Which baby girl name?

[Fogandsparkle]

We are Greek living in the Uk and due our DD1 next month.

Which of these 3 names would work better here? Honest opinions please.

We ended up in these 3 as we want to honour our origin but we also want something that would be easily used in the Uk.

The names work well with our surname and we live in a multi-cultural area, think of London or a similar big city.

• Aliki (pronounced as Ah-leaky)
• Kyveli (pronounced as Kiv-Ellie)
• Ekavi (pronounced as Eh-kav-ie)

Many thanks!

Aliki is likely to get teased, a leaky tap, a leaky bladder.
I like Kyveli

I would say either of the second two are beautiful. I agree with pp that Aliki is a harder one in U.K. with the “a leaky” and “alki” links

To be honest Aliki is more like Ah-lick-ie rather than A-leaky! If that helps :-)

Kyveli is beautiful, but quite likely in the UK to be shortened to Ellie. You maybe happy with this, but something to consider.
But Now you have a short list maybe wait till she’s born and she might suit one of them.

I think Kyveli might work best, and is my favourite, though they're all nice.

I like Aliki the best out of these.

I really like Kyveli.
Congratulations op.

@Fogandsparkle, You can't control how people will say it. I work with an Eleni (El-ENN-y) but people say it as Elainey and Elleny.

I’ve known several Alikis in London over the years and they haven’t had any issues; no leakiness mentioned. I don’t think children are as xenophobic as previous generations and are used to a lot more name variety. You have the option of Allie as a diminutive. I also personally like it the best of the three, but that’s subjective.

Out of these, I like Aliki the most. The pronunciation seems straightforward, too.

To be honest Aliki is more like Ah-lick-ie rather than A-leaky! If that helps :-)
Leaky or Licky!

Sorry to be negative. Kyveli is nice.

Kyveli- Very pretty, multiple nickname options Ky/Kya, Ellie, El, Lili, Kiki.

Ekavi- Really cool name but I think it sounds more masculine, less room for nicknames, especially for a baby girl.

Aliki is my favourite. Ally is nice for short if she wants in the future.

Kyvelli is nice but sounds a bit like a brand name (Pirelli etc).

Ekavi - there is a Welsh phrase that means “yuck” that sounds very like this ( “uck- avee” - written ych a fi). I don’t know how well known the phrase is outside of Wales though.

(for any Welsh people reading apologies for anglicising the pronunciation here for simplification purposes!)

@Moreteaandchocolate , Ychafi!
For non-Welsh speakers it 'uch ah vee' (ch like in Scottish loch, u like in English up)

On the subject of Welsh, the Greek name Eleni is the Welsh word for 'this year', and Kyveli mae me think of Cydweli (anglicised as Kidwelly).

Νο welsh connections here and not living close to wales , so I hope we will be safe with any name choice in this regard!

If you're in a big city then any of them will be fine. I can't pronounce half the names in my daughter's class but that doesn't matter - all the children can pronounce all the names and no one gets teased about them.

My personal favourite is Kyveli.

I like Aliki. I would think that Kyveli is a made-up name rather than a name from another language/culture.

@Fogandsparkle , You'll probably find that the first syllable will get stressed.
Alick-y, Kiv-ill-y, Ecker-vy instead of Al-ick-y, Kiv-elly and Eh-kavvy

You'd not get that from Welsh speakers

I think they are all lovely. I live in London and none of those names would be out of place in my child’s class.
if I had to choose I would say Kyveli but only if you’re happy with it being shortened to Ellie

I think they all might need an explanation of pronunciation the first time, but are all easy enough thst it shouldn't need further explanation. They are all nice, but my favourite from the list is Kyveli.

Kyveli (Kiki would be a super cute nickname)

We say it in Liverpool. Or at least, my family did/does 😅

I think all 3 are very nice names OP, but since you asked for personal choice, I like Kyveli, although, as a pp said, your DD might get "Ellie", which is very nice too, but maybe not what you would be okay with.

I love Kyvelli
The other two I’m not a fan of (both in Greek and English)
i know you didn’t ask for any recommendations on names but I love the name Ismene and sounds beautiful in Greek and English!

I think, in a multicultural city, you're going to be fine with any of those names. Even where I teach, in rural Buckinghamshire, we have names from Spanish, Nigerian, Russian, Ghanaian, French, Italian, Indian, Persian, Colombian, Irish, Arabic, Slavic and probably several other origins. You just learn how to pronounce it and don't have to think about it again.