Faina and Anfisa

[JRBS]

Hi,
What do you think about girls names Faina/ Phaina and Anfisa/Anphisa?

Very pretty

Go well together.

I’ve not heard them before, they’re Russian I think? Do you pronounce them Fay-na and An-feesa? They are pretty, are you choosing between them or naming twins?

Yes, they are Russian. I'm looking for a name for one girl, I don't want very popular-one, but I would like it to be easy to pronounced in English.
They would sound like [fa:ee na] and [a:nf ee sa]
My husband wants Maria or Mary or Masha... but I try to find something different

Lovely names!

I work with a Faina and every single time she introduces herself to someone new she says “Faina… rhymes with Dana.” She’s spent her whole life having her name mispronounced.

Thank you, I think you are right:(

They’re really nice and not hard to pronounce in English. I’m assuming you’re UK based and if so most people here are so used to non-British names. It does depend on where you live a little bit, but I’m in London and where I am no one would ever give a non-British name a second thought. Your little girl would be completely fine being a Faina or Anfisa (if she wanted for whatever reason later on she could shorten Anfisa to Annie or Anna which are very widely used in the UK).

Maria, Mary and Masha are all perfectly nice too and would be unlikely to have any pronunciation issues at all, and Mary and Maria in particular work very well internationally, but I really like Faina and Anfisa.