Thoughts on [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] as a middle name?
Some background… My husband is Polish (born there and immigrated to [name_f]Canada[/name_f] as a child); his family speaks Polish, as does he. We like the name [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] for a middle name (pronounced EH-va), but does that spelling seem to pose a problem in a predominantly English-speaking country? I’m worried kids will see it and think EW-a and it will be a point of teasing. In contrast, if we over Anglicize her name, perhaps she’ll wish it was more reflective of her culture as she grows up. Her first and third names would be classic English names, with a Polish surname that isn’t typical of that culture (you wouldn’t read it and assume it’s Polish).
I love [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] but should we spell it [name_f]Eva[/name_f]?
I think it’s totally fine, and it is a nice nod to her culture. [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] won’t have a lot of problems with pronunciation because it will be in the middle spot, and middle names are barely used nowadays. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if she decides to use it, it’s really easy to correct people on it. “It’s pronounced like [name_f]Eva[/name_f]” and that’s it. Name teasing is at its lowest right now, and I don’t see [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] as a name to get teased for at all.
I think, as a middle name, [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] is totally fine. It’s lovely and reflects her heritage. I don’t even think it would be bad as a first name, but I do understand where you’re coming from.
It’s cute, but I do prefer the [name_f]Eva[/name_f] spelling. But, then again, I love how [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] has meaning to you and your family. Whenever your daughter says her name out loud (if in front of other people), she will pronounce it as EH-va, so no one will really know that it is spelt [name_f]Ewa[/name_f]. But possibly if someone (mainly her peers) sees it written down, it could cause some teasing, although this probably isn’t very likely to happen.
If you end up spelling it [name_f]Eva[/name_f], it should have meaning to you, because it’s still similar to [name_f]Ewa[/name_f]. Either way, it’s a lovely name and a great choice.
Given that it’s a middle name, I don’t think the spelling matters much. Think about how often you use your middle name in daily life- it’s probably mostly on forms and things like that, where you’d be writing it down yourself, and it’d rarely be said aloud. If you want to use [name_f]Ewa[/name_f], go for it. And in fact [name_f]Eva[/name_f] might cause more problems given that most people would pronounce it ee-va rather than eh-va. (I’m Canadian too and I’ve only heard [name_f]Eva[/name_f] pronounced ee-va here, eh-va seems to be more common in Europe?)
For what this is worth… I live in an area with a lot of immigrants, some who have very ethnic names unfamiliar to English speakers and, some with totally English names that don’t reflect their heritage at all, and some with names that are common English names also used in their culture. I’ve never heard anyone say that they wished their name was more ethnic or less ethnic (whether they felt connected to the culture or not), so whichever way you go, I wouldn’t worry about that being a problem.
I agree that there will be no problem especially since it’s in the middle. [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] is a lovely nod to her culture -and a lovely name! I say go for it.
I agree with everyone else. I did pronounce it incorrectly when I first saw [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] but if it makes you any less concerned about teasing I thought EH-wa (kind of like [name_f]Emma[/name_f] with a W instead of M) not EW-a.
Umm…as a mom, I have to take issue with the assertion that kids don’t tease each other over names nowadays.
They totally do. And this is exactly the sort of thing kids tease each other about, actually. My kids are decent humans and know I’d be calling them out on it if they were ever to affectionately tease a hypothetical classmate/friend/neighbor kid about having a middle name that could be mispronounced as “Eww-uh”, BUT they’d still do it. And, I have to tell you, after (hypothetically) chastising them and threatening them and beseeching to get them to have a little bit of compassion for another kid, etc, etc, I’d be secretly giving the side eye to the parents who thought everything would all be fine if they gave their kid this particular middle name.
That said, it IS a lovely nod to your heritage, as PP said.
[name_m]Just[/name_m]…go with [name_f]Eva[/name_f]. You’ll thank me in about 8-13 years.
[name_f]Ewa[/name_f] is totally fine as a middle name. I think it’s pretty. It makes me think of [name_f]Princess[/name_f] [name_f]Estelle[/name_f] [name_f]Silvia[/name_f] [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] [name_f]Mary[/name_f].
