Aleksander
My husband and I love Aleksander! We wanted to find a Polish name (DH's from Poland and brought the long last name with him) English speakers are familiar with - unlike DH's poor older brother's name - Krzystof!
Anyway, our only issue is that it's not a family name. Our girl name - Julia Zaneta - is in honor of my late aunt and his late godmother. (And that's the Polish spelling of Julia, so I lucked out)!
The mn we would use for Aleksander - Marek - is my father's name in Polish (Mark) & DH's younger brother's name.
Should we just not care? I do like names to have a connection to relatives. I feel like if you end up not liking your name so much, at least you know that you have it as a connection to your family's past! Anyone feel similarly?
Re: Aleksander
Aleksander Marek is a great name. I really like Zaneta too. Is it pronounced with a long ee sound? (Zaneeta) It's very cool. Have never heard it before.
My DH's godmother pronounced Zaneta - "Z-ann-etta." (I hope that makes sense, I'm not the best at writing out the pronunciations!) It's like the Polish form of the French Jeanette. I like the Polish form MUCH better. Really dislike Jeanette!
I believe, though, that her mother made up the name, as Zaneta was born in Siberia. Her parents were Polish loyalists and big Francophiles! Thus, I imagine that we can really pronounce it however we'd like to!
I think it's fine!
I love both your girl and boy name!