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!

For girls -

May? Maya? Maia?

Una?

Ana? Ani? Anastasia? Anora?

Mona? Ramona?

Lila? Lili? Leila? Lola?

Kaya? Kaia?

Ava? Avie? Eva?

Kat? Katy? Katiana? Katrina? Katherine.

Lena? Lana? Elena? Elana? Ilyana?

I have an Elias so I'm biased, I think it's a lovely name.

Zoe is also lovely, I'd go with that.

I think Jan would be mispronounced, my dd has a Polish friend whose name is Jogoda and she says it is always mispronounced by teachers and so on.

@GlutenFreeGingerCake

I think Jan would be mispronounced, my dd has a Polish friend whose name is Jogoda and she says it is always mispronounced by teachers and so on.

I agree, I would spell it phonetically and start it with a Y. Yanus means Peter.

I really like Zoe, it’s lovely. I like Liv too, but to me it is very much a short/pet name for Olivia so I personally wouldn’t use it on its own.

Jan is nice. If I heard about an older person called Jan I would think it was a woman but actually if I saw it written down and knew it was a baby or toddler I would probably assume it was a boy! I guess because there aren’t many girls about called Janet?

Ian isn’t ‘unacceptable’ but it is (to me) very, very dated in a similar way to Keith/Kevin/Nigel. All normal names, but not one that I would give to a baby unless I was naming them after a loved one.

I think Sara and Ada might fit with your requirements. Maybe Max too, for a boy?

They all work and are fine. You’ll be introducing any DS to people as Jan (Yan) so they will just say it that way. I think you are overthinking, plus on MN given the nature of the forum people do overthinking when giving you the connotations.

I know a Pandora and an Atilla and if you ask on MN both get some negativity - Pandora’s Box and Atilla the Hun etc but in real life it’s just their name and no one ever says oh Pandora and her box - they might think it but get over it and then it’s just her name.

All of your choices seem very standard to me and not at all controversial.

How do will you be pronouncing Elias? In English it's traditionally pronounced "El-EYE-as" but we have a German Elias in our school (which should be pronounced "El-EE-us") but many British people can't seem to get their head around this pronunciation and it comes out as "ELLY-ass". Just something to bear in mind!

I really think Jan is fine. It is common to pronounce the letter J differently in so many languages, and Jan is such a well known male name. Don’t spell it Yan. Then you’d get people assuming it’s a Chinese name.

If I knew the parents were German/Russian I would actually assume Jan (pronounced Yan) was a boy.

I agree with this. I know a Johan and and a Jakob both pronounced with a Y. Then there is the famous goal keeper Jens Lehman, also with a Y. Personally I prefer Johan or Jens to Jan, but Jan is a perfectly fine name.

Elias is a good name also but like you say is becoming increasingly popular. Though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Liv reminds me of Liv Tyler and I like it as a standalone name. Zoe is lovely also.

My bilingual kid is called Zelda.

The problem with Ilya is that most people in the UK will probably say "ILL-ya" rather than "EEL-ya".

I like Jan, i know two, but it will be mispronounced forever. I'd go Elias, its lovely. Or Eli.

Zoe is cute, and def not overly popular

And Anastasia won't be pronounced the Russian way - but if it's a middle name it probably won't matter too much.

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon

How do will you be pronouncing Elias? In English it's traditionally pronounced "El-EYE-as" but we have a German Elias in our school (which should be pronounced "El-EE-us") but many British people can't seem to get their head around this pronunciation and it comes out as "ELLY-ass". Just something to bear in mind!

It's originated in Greek/Hebrew. The Anglican is Elliot/Ellis. The Arabic is Ilyas. Italian Elio. So I would say it 'should' be ELL-EE-US but everyone English I know pronounces it El-Eye-Us so I would say with an English accent it's that way.

DDs middle name is the female form of Jan. I love the name (both male and female versions) but I couldn't give it to her as her first name as it would be continually mispronounced.

Elias is a lovely name.

And I wouldn’t assume Liv was short for Olivia, I might assume it was short for Livinia. Which is also a lovely name.

I wouldn't worry too much about acceptable names in England. Unless it happens to be a rude or unfortunate word coincidentally (here's looking at you Wang, Randy and Alexa) most of England is so multicultural people are very accepting I have a very Russian name as does my sibling. We have never and have never had any issues with them. I imagine Germany is pretty similar?

Would Jan be pronounced “Yan” could you spell it like that to avoid confusion with Jan? A family members name is Jan (Yan) and I think it’s lovely.

I love all these people saying - just spell it Yan.

so

1. I think it looks like a completely different name as Yan
2. If the kids is trilingual, then you need to consider what sound the Y makes in the other 2 languages?

For example y in Dutch is a vowel sound written either y or ij and so Yan would be pronouced completely differently

What about Ivan for a boy instead of Jan (confusing for brits as girl's name), or Ian (very old/fashioned & exceedingly dull. No young Ians in my neck of the woods. Don't know any under 40).

Ivan is cool, smart and works in all languages.

Liv and Zoe, both perfectly acceptable in UK. As PP said, people will assume Liv is short for Olivia. Zoe would be views as more of a complete or ‘proper’ name.

Elias is lovely. There is also an Eli in my son’s class. Also nice.

Jan, when read (class lists or emails for example) will be confused for the woman’s name. He may spend a life time explaining that he isn’t a middle-aged woman.

Liv is a nn for Olivia. It’s very uncommon to use it as a name in its own right. Zoe is lovely.

Other suggestions:
Anna/Anne
Maria
Mary
Ruth
Nadia
Esther

Adam
Karl
Ivor
Leo
Ivan
John

Levi and Max sprung to mind for me for boys names. I know one of each under 5....

Yan is a Russian name though. It's also the Anglican equivalent of Jan.

So is Yanis/Yanus.

It's not saying stick a Y on it instead of a J and omit his heritage, it's the suggestion to call him a different name that sounds the same, also fits into his heritage but also makes his life easier if he's being raised in England.