Short name for a trilingual kid

[BigHedgehog]

Dear mums, it's the first time I am writing here, but I read this forum quite a lot before :)
We are getting a second baby soon, and we won't know the gender until birth, so I am preparing two sets of names.
We would like a short first name (3-5 letters maximum), but to make it more complicated, it should sound well and have no negative associations in 3 languages.
I am Russian, my husband is German and we have lived in England for the past 7 years and are planning to stay for at least a few more. We have filtered out quite a few names based on our knowledge of German and Russian culture, however I would be grateful for advice from native British mums. For example, after having read through some threads here, I realised that Kai and Ian are not widely accepted in the UK.
Ok, to cut it short, we came up with the following names and I would like to hear your opinions or suggestions.
Important: it's not really about personal opinions on the name itself - we all have our tastes. It's more about cultural acceptance and country associations I may not be aware of. Also, the name may sound exotic in one of the languages, but still sound pleasant. Thank you!

For girls, we are thinking about Liv (as a full name) or Zoe.
The middle name will be Anastasia (connected to a family situation)
I am not up for Olivia, but my concern is that there are many baby Olivias nowadays whose names are probably shortened to Liv?

For boys, we are considering Elias or Jan. Middle name is still to be chosen. Maybe Theodor.
I am not sure if Jan will always be pronunciation correctly (/Yan/), and Elias seems to be getting too popular in Germany (my concern), but not so in the UK.

Whay do you think about these 4: Liv - Zoe, Elias - Jan? Any other suggestions?
Please be mindful with "I like / I don't like" as you may hurt someone's feelings. Again, it's more about general cultural acceptance.

Many thanks!

Lara for a girl. Liv is lovely too.
I'm not sure where you gathered that Ian is not acceptable in the UK. It's just a bit less common these days but it's not unacceptable.

Alex

Works for either sex and in all languages.

Jan in English is a girl's name more than a boy's name.

It may be because I’m in Wales, but Kai and Ian are both common names here. (Though it’s really Cai and rhymes with hi rather than hey so maybe not the name you’re thinking of...)

All your names sound fine to me though I think Jan probably would be pronounced with the J sound rather than the Y sound.

I was surprised about the issue with Ian, I thought it was a perfectly normal name. I only know one Olivia and she gets called Ollie so not sure about lots being called Liv, I think Liv is nice but sounds like it is short for something, Olivia or Livia I suppose. I like Zoe.

Jan will probably be pronounced incorrectly at least at first, also on written things people might assume he is a girl. I have a friend with a name that gets mistaken for a girl's name and it irritates him. Not the end of the world but he just gets fed up of it. I think Elias is lovely.

Having said all that I'm old so probably not your target audience.

Hope all goes well with the baby.

Ida? For a girl? Liv sounds more like a shortened version of Elizabeth to me. Still nice, but people probably will think she (if a girl) is called Elizabeth. Zoe is totally acceptable. Like Ian, it was more popular among people now in their 30s but it’s still in common use. I don’t think there are any negative cultural associations with any name you mention.

@MartyHart

Lara for a girl. Liv is lovely too. I'm not sure where you gathered that Ian is not acceptable in the UK. It's just a bit less common these days but it's not unacceptable.

Thank you! I love Lara a lot, but it's my mum's name, so not too sure :) but the name is great, yes.

For Ian, I was surprised to see the associations with a "40 yo IT consultant", and it seems that people do not link this name to babies... My good friend was also quite negative about it from the British perspective. In any case, my husband is also not to keen on "Ian", but he is fine with "Jan"...

I agree with the people saying Jan may be assumed to be a girl. Ian is a bit dated perhaps but I wouldn't say unacceptable? And afaik Kai is widely used. I really, really dislike Liv.

I'd use Elias or Zoe personally. Both lovely names.

Silly me, Liv is of course more associated with Olivia not Elizabeth.

Irene, Sophie/Sophia, Tania/Tanya, Alya/alia, Lana, Sarah, Katya are all names that work in English and Russian, not sure about German.

Alex/Sasha, Peter, David, Andrew/Andre, Michael/Mihail, Nick/Nicholas/Nikolai, are boys names which work in Russian and English.

I’d assume Jan was a woman - either Janet or Jane.

I’m also surprised about Ian. It’s a widely used British name, and not just for 40 year old IT consultants.

Google "not happy Jan" - a very popular Australian yellow pages commercial...!!!

I think Liv and Zoe would work fine but Liv would often get asked if that is her full name. Zoe is more common but not too popular, I think it would be a good choice. Would you consider Olivia but just always calling her Liv?

I have heard the name Jan before (pronounced Yan) and don't think it's too "out there" but on school registers and when people see it written first then it might be pronounced Jan with a J (which is usually a woman's name here when pronounced like that). I would imagine he would get used to correcting it but I think the name is really nice.

Kai and Ian are both fine linguistically. There probably aren't many baby Ian's these days but no reason why not if YOU like it!

I know a baby Maya and they are bilingual English German - not sure if that works in Russian too?

As a PP said Alex probably works in all 3 too?

There is nothing unacceptable about Ian.

People in the uk will assume Liv is short for Olivia and are very likely to extend it to Livvy.

Elias more “biblical” sounding.
Ian unremarkable
Jan will be mispronounced but I know a very nice Jan so I’m bias towards it regardless
Zoe is easy for uk

I love Anastasia

Don’t forget to think about initials

Ava, Eva, Ana, Ivo, Leo....

Leo
Ivo
Mark
David
Leo

@MotionActivatedDog

Alex

Works for either sex and in all languages.

Great name, yes, but a few close friends have sons named Alex, and our son has a middle name Alexander, so we crossed it out for now...

Liv in English just sounds like ‘to live’ as in to be alive. Bit odd as it’s a verb, doesn’t work In English. I’d assume maybe the baby was a preemie and you’d named them Live after a tough start and wanting them to live and not die.

I read that as triangular kid was going to suggest isosceles

Great name, yes, but a few close friends have sons named Alex, and our son has a middle name Alexander, so we crossed it out for now.

Ahh. It is a very popular name. For good reason.

@ClaryFairchild

Jan in English is a girl's name more than a boy's name.

That was exactly my concern, too! One English friend I asked said she didn't think so, but I am still thinking that it may be for girls here, yes. It's a pity, as it sounds well in German and Russian and is not too popular in both. Also, it rhymes with our surname, so that's another negative point... May sound weird.

Tom

We are bilingual and had the same conundrum, I wanted the names to be pronounced similarly in both languages:
Boys:
Frank
Max
Alfie
Alex(ander)
Mac
Vincent

Girls:
Mia (Maria)
Louisa
Lovisa
Anna (Anastasia)

Good luck with your choice, it's hard