I just found out that I'm pregnant with twins-- a boy and a girl. while I'm super excited, I'm beginning to dread naming them as their father is Swiss and I'm American. My main worry is finding names that won't doom them to endless teasing 'cause they're unpronounceable or strange.
So, I need to find names that work for the US and Switzerland. this shouldn't be too hard, but I'm rather eclectic when it comes to name choices-- I like weird, creative names and am definitely not into naming my kids anna or sara or jacob or david or blah blah blah-- the names that fit easily into both cultures.
has anyone else had this experience? how did you choose your kid's names for use in two (or more) countries?
also-- if I do decide to go with some nontraditional names, would I be risking social censure or ? in switzerland? I'm currently in the states, but will most likely be moving to Switzerland in a few months or directly after the babies birth.
Secondly, I read a really mad thing today in the "Living and Working in Switzerland" book which I thought may be relevant to your post, and if not must surely be gawped at with wonderment:
"When a Swiss national gives birth in a Swiss hospital, she must provide a name or names for both sexes in advance, from an approved list of names. Although the approved list of names may not apply to foreigners, you may need to show that the name you choose is normal in your country (how do you do that?)."
So be careful what you decide on!!!
Please accept my apologies if I have once again offended the sensibilities of the Swiss/settled Swiss residents etc, but this is surely a bit mental??
oh and by the way, while i'm at it, I (100% Scottish) had to negotiate with my English husband and ended up with a Celtic (but not Scottish) first name with one Scottish middle name and one English. Trust me, it took some doing... We settled on Tristan Ramsay Victor, by the way (grandfathers' middle names).
However, I know that things are quite a bit more relaxed than they used to be. You still can't name your kid Peaches, Apple and Brooklyn, but at least these days for example Rosemarie is accepted as one name and not broken down into Rosa-Maria...
COngrats! I think I would be in a similar position to yours, I am Peruvian and my husband Dutch and although we have no children YET, I came up with this idea: Since they will get his last name and not mine I would chose their first names but check with hubby first, I have come up already with a few that I love that are pronounceable in both Dutch and SPanish and also English. Check some websites to get ideas, an original name is a cool idea!
Numerous studies have shown children with solid, recognisable and traditional names tend to achieve higher grades, are more successful socially and professionally and live on the upper end of the demographic scale. Not much expectation, then, eh?
Names starting with letters from the 'top' of the alphabet are also preferable.
Alexander or Charlotte tends to beat Brad or Chardonney. Do consider the social implications of naming your twins Moon Unit One and Moon Unit Two...
We didn't need to give them a list of names - just gave them the name we chose and that was it, and no way are these names on any list here!
Mind you friends had all sorts of problems giving their baby a chinese middle name - not that it was disallowed they just couldn't get the spelling right on the birth certificate!
judging by ohjos choice of what she does not want to name her babies, (Jacob, sara, anna) i think this is something that she doesn't want to hear..
(oh, and i think brooklyn might have been the name of a person before it was the name of a place tho thank you for this very useful post - some people dont think that their kids might travel, and their name might not be accepted where they move to. I guess thats why the Swiss created a list which was ok in many languages.)
as much as i like relatively quirky, i did also think about when the kids are grown-ups, and doctors and politicians, would people respect them with these names.
Lili, Leyla and Lola seem to be the hit here this year... and please also think of your last name.. (totally not my taste, might I add- Dr Lili Gardener?)
I also met a baby born here, with foreign parents, who named their kid Mort.
This is a strong Muslim name, but I would feel sad for him if he were to move to the French speaking part - where the name means "death".
I used to like Florian, but although this is great here, he would get the sh*t kicked out of him in New Zealand. (Too close to "floral")
Naming a baby is a very difficult decision. Just don't tell anyone the names you decide upon before they are born - the others will not like them , and it isn't up to your friends and family, its up to you!
We are both Brits but decided to give our kids Swissish middle names in case they leave Switzerland when they are older. We thought it would remind them where they were born and raised.
So we have Abigail Saskia (but known as Abbie to all as easier for Swiss to pronounce)
and Benjamin Lukas (But known as Ben)
I googled swiss names and you get to choose germanic, french, italian etc etc loads of choice
Allow me to add my congratulations to you and your family! Fantastic news for you all!
About the names.
