(Multilingual) little brother for Andrei

Dear Berries,

We are expecting a little boy in [name_u]June[/name_u] (yay!) and we are struggling with his name, as we did for his big brother’s, [name_m]Andrei[/name_m] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m], who’s just turned 2.
I am [name_m]French[/name_m], my husband is American but born in Romania, and we now live in [name_u]Sweden[/name_u], so we need a name that works in English, [name_m]French[/name_m], Romanian and Swedish – although to be honest, Romanian is not the priority as my in-laws have lived in the US for 35 years and the baby will have dual [name_m]French[/name_m] / American citizenship like his brother.
The middle name will be Elenio, which was my (Italian) grandfather’s name (and so rare and cool that it would be criminal not to use it!)
We like solid, classic names, nothing too trendy or too daring, but with our linguistic constraints, a lot of the names we would have been happy to use are off-limits because they would be butchered ([name_m]Beno[/name_m]ît, [name_m]Etienne[/name_m] …) or because they’ve already been used by family or close friends ([name_m]Paul[/name_m], [name_m]Thomas[/name_m], [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m], [name_m]Anton[/name_m], [name_m]Simon[/name_m], [name_m]Daniel[/name_m], [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m], [name_u]Tristan[/name_u], [name_m]Julian[/name_m], [name_m]Mathias[/name_m] - my brother- and [name_m]Marius[/name_m] - my husband … dammit, people have good tastes !).

So that leaves us with a list of three :

  • [name_m]Victor[/name_m] Elenio : my husband’s favorite, already a contender when we had [name_m]Andrei[/name_m] (which is probably why I’m a little off it now). I find [name_m]Victor[/name_m] a bit too aggressive and it is very popular in our “circles” (well, mine : educated Parisian 30-somethings…), so a lot of friends of friends have used it (mind you, we don’t live in [name_u]Paris[/name_u] anymore so maybe I should not care so much).

  • [name_m]Felix[/name_m] Elenio : my favorite, but DH thinks it’s not “serious” or “manly” enough ( I disagree!!!). It is also the name of a second-degree cousin I haven’t seen in 15 years, so it might raise a few eyebrows on my mother’s side of the family, but nothing I would beat myself up about.

  • [name_m]Martin[/name_m] Elenio : I love the sound of [name_m]Martin[/name_m] in [name_m]French[/name_m] (it’s a perennial [name_m]French[/name_m] classic too but less given than, say, [name_m]Paul[/name_m], and less trendy than revitalized grandpa names like [name_u]Jules[/name_u] or, for that matter, [name_m]Victor[/name_m]). It works less well with [name_m]Andrei[/name_m], maybe, and people here in [name_u]Sweden[/name_u] find it a little bland (it’s something like the equivalent of [name_m]Brian[/name_m]: given to every other boy in the 80s and 90s), but we don’t know how long we’re going to stay here and at least everybody knows the name.

What do you think, wise ladies (and gents ) ? Any thoughts or suggestions ? Should we stop trying to accommodate all the language constraints and just go with a name we like (say, [name_m]Pierre[/name_m]), even if it may be mispronounced ? Or do the “translation” thing ([name_m]Pierre[/name_m] on his ID papers and in [name_f]France[/name_f], [name_m]Peter[/name_m] in [name_u]Sweden[/name_u] and the US, [name_m]Petru[/name_m] in Romania)?
Many thanks in advance !

All three first names are very handsome, but I love [name_m]Felix[/name_m] Elenio and [name_m]Martin[/name_m] Elenio the most. Between those three names you really can’t go wrong!

[name_m]Felix[/name_m] is my favorite.

Thank you both for your replies !
My husband still needs some convincing on [name_m]Felix[/name_m] – and came up with [name_m]Virgil[/name_m] as a new suggestion, while in the meantime I was considering [name_m]Tobias[/name_m] … We still have two months before the baby is born, we’ll figure it out (hopefully!).

My favorite is [name_m]Felix[/name_m] Elenio, followed by [name_m]Martin[/name_m] Elenio. Both handsome names.

From your added names, I love [name_m]Tobias[/name_m] Elenio. That would move to my favorite.

I love [name_m]Felix[/name_m].

I love [name_m]Felix[/name_m]! Does it help that it’s the name of a Danish prince?
I also like [name_m]Victor[/name_m], it seems like a classic. I’ve heard [name_m]Viggo[/name_m] used a nn which is cool.
As a [name_u]Dane[/name_u], [name_m]Martin[/name_m] seems bland to me (I know so many Martins born in the early 90s!)

I don’t think you should do the translation thing, most people will try and learn how to pronounce a name correctly if you give them the chance.

My vote goes to [name_m]Felix[/name_m], with [name_m]Victor[/name_m] as the runner up!

I love [name_m]Pierre[/name_m], people in the US should know how to pronounce it. [name_m]Tobias[/name_m] is lovely as well

I think [name_m]Martin[/name_m] is really nice but I also like [name_m]Felix[/name_m] a lot. [name_m]Martin[/name_m] sounds quite fresh to my ear because I’m Canadian and it isn’t common here at all. [name_m]Felix[/name_m] is cool but is starting to sound a bit too trendy - it’s very up and coming I think.

I’d also suggest:

[name_m]Cedric[/name_m] Elenio
[name_m]Julien[/name_m] Elenio
[name_m]Sebastien[/name_m] Elenio (or just [name_m]Bastien[/name_m])
[name_u]Luca[/name_u] Elenio
[name_m]Emil[/name_m] Elenio (I like that this combo is also an alliteration like your other son)
[name_m]Henrik[/name_m] Elenio
[name_m]Wilmer[/name_m] Elenio
[name_m]Hadrian[/name_m] Elenio

I also love [name_m]Tobias[/name_m] Elenio. I think it is certainly cross cultural (I have much of the same problems that you do). [name_u]Tobin[/name_u] is another option, but doesn’t flow as well with Elenio.