Choice of three Hungarian boys names...

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My partner is Hungarian, so we'd like to give our little boy a simple to pronounce Hungarian first name (with my English surname).

We're down to three choices and I'd love to hear other's thoughts. They are Levente, Lehel and Kende.

We're really struggling to choose a favourite. I'm haven't been able to find a name I really love (including English names) and he's a week old already!

Levente was the name of the Hungarian Fascist youth organisation (hungarian equivalent to Hitler youth) in the 1930s and 40s.
Lehel is okay or some of the other that were suggested such as Gabor or Zoltan.
Adam is quite popular and is a safe bet internationally.
Being from a bi national family please do not underestimate how much children want to fit in.

Kende is probably the easiest to pronounce correctly

I know a Zolte
. Fab name!

Yes, this is lovely

The Hungarian boy I know is Dominik.

Levente is the best of the three .

Kende

Huge congrats on your little boy. If you are staying in the UK indefinitely he will be forever having to correct pronunciation of his name pretty much constantly with all 3 of your choices. Until you explained how they’re said, I was wrong about all of them and I worked with kids from lots of different heritages.

I like Levente nn Lev best.

I lived in Hungary for 7 years and have never heard of any of those names. As others have said don’t pick something too hard to say or spell here. Zoltan is a fab name. I also like Gabor or Laszlo.

Kende

Lehel is to breathe 🥴 strange choice.

Peter is dull and OP didn't list that as one of her choices.

OP, I like Kende the most but expect xenophobic "I think you should go for William as it is easy to say and spell" types posting on here...

So people should deny their heritage to suit those who are too lazy to learn how to pronounce a person's name?

We have Sandor and Gergo in our family. Sandor is Alexander and Gergo is Greg I think.

They are all nice! I prob have a preference for levente.

I have a Hungarian friend whose son is called Benedec, of Hungarian origin I assume. It's nice too Imo. We often call him Ben or Benny for short.

My Hungarian friend is called Victor. I don't know if he changed the spelling at all.

Levente is lovely.
I also like Kende.

I don't like Lehel at all.

Congratulations!

Levente 🙂

Also just throwing Imre out there for consideration!

I would avoid Levente because of the negative historic associations.

Kende is a nicer sound to my English speaking ear than Lehel.

Kende is great.

I like Levente but the historic issue mentioned by a pp would bother me. Also not hugely keen on Lev.

Lehel is ok but the most awkward to say and no easy short form.

Kende sounds great. My second choice would have been Levente but the youth paramilitary association makes it a pretty big no-go for me. Lehel is fine but isn't as nice as the others. For what it's worth I pronounced Kende and Levente easily, immediately and correctly and I'm in a fairly undiverse area.

Even if your child needs to clarify pronunciation or spelling it is really no big deal, many people do. Even a British Thomas would need to in Poland. It really isn't here or there. The difficulty is when you use a well-known name that has a standardised spelling or pronunciation and you alter it to be different. Then you're just a muppet who's making their kid's life unnecessarily faffy. Congrats on your child and I hope you let us know what you choose. I'm rooting for Kende!

How about Ferenc?

What about Mathe? Boy in my DS class has this name and I love it.

I guess it depends how easy or difficult you want your child's life to be and a name is a very important part of who we are. One of my husband's parents is foreign and he was given a foreign first name. He says at least once a month how disappointed he is in his parents who did not think through when naming him while knowing he'd be growing up in the U.K. His name is constantly misspelled and many people treat him as a foreigner even though he's lived here all his life.

English is not my first language and when we picked out son's first name I was adamant that I wanted a name that works in both languages and I wouldn't need to spell his names over and over again. As a result he blends in at school and finds introducing himself easy.

Good luck in picking a name, but please do consider pros and cons before using a name that might create extra challenges for your child in the future when growing up in the U.K.

Plus, there is always an option of giving him a Hungarian middle name.

Kende sounds African to me, and the nickname Ken is a bit old fashioned maybe?

I like Lev as a nickname I’d go for that.