After years of trying and three rounds of IUI I finally got pregant with IVF. We are expecting our first-born in July. At the 12 week scan the technician said that 80% likelihood it is a boy. And all of a sudden I started to doubt our whole boys list. For a long time we had agreed on [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] but it just doesn’t feel right at all. After that we just couldn’t find any name we both agreed upon until today.
We love the sound of [name_m]Ivor[/name_m], [name_m]Ivar[/name_m] (both pronouned EYE-var) and [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] (EYE-van) - but which one to choose?
The additional problem is that while my husband is English and we have an English last name, we live in Germany this leads to the following considerations:
[name_m]Ivor[/name_m] - I like the association of [name_m]Ivor[/name_m] Novello and Scotland (where we used to live), love the look of the spelling and am worried that Germans may pronounce it EE-vore (like [name_m]Egor[/name_m]).
[name_m]Ivar[/name_m] - My husband loves the Norse/Viking history and it is the original spelling. I’m worried about theassociation of the equally named Ikea shelf and English or German people pronouncing it EE-var.
[name_m]Ivan[/name_m] - Another nice sounding option with strong Russian associations (though neither of us has anything to do with Russia). Germans would probably say EE-vahn.
What do you think? Any immediate favourites? Any bad associations? Do you immediately think Ikea shelf when you see [name_m]Ivar[/name_m]? Is the name ruined because of it? Would you say EYE-var or EE-var?
PS: The middle name would be [name_m]Clemens[/name_m] after my granddad.
First of all, so many congratulations! I was thrilled to read your news; it’s amazing that after all this time and heartbreak you are finally going to see your dream of becoming a mum come true My cousin is sadly going through the same experience at the moment and after three failed IUIs she has her first IVF scheduled for [name_u]March[/name_u] this year. Hopefully they’ll have as happy an outcome as you guys!
Anyway, I always loved your taste in names ([name_m]Frederick[/name_m] is lovely, too) and I think [name_m]Ivor[/name_m]/[name_m]Ivar[/name_m]/[name_m]Ivan[/name_m] is just fabulous, as is [name_m]Clemens[/name_m]. My personal favourite (as a [name_u]Brit[/name_u] living in [name_m]Britain[/name_m]) is [name_m]Ivor[/name_m], but I do think that as you live in Germany and want the EYE-var pronunciation, it makes most sense to go with [name_m]Ivar[/name_m]. Bonus points that it ties in with your husband’s love of Norse history and no, I don’t think the [name_f]IKEA[/name_f] shelf is an issue at all.
[name_m]Ivan[/name_m] is a lovely name too but I like the individuality of [name_m]Ivor[/name_m]/[name_m]Ivar[/name_m] more. There are lots and lots of 2-syllable ends-in-n names for boys around at the moment and, though [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] feels more solid and timeless than most of them, it still risks getting lost a little bit in the crowd.
To sum up: [name_m]Ivar[/name_m]. I actually really like both possible pronunciations and unless you really dislike EE-var, I don’t see it as a huge issue. [name_m]How[/name_m] is it with your surname? I only ask because sadly it doesn’t work at all with mine, which is quite “wordy” - it sounds like “I’ve a XXX”. That’s the only potential issue with all three of these that I can think of, but I’m assuming that it works fine with your surname.
Thank you both for your replies. It’s nice to hear you like the names too and that their isn’t any one of them that produces a particularly negative reaction. And [name_f]Katinka[/name_f], I’m really touched you followed my story. It’s been a pretty wild ride but fingers crossed it will all be nice and quiet from now on.
I think it will end up being a one-on-one between [name_m]Ivor[/name_m] and [name_m]Ivar[/name_m]. I slightly prefer the former, my husband leans towards the latter. We still have 6 months to make up our minds though. Luckily our last name isn’t wordy at all. It’s a bit like Brunswick (also ending on -ick which always clashed with [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] - ick-ick - but I never saw it before).
I think EE-var doesn’t sound bad at all but I love the sound of EYE-var. It has something very soft and melodic to it without sounding girly at all.
Anyway, thanks for both your advice. It’s helped a lot already.
I agree with @[name_f]Katinka[/name_f], and I didn’t think of the [name_f]Ikea[/name_f] connection. Also, count me as another who has followed your posts and and is thrilled for you @dottipanda!
