Elvin?

[MrsRawr]

We’re expecting DC3 in September and unsure of the sex but already have a girls name picked. Our eldest boys are Ivan and Travis, we really like the name Elvin but someone said it sounded similar to Ivan. Do you think they’re too similar? If so any other suggestions.

What about Delvin? It's a boy's name and (apparently) means 'godly friend'.

The hard 'D' sound at the beginning puts a little more distance between it and Ivan.

Going back to David. In South Wales it tends to get shortened to Dai, Dei in the North. Dei doesn't really work outside Wales as there's no exact way of writing it - it's close to but not quite Day. David tends to become Defi (pron. Devvy) in North Wales, and Davey is also Cornish, I believe.

Delvin is awful sorry, but Elvin is ok

I tried saying Ivan and Elvin out loud and they do sound similar. I probably wouldn't. But you won't scar your kids for life if you do go ahead.

I tried to think of names with similar sounds :

Calvin
Erwin
Melvyn

Spoke to DH tonight and I think we’ve decided on David. I love Elvin but I think I’ll always be worried they sound too similar. I also think David goes better with the boys’ names (not that they need to match).

It sounds like the name of a Hong Kong pop star.

Like you, OP I don’t find Elvin and Ivan too similar.
Other names with a middle V
Marvin, Melvin, Kelvin, Kevin, Calvin
But I think Elvin is really nice

If you like Elvin that much, then go for it! I don’t think it sounds that similar to Ivan.

Think about shortening/NN though and if that would be similar - eg - Van and Vin not great together!

Ivan does sometimes go by Van so Van and Vin are very similar. I think we will go with David, and Davy as a Nick name.