I am due 5/20 with my first child, a little boy. While I am 100% Italian, my married name is Irish–an O’ name. My husband and I would like to name our child a short Italian first name. What are your thoughts on mixing two very ethnic names? [name]Both[/name] first names that I like also have a strong “k” sound as does my last name. Is that too much?
Thank you for your thoughts!
We are in a similar boat. We are having our first, also a boy, and my Dh’s family is Colombian-American, my family is Polish-American, and yet our LN is pretty much British/English with no hint of either heritage. I’ve gone back and forth on this, and I find that I am happiest when I pick a fn that flows well/“goes” with our LN. So I am gravitating towards traditional English names (although trying to find underused ones so that his name doesn’t sound bland).
I also think it’s just harder with a boy… with girls you can get a little more adventurous and many “ethnic” names have become mainstream. With boys, depending on the language/origin in question, the name can be a cultural/stylistic disconnect more. If we were having a girl, we probably would give her a Spanish first name.
This is a tough one! Especially since some great Italian boy names end in o and your last name starts with o.
However, no matter how it sounds, I think if you really want to have your son’s Italian heritage represented in his name then you should give him an Italian first name. So what if it sounds mis-matched. People will wonder about the pairing, they might ask him about it and then he gets to talk about his family history. Could be a good thing.
You could play it safe and give him an Italian name that has a more English/American nicname.
[name]Mateo[/name] ([name]Matt[/name])
[name]Luca[/name] ([name]Luke[/name])
[name]Tomaso[/name] ([name]Tommy[/name])
again - too many o ending names!
good luck.
It can be done. My example of someone who has pulled it of amazingly is [name]Shaquille[/name] O’[name]Neal[/name].
I have boys that look 100% Japanese, my DNA seems to have lost every battle, with English FNs and a French LN. Everyone seems to like their names.
I think it’s fine. If it’s your cultures and your names (where you don’t get a choice in either), what can you do? I don’t think the first name has to go with the last name in terms of languages.
I think there’s nothing wrong with it at all! I plan to do something similar. [name]One[/name] of my favorite names is [name]Mackenzie[/name] and if I could convince DH to use it I totally would not mind the “culture difference!” It’s one of the things that makes it so appealing. And what’s even more funny is that my DH only loves American names, not latin names. I love both versions, sometimes I like the latin names more but when I think of American names as a way to express my side of the culture mix, it makes them more appealing!
That being said, I always try to think of a name that my in-laws wouldn’t butcher trying to pronounce. If they modified it to something I like, it would be okay, but not something ugly, if that makes sense. For example, I like the Spanish version of my name but not with all names.
I hope that helps!