Xavier

[Perpetualmisery]

What do you think of this?
I've always loved this name and was worried my Moroccan husband wouldn't but luckily zaviyar is also an Arabic name and same meaning apparently so he's fine with it but it's not common either here or Morocco so I'm worried I'll look try hard.
Not sure how I'll spell it yet but baby not due till Jan so have plenty of time.
Do you think it sounds chavvy or pretentious and also any arabic speakers have you heard of zaviyar?

I like it. Not pretentious. I know a few. It's not classic and not chav like. Ot overused. Would get annoying if everyone pronounced it x- ay- vee- er

A lot of old testament names have direct equivalents (Hebrew/Christian/Muslim)

Joseph - Yusuf
Solomon - Sulamein
David - Daoud

Enoch - Idriss etc

Ilias is nice and is Elias I think

I too would assume a Catholic background. I like like Xavier but to be honest it is a bit problematic in that people will want to pronounce it very differently depending on whether they approach it from the French / Spanish/ Basque etc angle.

I’d say it’s javier in Spanish and Xavier in French and basque. In French pronounced zavvy-eh and in basque it’s like shabby-air.!

If meeting one in England id probably assume zavvy-air

I know a French-moroccan Xavier,Starting sound "z" not "h".

I think you are supposed to pronounce the rest of it the French way but brits say zaveer and he does seem to mind

I taught a lovely Xavier a couple of years ago, he did get quite a few variations in his preferred pronunciation but was too polite to correct people. Sometimes he did point out that Ex-avier wasn't right, I think he found that one the most annoying.

I do think it's a nice name but couldn't use it for watching him having to put up with having four or more ways to say it, three of which were pretty valid!

Whys it so difficult to decide
With my other dc their names just stood out to me and that was that.

My friend has told me it's also a Pakistani name but again not very common and she's unsure of the meaning but can and is pronounced zahviar as well as zayviar..can anyone confirm this? I'm getting more and more confused along the way

I heard him called
Ex-aviyer
Zayvier
The French way described above
The Spanish way described above

Never heard anything other than that but it there isn't a big Pakistani population in this school. Mind you there's a non-existent Spanish population and only a few French-aware kids that are mostly of North African or Carribbean roots so who knows where those versions came from!

Its db middle name

Pronounced with a hard X

Hes not keen on it to be honest, i think its a nice name though

I'll throw the spelling Saviour into the mix just to confuse and disorient.
Certain I've seen Zavier with a z too.

This is a name I always mispronounce, even though I really do know better now.

So with a hard X. There are bound to be other muppets like me just to warn you.

To me it's on the chavvy side but that's only because the ones I know are from chavvy families

Also the ones I know off are pronounced EX . I really like it pronounced the proper way

Ogph my god my mum was chavvy and a muppet😩

Id forgotten how harsh this board can be 😩😩😩😩

(Joking…)

I love the name Xavier.

The Moroccan boys I know are called Amir, Idris, Adhane, Abdel, Seiffedine, Bedreddine.

My 10 year old son is called Xavier, pronounced Zay-vee-er. Have never met another one. Its a beautiful name and he loves it too.

As your friend says it is a Pakistani name and not a Moroccan name .

Marouan, redouan, soufiane are very Moroccan names

There are loads but depends on what you like.

Also need to consider whether you want a religious name or not. And are they Berber?

It might be a nice way of engaging with your in laws . Name the child after an ancestor is always liked

My in laws are lovely, they've said as long as the name has a positive meaning then they wouldn't be opposed to it and my other dc don't have particularly religious names.
My dh tbh has always gone with what I want when it comes to naming dc as long as its not something he absolutely hates.

Soufiane is my other ds middle name. The other names don't particularly stand out to me.
I do like ilias that's been added to my list

@FayCarew

It's fine but bet someone will come along and insist it should be pronounced the spanish way

THIS! Mumsnet posters are obsessed with this name being pronounced in the Spanish way, regardless of whether the poster has any connection to Spain at all. 😂

I like it, by the way. Would assume you were a Christian, if that bothers you.

I would spell it the 'arabic' way to make sure peopel would pronounce correctly.
I'm still 50/50 about it. I'm glad it's liked by the majority.
It doesn't bother me as such that it may be seen as a Christian or Catholic name although I'm neither.
I have a very very out there name which I hated growing up so as long as this name seems 'normal'and my child wouldn't get picked on then I'm not too fussed about anything else.