Change baby boy name for baby living between the UK and Greece

[Katinwanderland]

Hi all,

my husband and I are Greek with dual citizenship (Greek and British), currently livi ng and working in the UK. Our son is almost 12 months old and was born in Greece. As there is no strict time limit to register a baby’s name in Greece, we only gave him a name when we was 4 months old and we needed to travel back to the UK. We were in a rush and gave him my FIL’s name as is tradition in Greece. The name is Ioannis (Greek equivalent of John, with usual nickname Yannis). I liked the name better than my father’s name (who would be Harry in the UK but there is an unfortunate rhyme with baby’s surname) and thought it was ok. However, upon travelling back to the UK we found that British people really struggle to pronounce Ioannis and don’t really understand the name. My DH really liked Ian as a nickname (which I also like), however we heard it is considered very dated for a baby in the UK and in Greece I think he might either get bullied for it or it would naturally default to Yannis (which is an ok name but we aren’t super keen on it). We have since been debating adding another name (which might become the new first or middle name), which will fare well in both countries. DH initially suggested I add a family name from my side. My grandfather’s (and brother’s) name is Alexander, which I really like and is a name that I think he could use seamlessly in both countries. However, DH wants the baby to be called with some form of Ioannis and we couldn’t combine it with Alexander. He says he wouldn’t like calling him Alexander/Alex. My in-laws would also not take the news well. I have proposed other non-family names (e.g. Lucas, Markus) but he always raises this kind of argument. I moved to the UK as a 22 year old and although I really like my name (it’s the Greek equivalent of Catherine), I’m tired of having it constantly mispronounced/people not knowing how to say it and didn’t want the same for my son. On the other hand, my DH who is usually very laid-back has been uncharacteristically insistent about Ioannis not disappearing from the kid’s daily life and I worry that he will harbour resentment if the other name ends up being the default everyday name. We may also return to Greece in the next couple of years (so his family would argue that the addition of another name is pointless), but this is not 100% certain and I would like my son to have options in the UK too. At the moment we mainly call our son ‘bubba’ etc. but I think he should transition to a real name soon. We are now running out of time as we need to issue his British passport urgently and then travel for summer and I’m really stressed about this issue.. :/ Could you let me know your thoughts? Any words of advice would be appreciated. Also, how do you think the name Yannis would fare in the UK if used as a nickname? Thank you.

What have you been calling him up to now?

He’s almost a year old and you’ve not used his name yet?

But you said you gave him the name? Is it on his birth certificate? How did he travel back to UK, does he have a Greek passport? Is his name official and you want to change it? It seems a bit confusing. If it's just a question of giving him a middle name I can't see the issue.

Hi OP. I think Yannis is a lovely name. It was on our shortlist. I would have considered using Johnny as a diminutive.

I’m British and my husband is Greek. Our children have Greek names. People often struggle to pronounce them at first but most people only have to be corrected once. At school, lots of their classmates have names from all over the world. The children don’t bat an eyelid and can all say each other’s names perfectly.

What name do YOU actually call your baby? What would you like him to be called in the UK?

I think that changing from Ioannis to another name now would make things really difficult with your ILs. It's clear that you don't like the name and why but I think you're stuck with it.
Ian is the Scots equivalent of John so it's a great solution for you. It's not an 'old man's' name, plenty of Scots baby boys will be named Ian this year (perhaps in honour of the GFs!). Plus, dated vs trendy is a poor reason to choose any name.

Lots of people have different names in different languages so your baby having a Greek name in Greece and an English name in the UK is not so odd. Lots of international people do this if their birth name isn't easy to pronounce in another language. My own name, like yours has many versions and I use the local pronunciation wherever I am. After someone's seen it written down, they usually pronounce it in their language so I just go with it.
In your case, I'd be introducing myself in the UK as Katherine or Katrina and not trying to teach anyone a Greek pronunciation.

Depends where you're living. I know lots of Yannis's or Yanni's but live in North London. Every school in the UK is pretty multicultural now and has a wide variety of names so it will be fine. Incidentally halfway between London and Athens is a place in Italy called Caorle which would've been a cool name

I don't know what sort of people you've been encountering, but honestly I don't understand the problem with Ioannis.

Stick with it. Seek out British people who are more intelligent, for company.

It's clearly the name your husband wants too, and I'm not sure why you haven't understood that.

If you really must have a British name, would you consider Euan?

It's much closer to Ioannis than Ian and much more modern sounding (even though it's an old name).

I'd stick with Ioannis for the birth cert and passport, and just introduce him to British people as Ioannis, known as Euan.

But as someone with an Irish name living outside of Ireland, I'd never try to water a name down for the sake of stupid people who can't cope with anything outside of their very limited frame of reference. Don't pander to people like that.

Our childrens' names are Scandinavian and yes, they sound different ind UK than Scandinavian. It's okay!

Ioannis is great. I wouldn't change it after a year.

@tarheelbaby , 6 baby Ians were registered in Scotland in 2025. That is hardly plenty.

@Batshitdoesntfallfarfromthetree , Every school in the UK is pretty multicultural now and has a wide variety of names so it will be fine.
That isn't true. There are lots of schools that are not multicultural because the local population isn't.

Ioannis is a perfectly fine name and people should try harder to say it

Call him Ioanis but in the Uk Nickname Io (eye-oh)

If you are in London he definitely wouldn’t be bullied for a Greek name. The level of diversity means kids are used to names being from different countries , to new names , unfamiliar names etc.

London is one thing.

North Norfolk. for example, another.

What does he think his name is? What do you call him day to day?

@Tabarnak , Io is a Greek goddess.

I think the Greek tendency to anglicise names (Giorgos/George, Ioannis/John, Charalambos/Harris) is a bit weird, tbh. (Most) English people are not idiots. They understand that people from other places don’t necessarily have names that sound taken from an Enid Blyton novel. Don’t erase your national identity just to make some hypothetical British people’s lives easier.

Also, any links between Ian, Euan and Ioannis are so tenuous you may as well just use a completely different name. Like Alexander. (Or is it Alexandros?)

@IsItBeesThoughLooshkin , it does seem weird but I can understand why they do it.

Some names just don't work outside their own language. Your choice is to put up with whatever mangling you get given or you opt for a 'nickname' that works.
Example: Krzysztof calling himself Kris.

I think English speakers will be able to say Ee-oh-annis once corrected, but would probably say Johannes or Yannis if they were reading it aloud for the first time (both nice enough too). I don’t think he’ll get a random mangling along with a pained look like you might with some names (thinking of Irish names like Saoirse).

I’d stick with Ioannis, provided you still like it. I think it has a lovely sound and prefer it to the close alternatives.

Exdh is Greek and our 4dc all have greek names - the first 2 were born there and we were planning on staying there but came back to UK when dd1 was 7. They are used to their names being mispronounced and I don't think they were bothered at all. Ds is named after fil and we call him Hari. It never entered my mind to change their names or add another name.