foreign names, impressions please :)

sjowlien86

Dear ladies!
My boyfriend is French and I am Dutch; together we speak English. We need a name that works in all three languages, but when discussing names both of us have such different associations and opinions, also because of our different cultural backgrounds.

Now I am wondering what your (mostly American?) opinions and associations are with these names, and if you would have difficulties pronouncing them..

Last ultrasound looked like a boy, but they were not sure so I included both:

Boy names:
- Florian
- Matthis
- Youri

Girl names
- Loise
- Romae

What type of name do you think those names are? Classy, trashy, traditional, exotic? Not too foreign or uneek? Thank you so much!

eliztheforrizz

I like all your boy names and they seem easy to pronounce (if I am saying them correctly? Flo-ree-un, Math-iss, Yoo-ree?) They definitely feel international but not too out there. The girl names are a little trickier (I am assuming Lo-ees, Row-may?) but not impossible. I would love if you could clarify pronunciations for us.

As far as what type of names, I would say definitely not trashy, maybe exotic (but as I said, the impression for me is more European/international), and as long as they are legit, I would say they have a classic feel.

fghmama6701

I would personally think Matthis and Loise were just Matthias and Louise, misspelled. Youri and Romae are different, but I can't say I would side-eye them. I'd assume they were foreign names. Florian translates wonderfully into the English language, it's uncommon but not unheard of. Wonderful name!

sjowlien86

@eliztheforrizz yes you have the pronounciation quite right! However if it is pronounced a bit differently in each language I wouldn't mind; I have the same with my name and never made it a problem.

We would say more Matt- ees but math-iss would also be fine, maybe he will like to use Matt for short we wouldn't mind.

Would love to hear more opinions and ideas, thank you already!

maxcrown

I love Matthis (though I prefer Mathis) and would prn it mah-tees, but would easily say Math-iss if corrected. Love Florian as well. The others aren't really my style. Have you condsidered Dorian?

magsugar13

I LOVE Youri

MamaWren919

I like Matthis. It's not a common name in the US, but is nice and would be pronounced/recognized easily. I don't know how to pronounce the other names.

jessilee15

I really like Matthis. Never seen it really in the U.S., but easy to figure out and recognizable as a variant of Matthew/Matthias. Florian is easily translatable, though not my style. Youri might be a bit tougher, but still doable. Your girl names are a bit tougher - I would think Loise is either Louise or Lois misspelled, and not know what to say. I wouldn't know how to say Romae either. But if English isn't your first language, I don't think that matters. Both seem foreign but not deliberately unique

wassuphoes

I think they are fine, and skew traditional. 

Loise is a little confusing, as pp said, I'm not sure if it's supposed to be close to Louise or Lois. 

sjowlien86

I never realised but see now that Loise would be confusing; it is in between Lois and Louise and could be taken for a mistaken in spelling. Thank you for making me see this

CaboBride2015

Mathis and Youri are better than Florian imo. Youri does sound like a Russian name to me but that's probably from watching too many police dramas.

I think your girl names are tougher and I'd assume you misspelled Louise and Roma.

paytonpedro

Love Florian! I think they're all very nice! I love more classic European names (my family is traditional polish and I have thought of taking some family names )

Elsa1984

Out of your boy names, I like Matthis and wouldn't have an issue saying that name. The girl names were a little more tricky for me, but I would have to say that Loise was a little easier for me. I would recognize pretty much all of them (except maybe Matthis) as foreign.

Other suggestions (if you are open to them) that would probably work well in all three languages:

Boy:

Johan <--- easy for anyone to pronounce! Or Johannes 

Thijs <---- weirdly obsessed with this, although I don't know how well Americans will "get" this name

Girl:

Anja

Cecil

My mom has a dutch name (Teatske) and NOBODY could get it right in America, she ended up changing it to Thea (pronounced Tay-uh). Still growing up, people couldn't get that right, so she went by Terry throughout school, and then changed the spelling to Tay.a (without the period) after graduating, thinking people would have a easier time pronouncing it. Nope. People that know her, know how it is pronounced. Other people still call the house asking for a "Than-yuh" or a "Tanya"....and occasionally a "Thay-uh".  

MixedBerries88

I feel like @DutchLucyLu would have some great input here!

Love your boy names. I really like Florian for some reason. All work fine on English.

I might go back to the drawing board on the girl names. Don't get me wrong, they're both lovely but may not work too well in English. Loise for the reasons discussed is confusing. Romae is fine but I am not sure I'd think it was a first name at first glance. Only speaking from an English language perspective here!

DutchLucyLu

Thanks for the page, @MixedBerries88!

OP, I think you're boy choices are all good. Not a big fan of Matthis, but it's legit. Might cause some trouble with prononciation in both Dutch and English, though. Youri with a 'y' reminds me of Yann. Have you considered that one? I think that would work in all three languages. Alternative to Florian could be Fabian.

I think boys names ending in 'ier' (Olivier, Xavier) might also work in all three, though English-speaking people will probably pronounce that with an extra syllable. But you're always going to have some variation in pronunciation.

Romae is NMS, and I don't really understand Loise. Why leave out the 'u'?

Not sure if you're looking for alternatives, but I'm going to suggest a few names (some of which are on our list)  that might work for you.

Boys:

Ruben
Arthur
Hugo
Julian/julien/Jules
Lucas
Alexander (we'd go for 'Lex' as a NN)

Girls:
Josephine (MH loooves this one)
Sophie/Sophia
Noëlle
Agnes (DH hates this but what does he know?)

Chloé

Good luck!

dramaphile

My mom has a cousin named Matthis, but I'm pretty sure he was named after country singer Johnny Matthis. It's an old enough reference I think it won't get picked out. I think it translates nicely and would not be hard to pronounce. Florian is easy to pronounce, but might be seen as less than masculine?

For girls, what about Eloise instead of Loise? It's common enough in English that it won't get mispronounced or look misspelled. Roma is another alternate option for Romae.

secretbaba

I love Florian and Romae. Unfortunately I can't think of any suggestions better than above, specifically @DutchLucyLu