are going for an Indian name, may be give a an English middle name? I feel the name should reflect both your cultures and not just one.

Joyden or Ritick

I love Amandeep (Aman), Vinay, Arjuna, Navneet, Ajay, Vijay, Akil, Adil, Samrat, Vasudeva (Vasu), Krishna, Aditya, Dev.

Just dont try for Drishtadyuma or Yudhishthira-- might be too much!

Rohin
Raj
Dipak

I knew a Bavan - rhymes with "oven" but sounds perfectly lovely.

I know this is a slightly older thread but I just wanted to add that myself and DH are the same Indian/Anglo mix and our DS1 is called Sohan, we’ve had nothing but compliments on it from both the Indian and English sides of the family. We pronounce it like ‘Rowan’ as the Punjabi pronunciation is like ‘Sawn’ with a soft ‘h’. It is indeed a very old fashioned Indian name but much less common than Rohan which we also liked.

OP, my husband is also Indian. A lot of Indian names REALLY don't work in English. The ones on your husband's list are a perfect example of this. I think Indian boys names are a LOT harder than girl's names too!

Your husband needs to realise it's not all about him. If you're choosing a name from HIS culture, you need one that won't sound horrible in YOUR culture. I'd put my foot down.

I can't get over Shlok 😳

This baby is probably born and named by now!! I hope the op put her foot down and found one they both agreed to.

Reporting back - yes, the baby is born and is now named! We had a boy and I am happy to say we found a first name that we both agreed on. It is easy to pronounce and while not very common or trendy, it is the name that many people in the UK will have heard of at some point because it is the name of a famous Indian person (think someone in sports or culture) that will be familiar to many in this country. Don't want to share as it's too outing!
DH continued to push for some very eccentric names right up until the week of the birth and my Indian girlfriends begged me not to use them!!
I think after he saw me give birth and what I went through he was willing to let me call the kid whatever I wanted

Congratulations on the birth of your baby boy 😊

I used to work with a lovely guy called Varun (pronounced exactly as written).

Or maybe Romesh= everyone would know how to say that.

Oops should have finished thread before I posted! Congratulations

I think after he saw me give birth and what I went through he was willing to let me call the kid whatever I wanted

Yep, this does tend to be the case (if your partner is half-decent anyway)! Congratulations!

@TuvoknotSpock

Ankur is nice, Ravi/Arun are great and he could live anywhere in the world with those names and have them pronounced correctly.

Girls - Priya is my current fave!

Ankur could very quickly become a rather unpleasant nickname

Congratulations on the birth of your son!

I don't think he is being an arse, I think he just doesn't realise what is prononounced easily and what isn't. My parents kept suggesting Shlok as a nice easy to say name and just couldn't accept it was easily mangled by English speakers. One of my cousins was originally named Shital and ended up changing his name...

Suggestions:

Aarav is very popular
Eeshan
Arjun
Krish
Dec
Pavan
Savan

What about the name Samir/Sameer that can be shortned to Sam?

Sorry just seen you have had your baby and named him! Congratulations on the birth hope ur both doing well! x

I love Zamir and Sohail.