Baby boy name - Please help! Which is better?

[Fivelittlemonkeys]

Hello, our little baby boy will be named Asterios after a family member. Obviously, we are not British.

We are thinking of either keeping it as Asterios or shortening it to Ari, which is a common nn in our home country and we believe it will be digested easier in the UK, rather than his full BC name.

So, what would you do? Which one do you prefer and will be easier to use in the UK?

I am also very conscious that if we keep it as Asterios, he may be teased at school and got told Asterix, which I don't want. I know that kids tease anyway and find silly excuses but if I could minimise the risk, it would help.

Opinions please? Asterios or Ari for his everyday life?

Thanks all for the input and suggestions.

@ChuckBerrysBoots I thought of Terry but someone once told me that is a 70 year old guy.... It also sounds foreign in our home country, so grandparents etc. would look at us weird if their grandson has a foreign name.

The only solution is Ari as a nn unfortunately... Or Asterios. Even Az or Eri are very foreign in our home country...

By the way pronounciation is not Eri or Esterios, both names start with a clear A, so Eri wouldn't work.

Thank you all anyway :)

@NigellaSeed Yes, you got it right apart from the fact that is not Az it's As like Aston Martin .

If you really like the name Asterios then use it and introduce him as such. Nicknames are unlikely to evolve until he’s at school and to be fair whatever you called him you’d have little control over what other kids come up with. Use what you love!

It's a lovely name and easy to pronounce
What about Rios as a nn?
Ree oss

Asterios is a great name! Easy to pronounce and cool sounding!

My dd has a 3 syllable name that never gets shortened!

I really don't like Ari, especially a boy.

@Fivelittlemonkeys

Thanks all for the input and suggestions.

@ChuckBerrysBoots I thought of Terry but someone once told me that is a 70 year old guy.... It also sounds foreign in our home country, so grandparents etc. would look at us weird if their grandson has a foreign name.

The only solution is Ari as a nn unfortunately... Or Asterios. Even Az or Eri are very foreign in our home country...

By the way pronounciation is not Eri or Esterios, both names start with a clear A, so Eri wouldn't work.

Thank you all anyway :)

I thought Eri from the middle of the name rather than thinking the beginning A was and E sound :)

@TabithaHazel Ohh... I see!!

I have a long name and a completely different short name that don't even relate! So I do understand. It is very conventional to have a long and short related name in the UK though. And you prob won't be totally able to control this. I think that I'd go with Asterios long name known as Ari particularly as you don't like the other possible shortenings. I think Ari is great anyway. And then you can use Asterios whenever you please for family occasions or more formal occasions or if he wants to use it more when he's older or whatever. I think in English it's harder to keep long names long. I think it's partly that it's a slower language than some and partly due to the formal and informal thing. People insisting on long names being used in full sometimes can seem a bit formal. And sometimes it's only the parents using the name in full leading to eyerolling from the child in question. I'd prob just intro as Asterios, Ari for short. And he can decide when he's older and gives him options.

You will have almost no influence over his nn when he starts school op. Whether it's usual in your home country or not.

Asterios, but I'd call him Asti! Cute

I think you're overthinking the nickname situation (as do a lot of people on MN!). You can't control what nickname your child ends up with, it will just happen organically. There is a chance at some point, someone, somewhere, will call your son 'ass' but...🤷🏼‍♀️ he'll survive. The most likely NN to me is Assy which to me would be 'azzy' and is perfectly lovely.

I also wanted to name my DD Evelyn until someone here said that she may be called Evil-lyn and than stuck with me

Just ridiculous. Why would anyone call her evil-lyn, it doesn't even make sense. These 'sounds likes' are such a stretch.

I disagree. I have a short name that isn't my full bc name. Everyone calls me it and have not given me a different nn. If he's introed as asterios known as Ari I think people will call him Ari! People on here concentrate a lot on negative nicknames. Yes if someone wants to be horrible they will come up with something and it probably won't even be related to his name. But most nicknames and shortenings of longer names are affectionate. And most end in ie or ee sound. Or else are one syllable. Ari is like this naturally. If someone was Henry known as Harry people tend to call them Harry as school or whatever. If someone is Wilfred known as Wilf people will tend to call them Wilf, its silly to pretend that shortenings of longer names are nothing the parents or child have anything to do with.

And to the poster saying Assy as a good nickname...well I think that's really not if you're a kid in school. Asti is nice but the OP says she wants something that works in her home language too and Ari works in both. I think Ari is great.

@Hadtocomment Like I said, a nickname along the lines of Assy would be pronounced Azzy with my accent and is unremarkable and quite cute.

My point was purely that nicknames, once kids are at school, are unenforceable and are often just...the simplest shortening for a 7 year old. There's no guarantee that the 30 other children your child is surrounded by will agree that Ari is the best and most sensible shortening of Asterios. So you can decide your child's nickname will be Ari or Rio or whatever else, but you can't make it happen.