A variation on Hannah

[onthepier]

I'm expecting a baby girl next year and my dh, (who's swedish), and I both love the name Hannah.

In Sweden "Hannah" is spelt "Hanne". We both like the idea of spelling it the swedish way although we live in England, and I wondered what other people thought. Is it too "unusual" or a nice touch? I'm english by the way.

It looks pretty but I expect people will incorrectly pronounce it "Hannie" or "Hannay"

why not, as long as you're not upset having to correct everyone's spelling on the cards etc

Hmm its a legitimate alternative, but as dizzy says, you will have to constantly correct people and your dd will be constantly having to spell out her name. Would that bother you?

Also, if I saw 'Hanne' I would automatically pn it 'Hannie' not 'Hannah' so you would possibly be constantly correcting peoples pronunciations too?

I have'Hannah'spelt 'Hanna' which is the polish way. I do have to add every time I spell her name that there is no 'h' at the end but apart from this have no problems.

How about Zannah?

dd loves it, short for Suzannah.

I would pronounce it Hann-uh. I like it

Just remembered :blush: that it's the name of a co I used to work for which was pronounced Han, so you might get that too.

Thanks for your replies, I'm still pondering. Admittedly it's a nice spelling, but I'm just fast forwarding a few years visualising a teacher reading the school register: Is this Hannee, Han or Hannah?! My friends like it, family (apart from dh!) seem unsure.

if I can give you one bit of advice - don't discuss name choices with anyone other than DH - I let myself get swayed so many times with DD1 that with DD2 and DD3 it was what we chose and how we wanted to spell it and sod the rest of them

Hani?

As your dh is Swedish I think it is absolutely fine. It will get misspelt until people know how, but I think that if you say, spelt like this, it's Swedish, people will be interested, and therefore more likely to remember. I've always had to spell and pronounce my name for people, but because it is a fab name, and I can tell a good story behind it, it's never been a problem.

My best friend is Norwegian, and her name is spelt Hanne. She hated it for years and it ALWAYS get's mispronounced (I call her Haynie as that's a popular one, she also gets Hannie, Han and other variations!) but now at the age of 22 she loves her name. It's original, has a story behind it and she's the only person on facebook with her full name! I think it's really pretty and so much nicer than Hannah.

it's lovely go for it!

I think Hanne is lovely.

everyone will mispronounce it hannay

If you want to be unusual call her Hannah but spell it backwards, like Naeveh an' that.

fabio - you're thinking palindrome.

what's that in scrabble???

Hanna ?

I like it and would pronounce it Hanna - but then I did German at school so would think it was north european.

I like it.
I had a friend in School called Hera, pronounced HAH-ra. Those who knew her, knew how to say it and those who didn't sisn't matter.

I think the spelling is lovely and unusual, and the pronunciation just needs to be taught/learned.

It's lovely and I don't think it'll be mispronounced. People might need correcting once but as Hannah is a popular name it shouldn't cause major hassle. And as you have the "excuse" of your DH being Swedish, people won't think you're just trying to be unique

I like it and as dh is swedish you could get away with it

While we're on Scandi Hannah-derivatives I also like Annelise.

not everyone will pronounce it incorrectly - anyone with a bit of education will know the difference, and others will just get used to it. fwiw, I would have thought it was 'Hannah' , it's not rocket science!

what about Hana? still pronouce like hannah? just a thought

Hana is 'flower' or 'nose' in Japanese

How about using Hannah and choosing a Swedish middle name?