Zosia MIDDLE NAMES?

plainoljane

We stumbled across this name the other day on a name blog, and it brought back a lot of memories for me. My greatgrandmother's name was Sophie, but Polish speaking family called her Zosia. My grandfather named his dog Sophie, and when he gets angry he speaks Polish, and I would often hear him call her "Zosia". The fact that he named his dog Zosia kind of, not really does not bother me a bit. For some reason its a vogue thing in my family to name dogs after deceased relatives. Here are our two hesitations: 1 We know it will be butchered, DD1 name is as well Esme, but how much? prn Zuhsha, between a Zah and Zoe sound at the beginning, think Eastern European... I texted DH's aunt and she guessed it was pronounced like Josiah... "J" sound and all. What?! LOL 2 We hate hate hate Zoe. No offense to anyone with a Zoe its just completely not our style. I feel like we could avoid this nn, WDYT?Middlename SEE COMMENTS FOR MORE ELABORATION!! would be some other family names. My maternal grandmother is Viola and we've been toying with the mn of Violet because of the two "uh" sound endings. Orrrr we've thought about having a double middle name: Zosia Helyn Jane Helyn with a "y" because my great grandmother was so trendy to use it back in 1927.Sorry long post. Opinions welcome!

austenreader85

I would have pronounced it Zoh-shuh.  Are you saying it might sound closer to Sasha with a Z?  I think it's pretty to look at and say (either way) and I would never think anything like Josiah.  But you will of course get ignorant guesses. 

Zosia Violet is very pretty.  I'm not the biggest fan of double middle names but I don't shun them either.  Technically I think it's fine and right to use the family spelling, but honestly, Helyn does make my eye twitch a bit.

plainoljane

austenreader85:

I would have pronounced it Zoh-shuh.  Are you saying it might sound closer to Sasha with a Z?  I think it's pretty to look at and say (either way) and I would never think anything like Josiah.  But you will of course get ignorant guesses. 

Zosia Violet is very pretty.  I'm not the biggest fan of double middle names but I don't shun them either.  Technically I think it's fine and right to use the family spelling, but honestly, Helyn does make my eye twitch a bit.

Mine too! I think if we did the double mn route we would do Helen Jane. I haven't decided yet at all! (Honestly haven't decided on Zosia either, LOL).

As far as pronunciation, I have heard it several different ways, but I think for simplicity we would anglicize it more to Zoe-sha. The "o" is hard for me to explain to pronounce, I grew up around Polish so its easy for me to prn, but not so much explain, and DH can't do the "o" exactly right either. The closest I can say is either "Zuh" or a really really fast "zo-a-sha".

olalex7

I was born and raised in Poland and I absolutely adore this name. I don't have any help with pronunciation, but I don't think it would be difficult, although people do butcher the most common names, so you never know. Another thing to consider, that you kind of mention, it's a nn for Zofia, which in turn is more difficult to pronounce. 

plainoljane

starscream:

Isn't Zosia the name of one of the actresses on that show Girls?nbsp;Anywho, I would not know how to pronounce it. I see it, I think Zoseeuh.

Zosia Mamet! I think she pronounces it to rhyme with Sasha. I adore her.

MayDayGirl

I thought like Josiah. Sorry. Pretty name though

kaylynne

I thought it was Zoh-shuh

pretty

bumpuser5823822

My first guess was Zo-see-uh. I would have totally butchered it.

I think the pronunciation problems would deter me.

stahlop

kaylynne:

I thought it was Zohshuh pretty

This is what I thought too. I like it.

g8trkim

I think it will get butchered as well. I'm not surprised your aunt thought it was like Josiah. I mean it has "sia" at the end. I've only heard this name on one person (the actress from that show Girls) and hers is pronounced like like Sasha with a Z.

Personally, I wouldn't use it for the pronunciation issues. However, I think Violet Zosia would be a great compromise. You get both names you love and you wouldn't have to worry with her having all the name issues.

SunshineMuffin

I'm familiar with the name, so pronunciation isn't an issue for me. That said, it's easy enough that if someone is told how to pronounce it once, there won't be future difficulty. I would certainly not let pronunciation deter you.

=Lee=B

I thought it was close to Josiah but with a 'z' at the beginning. It's cute though.

jkuns7ty

I think people worry too much about others pronouncing names correctly. I grew up with an extremely common name, but had to tell people how to pronounce/spell my last name all the time. Frankly, I would have preferred to have to tell people how to pronounce my first name than had the same name as 10 other girls in my high school graduating class.

If you love it, use it! 

huntjul

Zosia is one of those names I look at and have no idea how I'd pronounce it.  I guess Zo-Shia?  If it has enough family history that you're happy using it despite constantly having to correct people, then maybe.

FWIW, Esme is a much easier name to pronounce.  Not a problem!  So if you think you are correcting a lot now...

526SadieSadie

I thought it was pronounced like OSHA with a Z in front of it.  I only recognized it because of Zosia Mamet from "Girls".

My friend's mom was born/raised in Poland and her name is Marzena (Mar-ZJon-uh) that ZJ sound threw too many people off when she moved here so she goes by her middle name (Anna).  I think Marzena is really pretty!

Murphie82

I like Violet Zosia for a name.  I have the same concerns you do - that Zosia will be butchered by the vast majority of people trying to pronounce and/or spell it.

In the end, if you love the name, go for it.

plainoljane

Thanks everyone for your input! At this point I think the pronunciation issue is going to be a non issue. Like some PP's said, f you correct people once they will usually have it down. I also talked to a friend who said that prn issues can come with virtually ANY name annuh or ahnuh, myuh or meuh, vyelet or vyeohlet.

We're still slightly concerned about a nn Zoe and debating mns does Zosia Viola "cushion" sound weird? Or are there enough syllables separating the two? Any ideas? We must must incorporate my grandmother's name viola Jane somehow, names very close are okay. And of we can get a double mn using names like or exactly Helyn Josephine is good too. Thoughts? Tia!

firsttimeauntie

I thought this too

TKtravels

I pronounce Zosia correctly, but then again, I'm half Polish, have lived in Poland, etc.  

As for Helyn as her middle name, I can understand wanting to honor your relative.  I think though that you can use her name as inspiration and opt to spell the name Helen.  I wouldn't be able to bring myself to use the y'd spelling because that drives me crazy, even if that is how your great grandmother's folks decided to spell her name.