Are 5 syllable baby names pretentious?

[hendaw]

Ones that I am considering

Cassiopeia
Anastasia
Alexandria
Theodosia

Maybe it was just a bit of a shock...

I’ve known three Anastasia’s- one at school, two when working at a fast food place. All were Eastern European. I love the name as it’s one of my favourite films.

I know no one who pronounces Olivia as three syllables with a ‘ya’ on the end. It sounds like a child’s pronunciation of her own name. I like lots of 4 syllable names: Ophelia, Antigone, Calliope, Persephone
but 5 syllables is pushing the boat out.

Have you heard the song Dear Theodosia? Thee-Oh-Doh-Ja is the only pronounciation I recognise or have ever heard.

I’ve head both pronunciations of Anastasia but Anna-Stay-Ja seems the most natural one to me.

I voted yes because I love Anastasia

Well when I was at school, the film came out as a start…..

Could you explain how you say those names in a way that shows which syllable you stress and how you say letters like j please?

I listened to audio versions and got
Theo DOS-y-s, Theo-DOE-sha, Theo-DOE-zha.
Anna-Stas-EE-a, Anna-STAS-ya, Anna-STAY-zha...

Theo DOS-y-a, not Theo DOS-y-s

My DS went to a private school where anything longer than 4 syllables was greeted by a group eye roll. The poshest children had the shortest names, those with difficult to remember multifaceted names were much more likely to have aspirational parents. There were 3 Georges and 4 Williams in DS’s year. The longest girls name was Henrietta who was always known as Hetty/Henny. By senior school the majority of the boys were known by nicknames that bore no relationship to any of their given names.

How is any of this relevant to the op?

All of those are pretentious except Anastasia which is cheap.

I love long names but in my experience they will get shortened at school.
My suggestions would be Alexandrina.

My DCs have ridiculously long names (9 and 8 letters, 4 syllables each). Wish we'd gone for Max and Amy but I have no room to talk so I said yes.

I love long names - they can always shorten them.

A relative has an Evangelina - I think that is beautiful.

I don't.
I can't see the point of having a long name and then shortening it and I am not keen on the name Evangelina.

Well it's not up to you, is it! Your children can shorten their names as and when they please.

I am not keen on your kids' names but I would never be so rude as to say so. Oh oops.

You can't see the point? That's just a failure of cognition on your part though.

The point is obviously a combination of liking the long form and wanting the human being who will bare the name through their entire life, as baby, young child, older child, teen, young adult, mature adult and elderly person, to have options!

My children have shorter names but have still had affectionate nicknames at various points in their life, and as someone who has never especially liked my own name (which has no obvious shortening) I definitely see the point of a name that can be used in different ways - Mathilda, Matty, Matts, Tilly, Tilda being one example that gives lots of different styles of nickname, or Alexandra giving the child the option of Alex and Lexi.

I don't think the syllables are relevant. I like
Cassiopeia and Anastasia but not Alexandria (I prefer Alexandra) or Theodosia (I prefer Theadora or Dorothea).

I like the Anna-Philaccis spelling.

No, Op, more seriously, I love long pretty names for girls.

I'm slightly less fond of Cassiopeia, mostly because of the associations, but another long one I like (4 syllables) is Georgiana.

I love Anastasia, but I prefer a 5 syllable pronunciation: Ann- a-sta-si-a, not Ann-a- Stayzh-a

Oh! If that really is the correct pronunciation, then I don't like it!

It reminds me of Bruce Forsyth "Nice to see ya; to see ya nice."

This reminds of a recent conversation I had with DS2, who is taking Clarithromycin. I said he should name his first daughter after it.

Ps. I voted the wrong way as I was answering the question in the OP title, not the question on the vote. I'm probably not the only one to have done that.

I know a couple of Maximilians who are simply never allowed to shorten it (though one does now as he is getting older), but Maximiliana never shortened is one step again!

It could get dangerous:"Max-i-meeee-leee-aaaah-naaaah!!! ... Oh dear I was going to warn her there was a cliff edge behind her. Alas, too late."

😂I love all those long mycin names on pharmacy scripts. They always make me feel I can act sicker than I really am!

And to me Alexandria is a city really.

I don't like place names like Paris or Brooklyn - though I don't mind Florence, possibly because it isn't Firenze, which would be awful.