I also agree about how lovely and soft the EYE-var sound is (though I like ee-var too). It wouldn’t be too hard for him to introduce himself and say the preferred pronunciation. Interestingly, my middle name, [name_f]Ida[/name_f], is usually said with the ‘eye’ sound in many places, when the original Swedish pronunciation is actually ee-da. It hardly matters being a middle though!
I like all your names and I think [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] is very cute too but you said that you don’t want people to pronounce it the [name_m]German[/name_m] way which probably won’t work because it’s the most natural pronunciation for all Native speakers. I’m Swiss and I prounounced it like EE-vor and EE-var in my head but I think that sounds lovely too.
I like [name_m]Ivar[/name_m]. I think it might be a bit of a problem for Germans to pronounce the way you want it at first, but there are so many kids now with names from other languages that it shouldn’t be a problem for people to learn.
Thanks so much for all your feedback! It’s helped us so much already. We are currently heavily leaving towards [name_m]Ivor[/name_m] for the following reasons:
[name_m]Ivar[/name_m] is not a wholly unknown name in Germany unlike [name_m]Ivor[/name_m], so while people probably think they know how to pronounce [name_m]Ivar[/name_m] (EE-var) they’d be stumped with [name_m]Ivor[/name_m]. We think it’s easier to tell people “It’s pronounced EYE-ver” if they haven’t seen the name pronounced any differently before.
[name_f]Iva[/name_f] (EE-fah) is a girl’s name in [name_m]German[/name_m] and I can see confusions arrising between [name_m]Ivar[/name_m] and [name_f]Iva[/name_f]
I find [name_m]Ivor[/name_m] a little nicer to look at written out than [name_m]Ivar[/name_m]
There is no immediate [name_f]IKEA[/name_f] shelf results when google imaging [name_m]Ivor[/name_m]
My husband’s brother’s daughter is called [name_f]Isla[/name_f] which is phonetically quite similar to [name_m]Ivor[/name_m]/[name_m]Ivar[/name_m]. We don’t see them too often so it’s not a big problem but [name_m]Ivor[/name_m] is at least three letters different to [name_f]Isla[/name_f] even if it sounds quite similar.
I think those are great reasons to favour [name_m]Ivor[/name_m] @dottipanda, it would definitely stand more handsomely apart from [name_f]Isla[/name_f] and [name_f]Iva[/name_f], particularly if the girls name [name_f]Iva[/name_f] is well recognised/used.
It’s interesting how a new name has emerged for you now that you’re expecting. I sometimes wonder if, were I lucky enough to have a baby, there would be a new name not even on my long-time list that would emerge and be chosen!
Thanks! I love [name_m]Clemens[/name_m] too. It has wonderful associations of my grandfather and a beautiful meaning. We did consider it as a first name but decided against it because there is already a little boy named [name_m]Clemens[/name_m] in our immediate circle of friends.
I wasn’t quite expecting being thrown of course so much wrt names but somehow none of my long time favourites seemed to fit the “feeling” I have with this baby. It sounds really odd and it’s probably all down to hormones but [name_m]Ivor[/name_m]/[name_m]Ivar[/name_m] just feeld right when I think of my belly bump.
I just happened upon this thread and wanted to say that I love [name_m]Ivor[/name_m]/[name_m]Ivar[/name_m]!
We will likely use [name_m]Ivo[/name_m] as a first or middle after my late father if this baby is a boy (and the u/s tech seemed to think so), but my husband has actually suggested we consider [name_m]Ivor[/name_m] as a variant. I pronounce [name_m]Ivo[/name_m] as EE-vo - my father was Dutch after all - but [name_m]Ivor[/name_m]/[name_m]Ivar[/name_m] as EYE-vor, probably because I was raised in the US and don’t have the same prior association with this name.
[name_m]Ivar[/name_m] does not make me think of the [name_f]Ikea[/name_f] furniture piece, but I do prefer the [name_m]Ivor[/name_m] spelling.
My cousin is sadly going through the same experience at the moment and after three failed IUIs she has her first IVF scheduled for [name_u]March[/name_u] this year. Hopefully they’ll have as happy an outcome as you guys!