Angelos or Angelo?

[name]Hi[/name] all,

I’m 8 weeks preg with my first and just had my first ultrasound! All looks good, so I’m not as nervous and don’t feel like I’m jinxing myself by thinking about the name.

If it’s a boy, I have to name him after H’s dad according to Greek cultural tradition (I’m cool with this). H’s dad’s name is Angelos, a name I (thankfully) think is very pretty. We’re debating sticking with the Angelos spelling or going with the more familiar [name]Angelo[/name]. Middle name will be after my dad, whose name is Yiannis ([name]John[/name] in English). We want to be consistent, so the choices would be Angelos Yiannis or [name]Angelo[/name] [name]John[/name]. Last name starts with A and is long and Greek, though easily pronounceable.

Thanks!

I would go with angelo if it was me. :slight_smile:

I just saw that [name]Adele[/name] named her baby [name]Angelo[/name]! I hope this doesn’t cause a crazy resurgence…lol.

I would do [name]Angelo[/name] Yiannis or [name]Angelo[/name] [name]John[/name]

[name]Just[/name] out of curiosity, is the “s” on Angelos pronounced or does it just sound the same as [name]Angelo[/name]? The answer doesn’t change my opinion (at least I don’t think it will); I’m just curious.

Personally, I love the idea of Angelos Yiannis because I love tradition and keeping children involved in their culture and aware of where they came from. It’s certainly not a “light” name and it might be a little heavy to bear sometimes for a little boy (especially if most kids around him have names like [name]John[/name], [name]Tucker[/name], etc.), but he’ll likely appreciate it when he gets older … at least if it were me I would. You never really can tell. I think you just have to go with what feels right for your family in your area.

Actually, since both Greek names seems on the heavy side, I would actually vote for a mixture. I know you said you didn’t want to do that, but I’m just throwing it out there. It would give him an option if he doesn’t like the heavy Greek part of his name to go by the other one, and then that way when he’s older, at least he’ll have one Greek name to appreciate. If you’re thinking about that route, I vote for [name]Angelo[/name] Yiannis because it has a terrific flow.

Angelos has a hard “g” and a pronounced “s”. I wouldn’t be too picky with the pronunciation. My name is Evangelia (I’m tickled that my son and I would share the root Angel) and I’m long used to being called all sorts of things. To non-Greeks, I’d probably just introduce him as Angelo with an American accent.

Thanks for the responses!

Angelos Yiannis is so so beautiful.

Actually, I think it goes well with some of your “guilty pleasure” names, in the event of future sibs. Angelos and
[name]Anais[/name]
[name]Isadora[/name]/[name]Isadore[/name]
[name]Nicodemus[/name]

[name]Emma[/name], we already have predetermined sib names - the other grandparents :smiley: Thank you though! It’s lucky that I already have an affinity for Greek-sounding names.

I’m also brainstorming on nicknames for Angelos…there are already 2 cousins named Angelos.

I prefer just plain [name]Angel[/name], but if I had to choose it would be Angelos.

I’m actually considering [name]Angel[/name] for a nickname.

I love Angelos nn [name]Angel[/name]. [name]Angel[/name] is obviously heavenly and uplifting and all that, but it also has some… street cred. Could be worn by a tough urban kid or a sweet curly haired cherub.

I prefer [name]Angelo[/name]. [name]Both[/name] are quite handsome though. [name]Angel[/name] makes me think of [name]David[/name] Boreanaz. :slight_smile:

The -s on the endings are really just the formal versions of the name. Here in the states I noticed we tend to use the -s more often but my relatives in Greece would only use their -s for documents. Here you may notice that on his baptismal certificate he would be listed as Angelos Yiannis even if you decided to just call him [name]Angelo[/name] [name]John[/name].

Also per Greek cultural tradition your first born son would be your FIL name with your husband’s name as his MN. Actually all of your children’s names are supposed to have your husband’s name as their middle, male or female. Thankfully my parents didn’t follow that tradition and neither did I Your second born son is supposed to be Yiannis, after your father.

Short answer, being Greek, I would just go for Angelos Yiannis but just use [name]Angelo[/name] for everyday.

I just had another thought. Your FIL isn’t actually Evangelos instead of Angelos? Angelo is not a family name for us so there aren’t any in my family except for my Nouno (godfather) and his name is actually Evangelos. I notice that Angelo is his American nickname and if we are around older Greeks they will call him Evangelos.

So I change my answer. I like Evangelos Yiannis and still call him Angelo.

I know some other Greek parents that use Evan and another that use Evangeli as their nicknames and my son’s music teacher who recently moved here from Greece calls his son Angel.

I’d go with [name]Angelo[/name] [name]John[/name].

[name]Vickie[/name],

We decided not to give any of our kids my husband’s name as a middle name, though obviously it will be listed on their Greek passports (my husband is from Greece and we want to raise our family in Greece for part of the year). I didn’t get my dad’s name as my middle either! I want to honor my dad even if we don’t have another son, which is why I want Yianni for a MN (here in [name]America[/name] at least!) I should have clarified that we aren’t strictly sticking to Greek naming tradition but I didn’t know if there were other Greeks on here :wink:

The -s ending on male names (all male nouns) has nothing to do with formality. Rather, the name in the subjective tense would take the -s, as in “O Angelos mou milaei”. In the objective tense the -s is dropped, as in “Milao ston [name]Angelo[/name]”. It’s annoying that the different tenses don’t translate to English! You probably also noticed that we want to stick with the informal Yiannis on the birth certificate, rather than the baptismal [name]Ioannis[/name]. Another issue that they don’t have in Greece :stuck_out_tongue:

And no, my FIL is Angelos, not Evangelos. It’s not as common. Angelos is the male equivalent of [name]Angeliki[/name] (the female version is more common).

So you would use the -s ending on the birth certificate? Thanks!

Adding: Is your Greek name Vasiliki? That’s my MIL’s name :smiley: It may end up in my kids’ names too!

Thank you! I find the name [name]Angelo[/name] very masculine, which is weird because angels are not exactly manly :smiley: