Is my grandmother’s name too strange or too ugly to name a baby girl?
She died a few years ago, and I think it might be nice to use her name for my baby- probably as a middle. The problem is that she is the only person I’ve ever known with that name, so I only associate it with her, and immediately think ‘frail old lady’ when I hear it. Another problem is that it needs a pronunciation guide, and I’m sure that everyone will mispronounce it every time they see it.
The name is [name]Genya[/name]. Pronunciation: rhymes with [name]Kenya[/name]. The ‘G’ is a hard ‘G’ like the ‘G’ in ‘Good’.
It’s a Russian name, short for [name]Yevgeniya[/name]. [name]Yevgeniya[/name] is the Russian form of [name]Eugenia[/name]. My grandmother’s name was never [name]Yevgeniya[/name] though, only [name]Genya[/name].
What are your thoughts on the name [name]Genya[/name]? Is it ugly? Does it sound “made up”?
I actually think it’s cute, it might need some explanation on the pronunciation but really I don’t think it’s that hard to figure out and if it’s just going to be in the middle she probably won’t say it or have to explain it to people very often and it’s a great way to honor your grandmother.
That being said if all you think of when you say the name is an old lady and can’t picture it as a name for your baby girl maybe you could find another way to honor your grandmother, maybe using [name]Eugenia[/name]/[name]Eugenie[/name] or something with a similar meaning like [name]Adelaide[/name] or something similar in sound like [name]Kenya[/name]
I think that [name]Genya[/name] is beautiful, unique and classic all at the same time.
My cousin named her daughter [name]Genya[/name]…after her Grandma (baba) who, in English, was called [name]Jean[/name].
I think it’s pretty. I would have pronounced it with a soft G if I weren’t told how to pronounce it though. But that’s not a huge problem. People manage to mangle the simplest names if they’re not incredibly common. And what a great way to honor your grandmother!
Thanks for the replies! It’s good to hear people’s opinions on this name, since it’s not one that’s seen often.
I am a little worried that everyone will pronounce it Jee-nee-a.
One way I was thinking to honor my grandmother’s name is to use something that sounds/looks like [name]Genya[/name], but is a little more common. For example, [name]Gianna[/name].
What do you prefer- [name]Genya[/name] or [name]Gianna[/name]?
I don’t expect that pronunciation to be common; it takes more effort. Jenya will be common, but easy enough to correct.
I’m not a fan of substituting an unrelated name that only looks or sounds similar to a name you want to use, whatever your reason for wanting the name in the first place.
I think it’s great! I wouldn’t worry about people not being able to pronounce it - it seems fairly obvious to me. And since it’ll be a middle name not many people will be using it.
I have a cousin named Evgenyia (pronounced very similarly to how you spelled it out - the Greek pronunciation, anyway). She’s 2, nearly 3, so I am used to hearing it on a little girl even though I also associate it with my grandmother (I have [name]Eugenie[/name] as my middle name :D).
I think you could definitely use it, although I too would have pronounced just ‘[name]Genya[/name]’ as ‘Jenya’. But as it’s a mn you shouldn’t run into too many problems.
I don’t like the substitute [name]Gianna[/name], but in our family my other cousin (named after the same grandmother… yes there are a lot of similar names in our family!) became [name]Evelyn[/name], which I think is a very young and fresh take on [name]Yevgeniya[/name]. Perhaps that could be an option for you?