My husband and I love the name Ainara (eye-NAH-ra) for our girl due in TWO WEEKS. This name is so beautiful and soft sounding, whimsical in Spanish. It’s a basque name meaning swallow (the bird) and it just sounds lovely. But, we live in Midwest USA, and English speakers cannot pronounce the Spanish “r” making the name sound a bit harsher and clunkier than in Spanish. I’m torn. My husband is from Mexico, and his family is basque and we love a name to honor that heritage. I love the meaning behind the name too-I love nature names and we’ve struggled to find a name we mutually like because of our language differences (I speak Spanish but no one in my family does). I get mixed reactions from family and friends when I say the name. People have pointed out to me that it may be lovey in Spain, but she lives here, and perhaps it sounds too different or weird here.
Do I say screw it and go with it? Or, do I look something else? With two weeks left we are really stressed about it and nothing else seems to fit! But I am VERY hesitant about committing to Ainara. I’m also worried that she’s going to be that student in school who constantly has to say her name, spell it, pronounce it for people, and as a teacher I always feel for those students. I also don’t want her to resign to whatever people call her because she is over correcting the world…
Thoughts?
And what do you think about Ainara?
Thank you!
[name_f]Ainara[/name_f] is a beautiful name and also comes with the built-in Spanish nickname [name_f]Aina[/name_f], which she could go by if spelling out her name gets tiring.
As for pronunciation issues, I would expect the name to be pronounced with an [name_f]English[/name_f] R in the US, and I actually think it’s quite pretty that way; however, as the R in [name_f]Ainara[/name_f] is not rolled/trilled, you can teach people how to pronounce it the Spanish way by telling them to pronounce the R the same way they’d say the TT in better or butter - that is, if you definitely want the Spanish pronunciation!
I think only you can decide that, and you are doing a great job of considering all the concerns. Some alternatives in case you want help with that are:
Wren (my favorite for you after reading the above)
Aya
Ayala
Ayla
Aurora
[name_f]Ainara[/name_f] is gorgeous and you should definitely go for it! It might be slightly mispronounced at times, but you shouldn’t let that deter you from using it.
I say go for it!! [name_f]My[/name_f] husbands family is Spanish-speaking and of Basque heritage, and we live in an English-speaking area of [name_u]North[/name_u] [name_u]America[/name_u]. [name_f]My[/name_f] family doesn’t speak Spanish at all. We chose [name_f]Ainhoa[/name_f] for our little girl, and it suits her to a T. We do have to repeat it a couple times for people as most people have never heard the name, but most people (especially kids) get it pretty fast. The pronunciation of [name_f]Ainara[/name_f] is pretty intuitive in [name_f]English[/name_f], and much easier to get right on the first try as an [name_f]English[/name_f] speaker as compared to [name_f]Ainhoa[/name_f]. I have no regrets choosing a Basque name for my daughter and would be very excited to meet another child with a basque name. I hope you go for it!
I’m not from the US but Australia, and am unfamiliar with Spanish as a general rule
But I read the name Eye NAH [name_m]Ra[/name_m].
I think it’s beautiful and it sounds like you truely love the name, I’d say it’s the ‘One’ by your description.
I say go with it. People will learn to spell/pronounce it.
And just because you spell/ pronounce it the way you would expect most people to does not mean you will avoid people who spell or mispronounce it.
We named my daughter [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] spelt like the city in an attempt to avoid confusion (after having an Emilia) and people still come up with the most random pronunciations and I have to spell it more than I have to spell [name_f]Emilia[/name_f]. Not to mention my mother in law has been spelling my son Theodores name with an a on the end for over 5 years (as in theodora).
[name_f]Ainara[/name_f] is gorgeous, both with an [name_f]English[/name_f] R and a Spanish R. Having such a lovely connection to her heritage would outweigh any negatives to the name, I imagine.
It will take people very little time to catch on to its (quite intuitive) pronunciation.
[name_f]Ainara[/name_f] is gorgeous and a sweet way to honor your husband’s heritage. Like the above pointed out, she could always go by her nickname. It is a pretty intuitive pronunciation and I imagine she would only have to correct people once.
