See the results of this poll: Which set best for brothers?
Respondents: 29 (This poll is closed)
- Alexei and Pietari : 9 (31%)
- Christophe and François : 16 (55%)
- These are both terrible combinations!: 4 (14%)
I think all of your choices are going to be difficult in the US. Mostly because (with the exception of [name]Alexei[/name] and [name]Philippe[/name]) the pn will be difficult for less worldly individuals to decipher - in particular children.
I personally like your [name]Christophe[/name] [name]Alexandre[/name] and Francoise [name]Phillippe[/name] choices the best though wish you had nn choices. I’d suggest
[name]Chris[/name], [name]Topher[/name], or even [name]Alex[/name] or [name]Andre[/name] and [name]France[/name], [name]Phil[/name].
Thanks 
I wish I had nickname choices too, but while I love the sound of [name]Christophe[/name] and [name]Fran[/name]çois, I don’t like [name]Chris[/name], [name]Topher[/name], [name]Frank[/name], or [name]Frankie[/name]… Ahh, dilemma…
I actually don’t like either combo and wish I could do [name]Alexei[/name] and [name]Christophe[/name] as a combo. Those are the 2 most easily pronounced and they sound great together in my opinion. [name]Alexei[/name] [name]Philippe[/name] and [name]Christophe[/name] [name]Fran[/name]çois sound amazing to me.
if I were forced to choose one of these sets, I would choose [name]Christophe[/name] and [name]Fran[/name]çois simply because they are easier to pronounce, but I don’t like them together.
well, I prefer [name]Alec[/name] and [name]Pete[/name], but I prefer the full names [name]Christophe[/name] and Francois, though I don’t know how you could (or even why you’d want to) prevent all nicknames. Unless these are book characters you won’t have much control over that after they’re around 6.
I wouldn’t want to prevent nicknames. I just wouldn’t personally use one I don’t like. Whatever their friends would call them is fine.
Honestly, in the US these would seen really, really pretentious. I wouldn’t even know how you’d pronounce Pietari, and I would say [name]Alexei[/name] [name]Ah[/name]-LEK-see, not [name]Alek[/name]-zay. Personally I’m not a fan of international variations unless they come from your particular cultural heritage. That said, I don’t mind [name]Christophe[/name]…but he’d become [name]Chris[/name] in about two seconds flat.
Oh wow. I didn’t even think of that… I kinda felt like people would be okay after being told how to pronounce it and given some super easy nicknames to use, but… Yeah, I suppose they might just think the kids have total jerk parents who are trying to hard. Like those awful tryndee names. Except un-American/too foreign. I’ll admit, I try hard to find a balance between unique and familiar. This is food for thought, indeed.
What about [name]Matthias[/name]? I really like that too, but unfortunately, not [name]Matthew[/name]. Is [name]Matthias[/name] pretentious? I also like [name]Enzo[/name] (but I’m not Italian), and Stéphane (stay-fahn) but not [name]Steven[/name]/[name]Stephen[/name]… Are these three too foreign for use?
I really like [name]Matthias[/name] and [name]Enzo[/name]! These actually translate very well. [name]How[/name] about [name]Matteo[/name] and [name]Laszlo[/name]? [name]Kai[/name] and [name]Luca[/name]? All are offbeat and international, but they fit in very well with [name]Mason[/name] and [name]Liam[/name] and [name]Kayden[/name].
I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Christophe[/name] [name]Alexandre[/name] & [name]Fran[/name]çois [name]Philippe[/name].Although I do not think these names would work as easy in the U.S., would definitely work in [name]France[/name]!
A friend just named her baby [name]Matias[/name] (Spanish spelling, I think?) and it definitely did not cross my mind that it was pretentious. [name]Enzo[/name] is also cool.
I voted for [name]Christophe[/name] and Francois above and think they are do-able in the States. But names like [name]Matthias[/name], [name]Mateo[/name], [name]Enzo[/name], [name]Lorenzo[/name], etc. would be much easier. (Not that your primary goal should be that they are “easy”).