What do you think of Haydn or Stefan?

[Ondine]

I?ve found boys names quite difficult, Haydn and Stefan are top of the list, any views appreciated please.

Slight reservation about the pronunciation Haydn and how much it will be confused with Hayden?

Stefan ? can?t see any downsides, although it seems to have been at its height of popularity in the 70?s and 80?s, does that make it sound dated?

i like Hadyn, although there are lots of different spellings.

Stefan does sound a bit 80s.
What's wrong with Stephen?

I like both. You'll have to have 2 sons.

Yes, they'd make good brothers.

Yes I will have to have two now! I don't think they work as a first name middle name combo.

Just meant to add, does the spelling make it clear that the name would be pronounced ?High-den?. Or does it look like a variant of Hayden?

if Haydn pronounced as the composer then yes, but be prepared to correct frequently as Hayden and all variants are awful

Stefan better IMO - less room for mispronunciation

I love Haydn, however it will inevitably be pronounced Hay-den and possibly misheard as Jayden or Kayden.

DH's grandfather (Welsh) was called Haydn , but it was pronounced Hay -den, so I'm confused

I like it though (do not like Jaden etc,). I think it's because I associate the name with someone cool.

I would automatically think the pronunciation was like Hayden. But i'm an oaf.
Call you child what you want.

Really like stefan, have a good friend who is Stefan, he is known as Stef.

Don't like Hadyn

Stefan is a very average name on the continent; unless you are foreign it just sounds poncey, even though the name itself isn't poncey. I prefer Haydn. I also know an Elgar and Matisse.

It is the 'Joseph Haydn' pronunciation I was wanting to use. But like you say abdab I read in Wales it is pronouced Hay-den but spelt Haydn...

I'm not foreign so Stefan would be a bit poncey I admit. But only a little bit! Stef is nice too. Stephen really does sound dated to me, there were about five Stephens/Stevens in my class at school.

How dare you? Stephen is a lovely name, all the best children are called Stephen, etc. etc. etc.

No prizes for guessing Grendels' name!

Haydn will be mispronounced by 90% of people you meet. Stefan sounds fine, but my ear is more attuned to the US at this point where no name is really considered foreign. Depends on the circles you move in whether it seems like you're trying too hard or not.

I like Hayden but not sure how it is pronounced if not hay-den.

There two Stefan's in my year at school (int he 1980s). With one, we pronounced the -a-, so like Steph-arn. With the other, it was sort of lost, more of a Stef'n.

However you pronounce it, prefer it to Haydn, or even Hayden (had one of those in my year too funnily enough).