Soraya or Sylvie?

[vulpix123]

I made a thread earlier but had made a mistake in the message so it was taken down so that I could repost (thank you to those who commented on the original)

My partner loves the name "sereia" which is Portuguese for mermaid but doesn't like the spelling and prefers "Soraya" I know spelt this way it should be pronounced like "So-RYE-Ah" but he would prefer it to be said like "so-RAY-ah" So this could cause confusion with pronunciation.

I love Sylvie mainly because I am a Pokémon fan and sylveon is my favourite, but I don't like Sylvia. I have had somebody say that Sylvie reminds them of an old lady , but old lady's were young once? Haha. I haven't told my partner about my choice of this name yet but trying to get some opinions before I share it with him :)

Thank you for reading!

I like both but prefer Sylvie, such a pretty name. I have a friend called Sylvie

I prefer Soraya.

If you are pronouncing it se-ray-a I definitely would not go for Soraya. It will be mispronounced constantly. Sylvie is a sweet name.

I really like Sylvie, it was on my top 5 list but DH vetoed it

Soraya is ok, but not as nice as Sylvie!

Do you have a Persian background? I think it will be weird to choose a Persian name and then mispronounce it deliberately.

I love Sylvie and Sylvia. Soraya has a nice sound but I prefer names which are a bit more classic.

I like both, however if you're thinking of pronouncing a name differently than the standard be prepared to do a lot of correcting

I prefer Sereia but spelt that way. I prefer Sylvie to Soraya spelt that way though.

Soraya is beautiful, always been one of my favourites.. Sylvie will always remind me of an old lady, sorry.

I would interpret Soraya as an Asian name (and I would pronounce it "ray" not "rye"). Therefore, it seems an odd choice to me, like you're asking "Priya or Polly?". Both nice, but evoke very different families/cultures. Anyway, I think Sylvie is very nice. To me it sounds like a stylish French girl.

Agree!

Seraya - perhaps spelt like this?

Sylvie is friends with Gillian, Diane and Sandra

Name for the woman she will be , not the child.

I'm not keen either way, although there's nothing intrinsically wrong with either. In my opinion, Soraya seems like a "stronger" name.

I'm not a fan of 'whimsical' names for children as I think it doesn't do women any favours in the long run.

Soraya is an Arabic name so I’d assume you were Muslim.

Sylvie is lovely. She would share her name with Sylvie Guillem (phenomenal ballerina).

I know a Soraya pn So-RAY-a

Soraya is a Persian name so I would assume that was your background. If you intend to pronounce it differently why not spell it in the way it is pronounced?

Sylvie just sounds insubstantial and wet, sorry.

Thank you for the comments so far.
Some of the comments regarding background, we do not have a Persian background and are not Muslim (both white British ) so would that be wrong to use a name of a different culture/background?

Also @Cimafunky yes that spelling could work better I'll tell him about that!

Sylvie is lovely. Cool, elegant, nice meaning.
I am confused about the spelling and pronunciation of Sorayah Soria Sereia , but mermaid is a pretty meaning.

No one will pronounce Soraya the way you want. So I'd go for Sylvie. Which is lovely.

Of course it isn't wrong to choose a name from a different culture.

I'm Muslim and I'm not offended if you choose the name Soraya. I read it as 'so-ray-uh' but people will mispronounce it.

My daughters have Arabic names which I thought were relatively easy to pronounce but people butcher them all the timeeeee

Absolutely love Sylvie!

Sylvie is very popular right now, it’s pretty

Soraya is nice and more unusual. I think I’ve heard Sor-ray-uh and Sor-rye-ah (not sure)

Serena
Sabrina
Sanchia
Saskia
Selina

might be others

I prefer Sylvie (or Silvy - a rather hippyish 60s spelling) to Soraya.
I've also known a Sylvia and a Silvia - both really nice people. That's not really relevant - but it is a good and very ancient name, meaning (approx) 'lady of the woods'