Something that may make it easier would be to select a name which has multiple nickname possibilities. My husband's name is Vincenzo, his mother calls him Enzo but he's (nearly) always been enamored of all things American (lucky for me ) and when we met he asked me to call him Vince... his mother now calls him Vinci in my presence.
I guess what I'm trying to say is to maybe go with names which there are "versions" of in each language.
On the other hand, I'm called Peg (or Peggy of course) after my middle name which is Margaret... I am forever being asked how Peggy comes from Margaret, even though it is quite common, no one really can explain it, it simply "is." (Perhaps some Gaelic speaking folk can shed some insight for me. )However, my mother was quite adamant that I NOT be called Marge more Maggie.
It was a few years ago now but when my wife went into Hirslanden clinic in Zurich to give birth we hadn't chosen a name. They insisted we put a name in the box on the form. Since we were having difficulty agreeing and the contractions were getting more urgent they gave us three books with approved French, German and Italian names and told us in no uncertain terms to pick one so they could get on with it.
Whatever you choose, I think naming a kid is a big responsibility. Whether we like it or not, it will affect them down the line, sometimes for the better but maybe for the worse. Like that Johnny Cash song - " a boy named Sue". And imagine having to go through life spelling your name out to everybody. Or like the bloke I used to work with called "Sky". His parents thought it would be trendy. He has to explain how he got it to everybody.
I think there are plenty of "real" names out there to choose from which can be unusual. I did some research into my family tree a while back and found that several of my female line in the 18th and 19th century were called Annis which I thought was nice. You don't hear that name these days.
But I guess sometimes even the most ordinary names can be an embarrassment. Spare a thought for this bloke:
This probably depends on the location, no? Given that South Asians, and especially long-named Tamils, are the highest educated and highest earning cultural group on North America goes against this statistic.
But I could see it having an effect here in Switzerland.
A name is wonderful and personal thing that identifies you for the rest of your life. A mother shouldn't worry about questionable statistics or propensity for bullying in making the decision (in the UK, they'll find another reason to bully you). Go with your cultural background, your family history, or your whim at the time in coming to a final choice. Of course, don't make it too weird or too archaic.
My sister is also having trouble deciding on a name for her upcoming new son. She is Brown and her husband is white. Given that the surname is English, they decided the first name would be South Asian, as with their first son. But they of course chose an Indian name that was short and not too difficult to pronounce.
oh wow, congratulations. Its hard enough naming one child, let alone two!
Cant give you much advice but all I want to say is, a more unusual name does have the advantage of making the bearer stand out from the crowd. For some weird cosmic reason, my first name was really really popular in my school year. There were FOUR of us with the same name and my poor teacher had a hard time with it and in the end, she assigned to us different versions of that name. She ran out of options when it came to my turn, she asked if I was comfortable using my middle name instead - which stuck for the rest of my life and people now are surprised when they find out that the name I use is actually my MIDDLE name (and usually fall off the chair laughing when I tell them my actual first name).
On the other hand, weird and creative names that not all can pronounce on paper can draw unwanted attention. It is really a real hit and miss. For example, I had a friend who is named "Schvelle" (pronounced as Sher-velle), a very pretty name in my opinion, but teachers had a hard time pronouncing it and one new teacher read her name off the register as Scu-vell-lee once. Its something we all still poke fun at till today, when the opportunity arises. Her younger sister who is named Sedryn (pronounced as Ced-rin) however, fared a little better.
My name was chosen because it was found in both Germany and the US. My parents made the mistake with my older sister to not pick a common name nor the common spelling, which makes my sister's name in German very weird.
My only complaint is that my name is the slightly less common version of another name. If you had to pick which variation to go for, I'd recommend Caroline. People don't mess up that spelling so much.
I'm in the same predicament. My husband is Swiss, and I'm American. I'm 7 months pregnant. His name is Beat, and he spent years in the USA being called Beat (as in "the beat goes on"). Needless to say, he is very sensitive to pronunciation differences.
We are putting the name conversation off till we know the gender. He has already said he doesn't want to name our child anything that can be mispronounced in CH or USA. It seems to me this excludes anything with a vowel, W, V, and several other more common consonants.
If you come up with a solution I'd love to hear it
It shouldn't be a problem. Mort is short for Mortimer, which is from old French, meaning "Dead Sea", "Stagnant Pond" or "Still Waters", depending on which translation you find...