To change or not to change our favourite name

[suzettenoisette]

Thank you all for your feedback on our favourite name at the moment: Eva-Maria.

Many people have told us that it sounds very Catholic, very close to Ave Maria and that it might be too long. We respect all religions, but we are actually not Catholic so I'm wondering whether it will lead to misunderstandings.

Several people suggested the name of a classic actress which is Eva Marie. Only that we would spell it as Eva-Marie was we want both names to be used at all times.

Should be keep Eva-Maria or change it to Eva-Marie? We still have a while to go and while Eva-Maria is still our favourite as of now, Eva-Marie is quickly growing on us and it solves some of the issues such as it sounding like Ave Maria or the length.

Eva-Maria or Eva-Marie?

Our other favourites as of now, I might do a separate post on them in a couple of days: Ella, Sara, Anastasia.

Eva-Maria IMO as it's your favourite. You will get loads if posts preferring the other 3 names. Really name your child something you love and don't have name regret.
Eva-Maria is beautiful. The other 3 are not my cup of tea

Given you want to use it as a full name all of the time I’d go with Eva-Marie. Not only is it less similar than Ave Maria but 4 syllables is a lot day-to-day. Lovely choice.

My mil was called Eva-Maria and she wasn’t Catholic.

If it’s the name you love, you should use it. None of the comments you’ve had are good reasons not to use your favourite name.

Eva-Maria is 5 syllables. With the hyphen too I think it is unlikely it won't end up getting shortened by at least school friends onwards even if you keep family in line. Might well get shortened to Em.

As long as you can live with that then go for it.

Eva-Marie seems to flow better to my ear. Are you saying Eeva or Ayva? That would change it for me because Eeva-Maria is a bit too much rhyming for me.

We say it like ayva.

If you say it Ayva, why not spell it Ava and then everyone will say it right?

A double name you have to prompt it's pronunciation will be a head fuck imo.

If you're English speaking, my vote would be for Eva-Marie pronounced normally (Eeva-MarEE). Beautiful name!

If you're say from a German speaking country, I'd say Eva-Maria is quite common and known as a combination, and pronounced as Ayva-Maria flows very well.

I definitely wouldn't go for Eva-Maria pronounced in the English way as it's very long and rhymey. But would also advise against pronouncing Eva in English as Ayva as no-one will intuitively pronounce it like that and it will be such a pain for your daughter to have to keep correcting people. If that's the pronunciation you'd like, why not go for Ava?

ayva is a legit pronunciation of Eva, it's the original one, as the name is the version of Eve used in the Bible in many countries.

We are not set on it as we like eeva the same. If we notice that eeva is more common in our area and people call her that it won't bother us. We just assumed ayva because the only Eva we ever met said it like that, but we still have a few months to figure out which pronunciation is more popular in our area, I will ask some people.

I don't want to spell it Ava because we really like it combined with Marie/Maria and Ava-Marie, Ava-Maria doesn't work as it looks like "ave maria" too.

We will go with the pronunciation that is more popular in our area as we like them both the same. I just figured ayva because the only one I met said it like that.

Unless you live in the west of Scotland or Northern Ireland it doesn't matter and most people can't tell one from another or care.

Only that we would spell it as Eva-Marie was we want both names to be used at all times.

You may want that, but the reality of it is that most children with hyphenated names have dropped the second part by the time they are in secondary school. Your daughter might decide herself that she rather just be Eva.

Was she from a different country maybe? I think in the UK everyone would say Eeva.

If you don't mind that, I think Eva-Marie would be really lovely

Another vote for Eva-Marie, pronounced Eeva.

I can absolutely guarantee she will just be ‘Eva’ the second she starts primary and you aren’t able to helicopter around enforcing it. Sorry!

Go with Eva-Maria as it's your favourite.
Eva, Ava and Evie are very popular and have been for years.
Eva-Marie and Eva-Maria are very long and she'll probably get called Evie

Ella and Ellie have been overused for decades
Sara is nice
Anastasia is too Disney/Shades of Grey for me, plus it's very long so will probably end up being Ana or Annie, also would you be saying it as Anna-staysha or Anna-stah-see-a?
-Marie seems a bit 1970s

It’s too rhymey, like a nursery rhyme. Also long hyphenated names are a pain to say. She’ll end up as Eva. Never heard it pronounced Ava.

Also, Ava/Evie/Eva are probably the most overused girl’s names at the minute. School is full of them.

I would go with Eva-Marie as I agree Eva-Maria sounds too close to Ave Maria (especially with the Ayva pronunciation although it would def be pronounced Eeva where I am)

This is actually my name! Not hyphenated. My mother wanted to call me Eva but the priest refused to baptise me as it wasn’t a Christian name so I was baptised Maria and Eva was on my birth certificate. I just use Eva which I love. It’s weird though as I’m in my 50s and grew up with it being an unusual name in the UK and now it’s becoming v popular.

In Greece, where I’m originally from, it is pronounced with the E sound as in Ever. No one manages that in the Uk and it becomes Ava so I stick with the Eeva pronunciation although I prefer the Greek one.

Stick with Eva-Maria.

I seen your last post and I think it’s a beautiful name. Other names that are similar
Avie-Marie
Avie-Maria
Evie-Marie
Evie-Maria

but personally if you love the name just go with it xx

Eva-Marie, (eeva) but she’ll get it shortened to Eva pretty quickly.

Eva-Maria doesn’t sound good at all imo