Saga

[92andyou]

Scandi-British family expecting a girl. Already have a Magnus.

Does Saga work in the UK? Very common across Scandinavia - I’ve never met one in the UK however.

If not - what other good names to go with our sons name that is easy for Brits and Scandis.

Two weeks to go and we are no clearer on a name…! Foolishly I told some suggestions to family and all raised eyebrows / made stupid comments (on both sides of the North Sea).

Do an advanced search on saga here and you'll find such things as 'What a depressing saga', ' I'd tell them the whole saga', 'I must have missed this whole saga'. The association isn't a positive one.

I'm aware people use the word saga, but imo there doesn't need to be positive associations for a name because it's a name and separate to that. I am sure you could probably find a negative association for most names if you were that way inclined.

I'd go for something like Nora, Freda, Alma. Or Svea?
Kaja, Maja?
I like Kajsa and Milla too.

Of course you would accept it - you'd have to! This isn't about meeting an adult called Odd or Floor though - this is about naming a baby born in the UK.

And naming them Saga would really not be a problem imo.

Ok

Well I know one, plus her parents and so far it doesn’t appear to be a problem for them. My son is in her class and she’s just Saga 🤷🏻‍♀️. Kids are far more accepting than adults, and in general they’re growing up with a much wider variety of names than we did.

Nooooo Saga is over 50s insurance company.

@SomeOfTheTrouble exactly my experience.

I'm not sure its completely silly. Saga is a standard English word meaning a long, involved story with overtones of it being a bit belaboured and probably boring.

When I saw your thread title, I assumed there had been a "saga" about what to call your baby and you were warning readers that it was going to be quite a long, convoluted post involving lots of tiresome objections from your DH, your MIL etc etc.

It isn't silly to suggest that calling someone Apple makes you think of a fruit, or Bear makes you think of a big fluffy animal, nor that Saga would make you think of a saga.

For me - and this may be more niche and personal - I also think of sago pudding, a boarding school staple in the 80's and 90s which is often nicknamed frog's eyes (not affectionately).

So, as an English speaker, I would suggest it doesn't work well in English,.

@sundayfundayclub , Again never worked with a Semen but the OP is talking about Saga. And again if someone is Ukrainian & called Semen I'm not going to take the piss out of them. I should hope not.

You not teasing or moving on is one thing but kids are kids and they would probably find the name had plenty of teasing potential.

OP asked about the name Saga and the general response isn't positive. I like it but it definitely has a downside. You like it and think it's fine.

We called sago pudding frogspawn.

The OP asked if the name worked in the UK, but then got annoyed when people responded with reasons for why it possibly doesn’t work that well. My immediate thought was Saga from The Bridge (nice) but also Saga holidays and “oh what a saga (not so nice). I don’t understand why people are making comments about people moving here with names that don’t necessarily work, such as Floor. Their parents weren’t thinking about how their name would work in the UK because it wasn’t relevant. Here, that is the whole point of the post!
It’s correct that most kids / teens won’t think of Saga holidays. But a lot of adults will, and the OP asked that question.

Also when people say "I know one and it isn't a problem", I'm never really sure what that means.

Presumably ops are asking for honest opinions, which isn't what anyone is going to give once someone already has that name. I have once - but only once - seen anyone comment honestly on a name and that was a register being read out and the person reading it stopped halfway and said "this must be a typo." But other than that, it isn't going to be a problem in the sense that people will say what a poor choice of name. That doesn't mean people aren't thinking it.

A saga is a dreary/difficult/annoying drawn out event.

Definitely a name catering to parental ego rather than for the benefit of the child.

I’m sure it’s not the only pretty Scandi name you can think of.

Well I guess I mean that none of the other parents in the class have ever made a comment about it in my hearing, I’ve not heard of any of the other children making a comment about it, the parents have never said that anyone has made a comment about it… so yeah I guess people might be thinking ‘oh, Saga like a long winded story’ to themselves, but who would really care about that?
There are lots of names I don’t like that are commonly used in the U.K., I keep my opinion on those names to myself, so why would my opinion bother anyone?

I completely agree.

The op asked if it worked in English, people replied no, she replied how silly you are.

But if she wants to effectively call her DC "Long Boring/Involved Story" then she should.

Not RTFT but I think it's totally fine. Kids these days have such a wider and diverse range of names and who even knows if the Saga company will still exist in their adulthood (FWIW, I'd never heard of it). It's a nice unusual name that is a nod to her actual heritage. No problem

It’s not just the insurance company, it has negative connotations in English of a long drawn out story .Just doesn’t sound nice either .OP asked.

I’m not, and haven’t been, annoyed. I very quickly took the feedback on board that the name would get a negative response in the UK and that I would have to think about something else.

It is still a silly comment to say to someone’s name ‘oh like the old people’s insurance company’. If someone said that to your face, and it was your child’s name, you would probably think it was a silly comment too.

I don’t know why you keep saying I’m so annoyed about it all, when I’m not. Creating a mountain out of a molehill.

My favourite Swede was a magnificent woman that is no longer with us. Her name was Annelie .

How about ….
Verna
Lydia
Flora
Nina

Love these name threads !

One of my child’s good friends is called Saga, her parents are Danish. It’s pronounced like Sega/Seyga? When we first heard it our first thought was Sega Megadrive, are Sega even around these days? I wouldn’t associate it with life insurance. It’s a pretty name, when my son came home talking about her I googled where it was from as it struck me as unusual.

Anya/ Anja
Lotta
Lucia
Clara
Heidi

My mum lived in Norway for a bit back in the day and had a friend whos DD was called Siv (pronounced Seev) which is I like. But it might be quite old fashioned by now?

Sigrid is lovely and not in the least out there.

Oh no Sigrid is great!