European onomastics

| 2 comments

There is a set of names which I really like. The only problem with these names is that they are not, strictly speaking, English. Even worse, they are non-English forms of ones that exist in English, some nothing more than a matter of pronunciation. So, while I really wish I could consider using the following set of monikers for my offspring (assuming, of course, I reproduce, which is questionable), I could only do so if I were to marry someone who's ties to the Old World are a bit stronger than mine. Otherwise, it'd just look like I was trying to be difficult and/or make my kid's life hard.

  • Gerrit (said like the Dutch would with a an initial [j])
  • Irena (said like almost any other language, but I am particularly drawn to the Russian way)
  • Prudenzia (in Italian, or its German cousin)
  • Paolo (again, Italian)
  • Friedrich (though, this is my great-grandfather's name so maybe I could slide it in)
  • Etienne (but, I'd never really inflict that name on a boy)
  • Sophia (with initial [z])
  • Katerina (reference to a Slav)
  • Josef (any number of central/eastern European languages where j isn't an affricate)

2 comments:

Petra said...

I don't think you can use most of these names unless you re-adopt your family's more Germanic pre-immigration last name.

alea said...

maybe I can marry someone with an even cooler name and take that one. Then I'll be happy.

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