JLFS

Naming a child can be quite tricky, but when frontiers are crossed ie Spanish/British, or living permantly in another country, it gets even more complicated.

Is it better to give them a "nuetral" name,( we did with ours), so they fit in with their surroundings, and if they moved back to their home country, their name would blend in there too.

My son in the UK has informed me that a mate (italian descent) of his, has had a baby with his partner they are not married.

The baby is called after the paternal grandfather,who died recently and will be known as "louis" but his real name is Luigi Murphy.

I suggest they get married quickly and change the kids surname.

bil

Whatever you do you'll be wrong, trust me. Give your child a classic name, they will complain they didn't get an interesting one. Give them an unusual name and they will hate you for it because it isn't 'normal'...and so on.

Rosemary

Very few people seem to like the names that they were given. I personally hated mine when I was a child and probably up until I was 30 or so and then I think that I accepted it and grew into it.

My OH still detests his christian names (he is not really called Graham). His mother never ever understood the ridicule that he received when young and even when everyone laughed at his name when she was there it seemed to go over her head.

Rosemary

JLFS

I dont suppose you want to share it with us?????

JLFS

There is a huge difference in not liking the name you were given or preferring to have been given a different one, and having a name that will raise eyebrows and be funny to the general public.

Rosemary

Would not dare!!!!!!!!!!

Rosemary

Rosemary

Agree with you and it can really scar you.

Rosemary

jackytoo

My friend has been married to a spaniard for 25 years seemed to compromise with their 2 kids. They are called Christian and Oliver. Even though they rarely speak English at home she always pronounces their names the English way and her husband the spanish version.

A Brit we knew in Spain was called Isabella. One day was in their house and there was some post in the hall...her real name was Margaret

JLFS

You still havent answered my question.....

To share or not to share, that is the question.


Sorry you have already answered,I did not see your post

HBG

Neutral names are the answer if you move countries and with globalisation it's highly likely that our children will, but you still need to be careful.

I'm surprised that Adolfo still seems popular in Spain, but a Spanish person would be disadvantaged with his handle in the UK. And Germany.

John Leonard Frank Smith would be a lot easier.

Lorna at Vicenza

My children were born in Italy.

I knew that the Italians would never be able to properly pronounce a name like Catherine because they can't do the TH.

I knew that simple Italian names like Chiara or Anna would be fine for Brits to pronounce but perhaps not other names.

I didn't want a name that would be changed and swapped in each country like Sara and Sarah or Julia and Giulia, Catherine and Caterina.

Ultimately it also had to be a name that we the parents liked.

First born is called Chloe. I thought that would work in lots of countries and everybody could pronounce it. I didn't know then that it doesn't exist in Italy. She's been the only Chloe in the whole school all her life so far. She loves it! She's glad she's not another Sara or Martina or Matilde.

She's more pissed off with her surname. It starts with a Z and she's sick of being the last person to be called out every register, list, placement etc.

Next child is Alex but he's actually registered in the town hall as Alessandro. Nobody has ever called him Alessandro - not even his Italian grandparents or teachers. He knows one day he'll have to sign official paperwork as Alessandro.

I was the only Lorna in school all my life and I went to an all girls Grammar school. I could never scribble my name anywhere and hardly anybody ever really learnt my surname but I was okay with that. As soon as anybody anywhere ever said "Lorna" my head would turn to see who was calling me.

It still does but only once did I turn in an English supermarket a few years ago when I heard "Lorna" and said "what" only to find out that nobody was talking to me and there was another Lorna there.

jackytoo

My Daughter has a foreign name and after a few years I wish I hadn't done it. So many people spelt it wrong She is happy with it though as she says people remember her She has called our Grandson a very traditional English name. Has worked in his favour as he is in a progressive school, lots of media and music peoples kids go there and they all have strange names so his tradtional one is in the minority.

What I don't like about common names is that when there are others in the school/office with the same name they all get a prefix Big/little John, fat John etc.

JLFS

Chloe is a name that is one of the most difficult for foreigners, I would have read itas Ch-low)

In fact one of the things I found most difficult was to collate the spelling of christian names with the way they were pronounced.

Ozzidoc

A friend in Cambridge (UK) was a primary school teacher who had a young kid called Chloe in her class. The kid NEVER responded to her name. The mother was contacted to discuss this issue. Turned out that the Mum pronounced the name in an unusual way: "shler"!

Rosemary

And she better not.

J2 mentioned prefixes to common names, I always found it amusing that up until the day he retired my Dad was called young Cliff at work.

Was quite pleased with the courts in USA when they discovered two children with the names Hitler and Aryan Nation, they promptly removed them from the parents, it is scary to think of the type of upbringing they would have had. Apparently the father had asked a baker to put happy birthday Hitler on the cake, the baker reported him.

Graham