Zaccai baby name for an English baby boy?

[Ellycritten]

Hello all,

Would it be strange if I called my son Zaccai if him and our family are white British? We have no other heritage at all. I love unique names, hence why I am drawn to it.

Thanks.

How do you pronounce it?

No one will know how to spell it or pronounce it. I would hate to be saddled with a name like that.

It just reminds me of the Biblical parable of the tax collector. I know that’s usually spelled Zecciah which is very slightly different but still close enough as it’s not commonplace.

Are you going to shorten it to Zac? In which case people will assume that his full name is a more conventional one like Zachary.

You can call your child almost anything you wish. It will probably get shortened to Zac in school though.

My son has a less usual name than that (it is due to my nationality/native tongue) and people struggle to spell and pronounce it. So think twice. From your sons perspective. Lifetime spent spelling and explaining your unusual name is crap.

To my eyes it looks like Zachariah was mistyped or misspelled.

my first impression when someone - often white British - uses an unusual name they have no link to it and appears made up/misspelt that it’s quite chavvy

No one? So you wouldn't know how to spell it or pronounce Zaccai? Really? I guess you can't pronounce Tchaikovsy or Puccini. So which names can you spell or pronounce? James and Dave? I often find that with names from other languages and cultures I just have to listen or ask how the owner pronounces or spells it and then try it out. Occasionally takes a few tries. Zaccai should be that complicated

How complicated is your sons named? Does it bother him? Does it have a shortened form? I mean if we all have names people in uk can pronounce we should all be called john, Dave, James (Richard can get trick). And all women can be called Mary, Jane and Ana ( with a single n. Two might be confusing).

Let your Son be proud of his/your heritage. Be proud that it's reflected in his name

I don’t think it’s a good idea to give a child a name that belongs very clearly to a culture that you don’t belong to. Obviously, there are names that cross cultures- I don’t think Zaccai does.

I would take the same approach, but 64 years on this planet have shown me that a great many people are absolutely hopeless at learning unfamiliar names, both spelling and pronunciation. They jump to conclusions about what it is and they're often wrong, and they have a tin ear when it comes to noticing that they're not pronouncing the name the same way as the person it belongs to, or their parents, are saying it. I am not a patient person and if I'd faced having to spend a lifetime correcting people I would have changed my name by deed poll. It would be even more annoying if the confusing name belonged to a completely different culture/heritage to which I had no connection at all.

I am white British and have an unusual name and it is a pain in the arse. Name your child something that is recognisable to the majority of people in the country they will grow up in, unless you have strong cultural connections that you particularly want to honour, and even then I’d think carefully about spelling and sound

What if she moves. Lets say you name something as safe as Richard. In my country they will call him Lichadii. So he changes to Wanda but a year later moves to. In Germany they call him Vanda. So he changes to Zanda. In Korea they call him Jjan'na. It gets complicated so he moved back to England I suppose and back to Richard and make sure he lives in a neighbourhood where everyone can pronounce Richard.

Ok just joking but seriously. We cant all have safe names that can be pronounced here can we? We will all be called Dave!

There’s a French kid in my son’s class at school – in England – call Pierre. Everyone calls him Pierre. No one calls him Peter.

Exactly. It can be done. I honestly dont think Zaccai and its likely short form Zac are so complicated that one needs to change it. But thats me and this is mumsnet. So many think this mum shouldnt dare name her little one Zaccai

I think Zaccai is simple enough to learn to spell and pronounce, but I think it’s more the fact it’s so similar to the much more common Zachary / Zachariah that will cause confusion - and curiousity about the heritage etc. As he will be known as Zac, it doesn’t seem worth the hassle - I’d just use one of the more familiar longer forms

All the most popular boys at school had just the usual English names. There was a boy in class called Roman, but we all laughed at him. Kids can be horrible, don't forget

It’s a lovely name.

Zaccai is a nice name. People will easily adapt to it.
It reminds me of Nikolai.

“Why are you called Pierre? Are you French?” “Yes”
”Why are you called Zaccai? Are you Jewish?” “No. My mum wanted to be different”

I know a zakai. Cute! Doesn’t sound white British if that matters to you.

I used to do vocal exercises by someone called Vaccai. Zaccai reminds me of that.

It’s not offensive, is it? Just a bit left field.

Zacchaeus is better, but not the best association.

Olivia is Latin, Sophie is Greek, Isabella is French, Theodore is Greek, Noah is Hebrew, Liam is Irish… most names aren’t exactly English in origin