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!

Or the European version of Andrew, Andreas, know a few english/greek boys with that name and I think it's lovely

@BigHedgehog just a side point, I somehow got the impression from your posts that Ian and Jan are same pronunciation different spelling - Jan is “Yan”, one syllable, but “Ian” is more like EE-uhn, two syllables.

Sorry if I picked it up wrong and you know that already!

How about Ivo instead of Ian?

Congratulations BigHedgehog on the anticipated arrival of your second baby.
I do think most people in the UK would assume that Liv was short for Olivia.
Zoe is a name I think people would have no trouble pronouncing
I personally don't consider Ian dated
Jan most people would think was a girls name as it is a popular abbrieviation for Janet, Janine or Janice.
I was wondering about names in all three languages and have a couple more suggestions

Katherine/Kathryn
Anya
Clara/Klara

Karl/Carl
Eric/Erik

If you like short names but are unsure about Elias why not try Eli (instead of Elias) pronounced ee-lie

Eve is nice for a girl 😊

apologies if someone has already mentioned, but max was my first thought for a boy

Don't call your baby Elias if your surname starts with an S. My first name ends with the same letter as my surname and I hate it. I can't just say my name normally, I have to put a clunky long gap on the middle and end up having to spell my surname most of the time anyway.

Jan is pronouned Yan.

Zoe and Elias. Jan will get mispronounced and people will assume Liv is a nickname

Sara
Ellie
Tanya
Anya
Svenya
Livia
Matilda
Kati Katharine

Ben
Tim
Robert

Alex for boy or girl

My friend has a teenage Zoe.
Another friend has a baby Yann (French dad).
Haven't come across any baby Ian and Elias is lovely.
My DH is a Theo and another friends sister aged forties is Anastasia also lovely.
All lovely names and they cut across all ages.

Theo would be Teo in Russian or german though wouldn't it?

The th sound being uniquely English

I think how people sight-read Jan will depend on the surname: Jan Smith might get /dʒæn/ (jan) but Jan Schmidt would be much more likely to get /jæn/ (yan).

Ian - there are lots of them about but mainly over 40. It’s a bit like Gary. Maybe in 20 years it will come round again.

Kai - sounds a little bit chavvy to me, sorry.

Love pp suggestion of Ida. Zoe is nice too.

Jan - yes it is often short for Janet, but mainly in women over 50, so people shouldn’t have too much difficulty pronouncing it Yan when they discover it’s a little boy.

Alex, Eric or Max?
Zara or Nadia?

Zoe is lovely. Liv is a little strange. It's not really a name in it's own right more a short version of Olivia. Jan is nice. I've seen it spelt Yan which ensures it is pronounced correctly. Might that be a possibility? Ian is OK but unusual in anyone under 50, I should think.

Love Isolda for a girl, works in Russian and English, and Anton or Edik (Eduard) for a boy.

What about Erik?

Kia
Jon

Max for a boy, Ida / Iris for a girl

Spanish/Catalan/English here. I have Natalia, Saskia and Alex - easy to read, spell and pronounce and can't be translated!

Ida/ iris aren’t pronounced the same in German. I is more like ‘ee’, so would sound like ee-da and ee-ris

Zoe or Elias. Both lovely.

Ian is just seen as an old fashioned name here, many babies in the 60s/70s were called Ian, maybe due a comeback at some point? Jan is fine, I don’t think any babies have been called Janet since the 50s so if I saw Jan, I would assume it is Yan. Not sure about it rhyming with your last name though, it could sound a bit like a cartoon character.

@Coogee

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

You've described my friend Ian perfectly ;)

I think Ian is pretty timeless particularly in Scotland, and it's a great name.

Jan is also lovely, traditional in some parts of the UK e.g. Cornwall and people will get the hang of saying it quickly- as long as you don't mind correcting them once/twice I'm sure it would be fine.

I do know a lot of Olivias known as Liv.