A beautiful name for a Brazilian-Bulgarian baby girl...

Girl Names
1

[name_f]My[/name_f] boyfriend and I faced many difficulties when thinking of names for our first daughter, mostly because of our distinct cultural and linguistic origins and traditions.

I am a Brazilian daughter of a Greek mother and a Portuguese father who immigrated to [name_u]Rio[/name_u] de Janeiro a year before I was born. He on the other hand is Bulgarian, but grew up in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] (where we both met).

However, we were able to come up with a lovely name for our first child, but are having a rough time with our second and final child, which we now discovered to be another girl (his third):

[name_f]Helena[/name_f] [name_f]Petrova[/name_f] (Age two)

  • After my mother’s country of Greece ([name_f]Hella[/name_f]) and the name of my maternal grandmother. His mother’s patron saint. We also decided on the traditional Bulgarian patronymic, as long as she also had my family name.

[name_f]My[/name_f] step-daughter’s name is:

[name_f]Constantina[/name_f] [name_f]Petrova[/name_f] (Age six)

  • Originally in Bulgarian, the name’s spelled with a “k”, but he and his ex decided on the spelling with a “c”, to soften the name, which I find as equally strong, timeless, elegant and unique, as [name_f]Helena[/name_f].

We are stuck between:

[name_f]Maria[/name_f], a beautiful cross-culture name, as well as a family name (his grandmother and my paternal grandmother, aunt and sister)

Nevena (Bulgarian for the [name_f]Marigold[/name_f] [name_f]Flower[/name_f]), after his favorite Bulgarian actress. Reminds me of the Catholic Novenas, which I’m not so sure about.

[name_f]Emilia[/name_f], a more Portuguese version of his mother’s name, Emiliya.

[name_f]Theodora[/name_f], beautiful meaning (one of my favorites)

[name_f]Cecilia[/name_f] (his favorite), after the patron saint of music (he’s a musician)

[name_f]Julia[/name_f], beautiful name but so common in [name_u]Brazil[/name_u] right now it bother’s me. There are three [name_f]Julia[/name_f]'s just in [name_f]Constantina[/name_f]'s class.

[name_f]Valentina[/name_f], also lovely and strong. This is also a family name from his side, but I’m afraid of it being too similar to [name_f]Constantina[/name_f].

So, what do you guys think?

2

[name_f]Theodora[/name_f]. Absolutely. [name_f]Constantina[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f], [name_f]Theodora[/name_f]. I love how you can tell they are siblings, all equal in dignity, but each girl has a distinctive sound to her name. [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] is too close to [name_f]Constantina[/name_f], I agree. [name_f]Julia[/name_f] & [name_f]Maria[/name_f] are too common. [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] would be my second choice, it is a lovely name, and it would fit very well. But [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] feels like it has less elegance than [name_f]Helena[/name_f] & [name_f]Constantina[/name_f]. [name_f]Cecelia[/name_f] my third choice, because it would fit. But it sounds more modern compared to the classic sound of the other names. [name_f]Lovely[/name_f] names! Good luck :slight_smile:

3

I am probably a little biased, but I think [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] is so so beautiful! I also love [name_f]Emelia[/name_f], and I pronounce it as Eh-[name_u]MEL[/name_u]-ia. I know someone who named their little girl [name_f]Emelia[/name_f] and uses [name_f]Mela[/name_f] as her nn. I think [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] and [name_f]Emelia[/name_f] are classy, beautiful and unique enough that not everyone has that name.

4

I am probably a little biased, but I think [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] is so so beautiful! I also love [name_f]Emelia[/name_f], and I pronounce it as Eh-[name_u]MEL[/name_u]-ia. I know someone who named their little girl [name_f]Emelia[/name_f] and uses [name_f]Mela[/name_f] as her nn. I think [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] and [name_f]Emelia[/name_f] are classy, beautiful and unique enough that not everyone has that name.

5

I am probably a little biased, but I think [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] is so so beautiful! I also love [name_f]Emelia[/name_f], and I pronounce it as Eh-[name_u]MEL[/name_u]-ia. I know someone who named their little girl [name_f]Emelia[/name_f] and uses [name_f]Mela[/name_f] as her nn. You could use [name_f]Emmi[/name_f], [name_f]Emme[/name_f], and [name_f]Mila[/name_f] as a nn as well. I think [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] and [name_f]Emelia[/name_f] are classy, beautiful and unique enough that not everyone has that name.

6

I am probably a little biased, but I think [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] is so so beautiful! I also love [name_f]Emelia[/name_f], and I pronounce it as Eh-[name_u]MEL[/name_u]-ia. I know someone who named their little girl [name_f]Emelia[/name_f] and uses [name_f]Mela[/name_f] as her nn. You could use [name_f]Emmi[/name_f], [name_f]Emme[/name_f], and [name_f]Mila[/name_f] as a nn as well. I think [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] and [name_f]Emelia[/name_f] are classy, beautiful and unique enough that not everyone has that name.

Looking at the previous post, Theodora goes nicely with Constantina and Helena. They are all very strong names that aren’t soft I guess is the right word. I think Emilia would definitely go with the others, but it is a softer more feminine name.

7

I love, love, love [name_f]Cecilia[/name_f]. Especially with [name_f]Helena[/name_f] and [name_f]Constantina[/name_f]. It’s got this matchy-but-not in a beautiful way. I like how they all end in -a.