husband into "alternative" names for our boy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP, usually it's the moms who want the unheard-of/exotic names. My SIL was insistent on using Irish names that 99.9% of Americans have no idea how to pronounce (Aiobhhan I think was her top choice). I have my thoughts on why people do this, but that's beside the point. What if you let DH pick whatever he wants for the middle name and you both could compromise on something a little more normal for the first name?

Is Aiobhhan supposed to be Siobhan? If so, I only know how to pronounce it bc I knew a person by that name. If not, how do you pronounce it?

I think she said it's pronounced Ayfin

[Anonymous]

I'm the name geek from before (I thought I recognized a PP's SIL because of the name - LOL, and my bad - I didn't realize how many lurkers there are on that site!) I believe the name was spelled Aoibhheann and pronounced "Even".

I could be wrong though - clearly I have been once already on this thread!

[Anonymous]

As long as you live in DC an Italian name is hardly exotic...
what about searching a list of Italian names for something you like
fyi i love Dante as a name
Zephyr suggested by one of the pp sounds really good to me too

[Anonymous]

For unusual Italian names, how about Pleasekickmyassimo?

[Anonymous]

What about Dax?

[Anonymous]

OP here, wow, lots of opinions on names. I think we all have associations with certain names and sometimes that's a good enough reason not to name your kid that name, even if your spouse loves the name. The list I provided was my short list, of which there are 2 that DH is considering, the rest he doesn't like for one reason or another. There were many other names I liked, but knew would be too traditional, or he nixed them early on in the process. I guess my real frustration is that I've provided over 40 names at one point, and he's responded with about 7 or 8--all of which are very untraditional, except for one strangely traditional name I do not like at all. As for the Italian thing, I understand Italian names are not unusual per se;, it's simply that I have absolutely no connection to Italian culture/family (nor does he, except an affinity), so it feels strange to name my child "Alfredo." Plus I think people make assumptions based on ethnic names--the assumption is that if you have a name that is clearly ethnic and not the American equivalent of it, it's because someone in your family is that ethnicity. This is not a huge deal--but I guess I'm just a little more traditional. anyway, I'm sure we'll figure it out. We often start on opposite sides of the fence (or world) and eventually come to a mutual agreement. It's just a tiring process, that's all.

[Anonymous]

My family is Italian, about a 1/3 are named Mary, Grace or Joseph. I particularly loved the Italian pronunciaton of Vinnie, but hate the sound of Vinnie. The Italian version is Vicenzo, either pronounced vi-chen-zo or vi-jen-zo, with the accent on the first part of the middle syllable.

As a funny side story, my sister named her male and very masculine looking dog "Boo Boo". I call him Vicenzo because I can't call him his real name without laughing.