Liz CA Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 ...specifically a non-English speaking country, did you give your dc names that reflect that? First name, middle name, various options for child to choose later? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jar7709 Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 My DH's first language was German and that is what his family still speaks in the home. We picked first names for our kids that sound nice in both languages and are a little more common in Germany than they are here (still fairly uncommon, though). Because this means each of our kids has a non-traditional first name here in the U.S., we also gave them very American middle names which they could use someday if they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigitte Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 My parents are from Belgium. They came to the US for one year and my oldest sister was born here. They gave her a very German name. Then they went back to Belgium and had my brother and my other 2 sisters. My brother's name is "universal," but my sister's were given very American names. A few years later they came back to the States and I was born here. My name couldn't be more French, especially when you add my middle name. When we were picking names for our girls, I wanted to use more European names so that my family over there would have an easy time of it. Dh could not agree to any names that would work in both languages, so my girls have very English names. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujsky Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 DH is from Russia -- he's a Russian Jew. DS was adopted from Russia and we gave him 2 middle names. One is DH's first name, the other is DS's birth name -- Vladimir. I actually would have been fine keeping Vladimir as his first name, but DH said it's a cruddy name even in Russia ;). DD's name is a family name -- first name is my g-grandmother's name, and her middle name is DH's g-grandmothers name which is Sima (pronounced "Seema"-- it's Yiddish. There were some Russian names I absolutely loved -- Nickolai, Alexi, etc, but DH poo-pooed on all of those. I guess a lot of the Russian names that sound good to American ears don't sound all that great to Russian ears :D Considering DH actually liked the name Olga for a girl, I guess it works both ways. We did consider Anya though, which is also Russian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfgivas Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 we do one name that is a family name and one name that is uniquely theirs. each one has a mainly english name and a name from another language. so one dd has a french first name, and another has a gaelic middle name. we try for all names to sound okay in all family languages, and for the meaning of the names to reflect the values and/or characteristics we hope for them. it takes us awhile, say, nine months or so ; ) fwiw, ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted November 14, 2011 Author Share Posted November 14, 2011 Considering DH actually liked the name Olga for a girl, I guess it works both ways. We did consider Anya though, which is also Russian. I too would go for Anya over Olga. :001_smile: Funny all the associations we have with names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Yes, DH is from Mexico and our girls have Spanish first names. DD1 has my middle name for her middle name. DD2 has my first name for her middle name. DD3 will also have a Spanish first name and we can't decide on a middle name. DD1 and DD2's names are not common names, but are not uncommon either. They both sound ok with an English pronunciation. We have chosen DD3's first name and I hate the way it sounds in English. But as soon as DH brought it up as a possibility I had a very strong feeling that that is her name, darnit! I imagine we will have the same experience that we did with DD2's name. It felt like her name and as she has gotten older it is really the perfect name for her, she couldn't be anything else. :) The girls and I all have one of DH's last names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 DH is from Turkey and our daughter has Turkish first and middle names. Our plan had been for one name to be Turkish and the other English (so she could choose and/or move between countries more easily), but when she was born she was just this Turkish name and none other fit her. Hard to explain. I do wish we'd given her an English middle name, honestly, because it's hard to have *such* an unusual name in the US (in Turkey she's one of many), but it is what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elinnea Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Dh is German and I have Scandinavian roots. My two ds's were born in Germany and we went with Nordic names for them as we wanted something a bit more uncommon in Germany yet still easy to pronounce for both the German side of the family and the American side. Our dd was born in the States but also has a Swedish name. All three have universal middle names that are also family names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Dh is Belgian. We picked names that work well for both languages (English & Dutch). Where it applied, we chose the Dutch spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Meh, from what I observed, if you give one of those "universal" Western names, it does not even matter how it is spelled because in pronunciation they will alter it to fit anyway. And in a way, that is perfectly fine. So ultimately, it comes down to the issue of spelling, and I say you go with whatever the spelling of your passport country if you more around or, if you have more, the one where you spend the most time. If you plan to permanently settle somewhere, have the spelling reflect it, unless it is a really bad fit with the last name or something. Those have more or less been our guidelines. So, in reality, you can have a Lucia (that reads loo-chee-ah), but the chances are that she will end up called Lucy if you live in an anglophone country. And then again, even if you name her Lucy to fit, you will still end up calling her Lucia at home. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 My husband moved here from South Korea. He has a legal name (which is a common English name) and then he has his real name (in Korean) that his family calls him. My oldest daughter has the same - legal name and then Korean name. My son's middle name is Jae (Korean name). One of my daughters middle name is Mi Hwa (Korean name - we see this name sometimes in the Singapore Math workbooks :D). I gave our fourth kid a German first and middle name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 No, we have specifically chose names that areeasy to spell and pronounce both in Germany (our native country) and in the US, and in most western European countries as well. (OK, the US spelling of DS' name is slightly different than the one we chose, but so similar that it is clearly recognized as the same name.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 I'm from Aruba originally, and we have three children. My first child has an Anglo name through and through. Dh, who's half Hispanic with an Anglo name, wanted the kids' names to carry them well in college and job applications. My second child has a totally French name. I love French names. My youngest is a bit all over the place: an Italian first name, Swedish first middle name, and English second middle name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 One of my kids has name that sounds right 'off the boat' when combined with our last name and I love it. My MIL nearly wept with joy when we told her. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 My kids names are Spanish because we thought they'd grow up in Venezuela. They all do have very American nicknames that they go by. The only name that's constantly mispronounced of the 6 is Andres. I'm not sure why, it's completely phonetic, but it gets mangled a lot. In Houston, the boys' name are common enough that there is at least one other kid with their first and last names in our pediatrician's practice. That surprised me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Dh and I were both born in Iran and although we both left Iran as children and do not consider ourselves very Persian, our children both have Persian names. Ds's name is not really and truly Persian. It's more of a Baha'i name. Not that there is really and truly such a thing as a Baha'i name, but once you hear that name, you pretty much know that the individual is a Baha'i, if you have knowledge of the Baha'i Faith, that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splinter Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 My ex-wife is from Norway, but the kids were born and have always lived here in Canada. Their first names are all pretty Scandinavian, but are easy to pronounce and spell for English-speakers. They're Magnus, Katarina, Oskar and Lukas. Katarina and Lukas go by Katie and Luke. Their middle names are all pretty common American/Canadian names - Daniel, Jane, Maxwell and Anthony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 (edited) All but one of our children have American first names. They all have middle names that reflect their ancestry. Our oldest son has a middle name that has been a traditional name for first born sons for 5 generations. It is not a name that would have been nice to name a child living in the US, so the middle name was a compromise. That set the pattern for the rest of the children. Edited November 14, 2011 by missmoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabrizia Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 DH is actually the one with one parent from a foreign country. His parents gave him a Hindi name for his first name and an American middle name. Then since they were in the US, they just called him his middle name. For our kids we gave them fairly easy to identify and pronounce names, and Hindi middle names. So when we go to India they are called by their middle names, and in every day life they go by their first names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Ds's name is not really and truly Persian. It's more of a Baha'i name. Not that there is really and truly such a thing as a Baha'i name, but once you hear that name, you pretty much know that the individual is a Baha'i, if you have knowledge of the Baha'i Faith, that is. Huh! What kind of explanation is that? Now you must provide guidelines so we can learn to detect the Baha'iness of names! We were glad our choices for the kids names didn't fingerspell with an ugly pattern. Does that count? :tongue_smilie: Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Huh! What kind of explanation is that? Now you must provide guidelines so we can learn to detect the Baha'iness of names! :lol: Rosie, dd is named after a Baha'i youth who was martyred in Iran in the early '80s. I loved her personality and spunk. Until her last days, she would make every effort to be strong and maintain a sense of humor, despite torture and persecution. Amazing young girl. Her name is Roya, which means vision or dream. She is very dream-ish. :) Ds is named after a Baha'i book. His name means the spoken words or eloquent, etc. He is that way and basically cannot stop talking :lol:. His name is Bayan. Neither child has middle names. Dh and I decided against it. Persians on the whole don't usually do middle names ;). Some Baha'i names that I can think of: Mateen (male - means steadfast) Anisa (female - is often a Baha'i name, but not always - means Tree of Life) Trying to rack my brains to think of others, but I'm a bit slow at the moment. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 We are both from other places. Very different places. Opposite sides of the globe. Our kids each have a Western name, rooted in his culture but very recognizable in American culture. One has an Anglicized spelling; the other has the European spelling. Each kid also has an Asian name. My daughter prefers to go by her Asian name. My son's name is wonderful in our language, but ... hindsight being 20/20, it's not exactly a lovely name in English. It's similar to a not-nice adjective LOL. Oh well; it's a family name so he would have been saddled with it either way. All of my neices and nephews were given names from our culture, in both my family and my in-laws family. The kids on my husband's side of the family were given decidedly more ethnic names (from their culture) than were my own kids; my kids' names pass, but also pass in America. My nephews have very Eastern European names that are more similar to Latin/Hispanic names than they are American (despite having one American parent). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Nope. We picked names we both liked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammie Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Dh is from India and we gave both kids Indian names with no middle name. Both names were choses for their ease of pronounciation (you can look at it and know how to say it) and ease of spelling. We really did not want them to choose to use another name later in life (or to have relatives or friends make that choice for them) so no American middle name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medieval Mom Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 We chose names that both families / countries can readily recognize and pronounce. Like a pp wrote, it took us about nine months to accomplish this! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southcarolinamom Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 My DH's parents were missionaries in Sweden. His best friend's name was Mikael (the Swedish version of Michael). Our son was named after Mikael! Most people instinctively pronounced his name correctly, but a few like to give it a Russian accent ...ie. "Mik-ail"..... :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmosis Mom Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 :lol:Rosie, dd is named after a Baha'i youth who was martyred in Iran in the early '80s. I loved her personality and spunk. Until her last days, she would make every effort to be strong and maintain a sense of humor, despite torture and persecution. Amazing young girl. Her name is Roya, which means vision or dream. She is very dream-ish. :) Ds is named after a Baha'i book. His name means the spoken words or eloquent, etc. He is that way and basically cannot stop talking :lol:. His name is Bayan. Neither child has middle names. Dh and I decided against it. Persians on the whole don't usually do middle names ;). Some Baha'i names that I can think of: Mateen (male - means steadfast) Anisa (female - is often a Baha'i name, but not always - means Tree of Life) Trying to rack my brains to think of others, but I'm a bit slow at the moment. :tongue_smilie: Mateen and Anisa are Arab names actually. I grew up with a Turkish boy (Bully of the century, unfortunately) whose name was Metin from Mateen so I could never use that great name myself! We also use Mateena for girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmosis Mom Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 All my kids have Arab names, but chosen to supposedly be easy to pronounce so some consideration went into the spelling and difficult letters were not chosen. That said, then their names get butchered a lot, but whatever. They have great names. I have never had sympathy for people who give American names in addition to their culture's name, but that's me!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 No, we waited until they arrived and decided what they looked like. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I'm not from another country, but I am part-Hawaiian. All of our dc have a Hawaiian name. The boys have a standard American first name and two middle names--one Hawaiian (for me) and one family name (for dh). Dd has Hawaiian first and middle names but no family name. My ds's thought she might feel ripped-off when she discovered she had only 3 names and they had 4. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Mateen and Anisa are Arab names actually. You're right :). I'd forgotten. It just happens to be that the only Persians I've met with those names are usually Baha'is. Usually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohdanigirl Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I don't know if we count. We are both American born, but dh was raised in Mexico DF. Yes, our dc's names do reflect our culture. Danielle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 We've chosen first names that are popular in both countries. Three of the four are called by their non-American nicknames. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 There were some Russian names I absolutely loved -- Nickolai, Alexi, etc, but DH poo-pooed on all of those. I guess a lot of the Russian names that sound good to American ears don't sound all that great to Russian ears :D Considering DH actually liked the name Olga for a girl, I guess it works both ways. We did consider Anya though, which is also Russian. It could also be just personal opinion. Nikolai and Alexei are very popular names in Russia (so a lot of Russians DO like them). I liked Raya (Raisa), but dh said that it was an old-peasant-lady name. I countered with "it's Mikhail Gorbechev's wife's name" but it didn't sell him. Oh well... maybe someday I'll give the name to a pet. :lol: All of my kids have American middle names (though a few of them also have Russian forms). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I too would go for Anya over Olga. :001_smile: Funny all the associations we have with names. The common nickname for Olga is so pretty, though: Olya. (And it's very close to Anya, which is a nickname for Anna.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindergretta Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 My dh is Okinawan. Our dc's name aren't Japanese at all. He said no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 We chose names that both families / countries can readily recognize and pronounce. Like a pp wrote, it took us about nine months to accomplish this! :D This was our reason for choosing names popular in both cultures, too. And it took us as long! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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