Ethnic names

[olga3860]

We are from Russia, however we live in the UK temporarily. We should be back before our daughter is born, however if we aren’t I worry her name would be hard to pronounce. A neighbour when I asked her yesterday said that these names are too hard to pronounce for our area, and that I should choose something less ethnic and more English. She recommended names but we would really like a Russian name for our daughter. People struggle with our sons names in our area, and our names, so I am not surprised. Maybe my accent is hard to understand? We have tried explaining how to say them all the time.

Aleksandra
Irina
Maria
Tatiana
Yekaterina

We had Xenia on our list, as well as Anastasia but people have said it would be too hard to pronounce the way we do.

Irina is my top name, however my husband does not mind. Her siblings are Vladimir, Nikolai, Anton, Mikhail and Kirill.

Someone told you English people can't pronounce Maria??? That's a pretty classic name. It's my middle name and I'm Irish/ English.

I think most people would be fine with Irina and Tatiana too.

I should have split the list, I am sorry. Maria and Aleksandra were the only two she said she would be okay, but I’d need to change the spelling.)

The only name I'm not 100% on pronunciation is Yekaterina. I have worked with and know people with all other names you have mentioned there and never heard of anyone mispronouncing them. No idea what part of the UK would struggle with them to be honest.

I love Irina - my favourite from your list, and I love the way it is pronounced in Russian.

If pronunciation matters to you, Maria, Aleksandra, Tatiana and Irina are all fine. Ekaterina I haven’t heard before but it looks quite straightforward I think?

All lovely names - just choose your favourite:)

I love Tatiana, the only one I've not heard of before is Yekaterina.

Yes Yekaterina is said as it is spelt. I would probably spell it Ekaterina as I like it without the Y in English, but I think it makes it easier to pronounce after seeing it)

I knew an Ekaterina who went by Kate. No issues with pronunciation, just her preference. Choose the name you like best, people will learn to pronounce it correctly.

If you like Irina best then go for it. It's not difficult to pronounce.

Are you sure the person who said this to you was actually trying to be helpful or is it possible she just dislikes 'foreign' names?

I hope not, she has been nice to us so far but other Anton and Nikolai cannot say any of our names. She suggested names to me like Lucy and Khloe, however we want our daughter to have a Russian name. I didn’t want to seem rude so I told her I would think.

She couldn't pronounce Vladimir? People are normally familiar with that name.

I would not factor this person's capabilities or views into your decision here.

I can pronounce all those names...they are not particularly difficult or unusual.

I love the name Tatiana....it's so glamorous

Exactly this.

Ignore your neighbour, OP. She is rude.

Lovely names and not unfamiliar to a British person!

You might find some of the vowel sounds come out a bit differently, maybe eye-rina Vs ee-rina, but nothing major.

Only unfamiliar one I can foresee is the last. Just break down that Yekaterina is a russian version of Katherine if anyone struggles, Ye-Katerina and people will get it.

I don't think your neighbour is representative of most folk here if she can't pronounce Vladimir. I don't know anyone who would struggle with Xenia or Anastasia and have met a few British Anastasias over the years.

Is your neighbour a bit dim? None of those names are really that difficult to pronounce to English people. None of them is even than unfamiliar, apart from Yekaterina.

I think they're all lovely names and not hard to pronounce at all, your neighbour is just being silly

Stuck with a list | Mumsnet

I recognise them all and would know how to pronounce them but I am not English.

Irina would probably be the most mangled one, as it would be ayrina rather than eeirna.

I know one Catherine named after her EE grandmother , Ecaterina , but that might be too English for you. It could work though, but i'd cut the y at the beginning, unless that's the actual Russian spelling.

How much would it upset you if the name was pronounced the wrong way?

Go for what you want. I would know how to pronounce all of your choices except the bottom one (but would quickly learn if I met one). I wouldn't say any of the others are difficult at all, especially Maria which is firmly top 100 over here due to the international appeal.

For what it's worth I'm also very familiar with all of your other children's names, but it does help that I teach in a very multicultural area I guess. I taught the most lovely little Kirill a few years back :-)

But aren't you going to shorten the name anyway? Like Katya, Ira, Ksusha?

These are easy classic timeless names and compared to some you may come across in the UK they are totally a no problem.

I wouldn’t bay an eyelid over the pronunciation of any your children’s names, eclectic maybe Kirill because I don’t know if it’s a hard K or a soft K.
I like all your suggested names, and they’d be perfectly fine for a child in the UK. Maria must be about the most international name ever!

Kirill would be kih-reel! A hard K I think would describe it. I don’t know how to describe it in English!)

Yes it would be shortened within our family but I was thinking about people who would know her as a long name not a short form! I guess I can always try to explain it)

I think English people tend to stress the first syllable of Vladimir, whereas you're supposed to stress the second (hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong).

I think the other names are easy to pronounce. It wouldn't matter if you had to change Aleksandra to Alexandra because it wouldn't change the transliteration into cyrillic.

Please choose a name you love. People who matter will make an effort to get it right

@Brexile

But does that matter? Op isn't saying that she can't handle having a Russian name pronounced slightly differently, she's saying someone has told her it's unpronounceable to English people.