Oenone

[Guacandcheese]

Please help!

Half Greek baby due in 8 weeks. Boys name is sorted, nowhere near close to a decision for a girl. What do you think about Oenone (pronounced EE-no-nee or eh-NO-nee)? We love it but obviously can foresee issues with spelling and pronunciation in the UK…

Please share your thoughts and any alternative ideas. Ideally would like a Greek name rather than a completely anglicised version, but ideally workable in the UK as well.

Thanks!

clearly the most 'famous' Greek name is Penelope?

I think the pronunciation and spelling of Oenone will be absolutely butchered in the UK.

Maria: A form of Mary, whose originally meaning is “bitter” in Hebrew.

Eleni: Meaning “sun ray”

Aikaterini: Means “pure.” It’s very rare in the US, not even cracking the top 8000 names.

Vasiliki: A very aristocratic name, meaning “royal woman”.

Sophia: From the Greek word meaning “wisdom”.

Angeliki: Meaning “angelic” or “messenger of God”.

Georgia: The feminine form of the name George, which commonly means “farmer”.

Dimitra: Means “earth mother,” and is the feminine form of the name Dimitri.

Kostantina: Means “steadfast.” Less than 5 babies a year are given this name in the US.

Paraskevi: A saint in the Orthodox church, this name can mean “preparation”.

Theodora

I'm usually quite good at foreign name pronunciation but Oenone is one of those few names I'd be unsure about every single time, even if I'd known the kid for 20yrs 😁

Eleni is lovely, I also like Thalia, Athena, and Maia.

I would read it as "oh - en - oh - knee" like anemone and I'm usually OK with names. Your daughter will probably end up with letters addressed to "Enonie" or "Onone". My name is Western but spelled with a different letter to usual and the "normal" version of my name is used ALL THE TIME even with my actual name in the email address - people in the UK are lazy with names, even down to English-sounding names like Sara/Sarah. "Ionie" like Iona might work but even then it will always be misspelled as Iona.

I do think the name is beautiful though OP! Just down to whether you (and she) are willing to put up with constantly correcting folk.

I would really struggle to read Oenone, even with you spelling it out phonetically I’m not sure I get it.

is this a joke? I assume you know this word means "wank"

It's a lovely name but one I think will be new to most Brits. I'd have said oh en nonee.

So it depends how annoying you and she would find having to explain the spelling and pronunciation. Wouldn't rule it out though if you love it, there are always new names.

I'm doing ee nonny nonny like a Morris Dancer in my head. And that's so many vowels. Although as always, people will get used to it. It's not offensive or ridiculous.

I think that a lot of people would struggle to pronounce it, so if you use it, you'd better get good as listening out for all sorts of attempts. If that would annoy you (and it would annoy me) then choose something else

Others to consider: Calliope, Anastasia, Eleni, Calista, Penelope, Merope, Jacinda, Thalia, (I really like Thais, but think pronunciation issues might be an issue), Irene

Well, that is the ''sin'' of Onan so I can believe that it's greek for wank. Proceed with caution here @Guacandcheese

I think Penelope is beautiful.

@Nimbostratus100 that's Onan you are thinking of.

But Oenone is going to be quite mangled by everyone I think.

Could you go for Ionie instead? It's similar. Means Violet (flower).

No one will get the other name right.

??

I think someone's teasing you

It comes from the word for wine (like oenophile) and she was a nymph in Greek mythology

have you confused Oenone with Onanism?

I'd pronounce it as Een-oh-knee

Other Greek/Greek style/inspired names I like are;
Iolanthe/Ianthe
Xanthe
Maria
Artemis
Lydia
Calliope
Persephone
Helen/Helena/Elena
Juno
Zoe
Thea

At least 5 of those were contenders for DD!

I love it! People won’t pronounce it right initially, my daughter is called a similar sounding Greek name with the three syllables ending in an ‘ee’ sound and people rarely get it right first time - however they do once told, so I wouldn’t see an issue.

@Nimbostratus100 , in what language?

@Guacandcheese , Diana?

This is lovely and probably easier for people to pronounce correctly

Ione - Eye-O-nee

Onanism means wanking
Oenone, the way the OP is suggesting it is pronounced means to wank/ wanker even if they dont pronounce it that way, other people will, and no, dont even consider giving this name to a child

It’s an eh-NO-nee from me.

😂