I’m from Scandinavia and my husband is Mexican. We love to talk about names even though we aren’t planning having children yet. We want to give our future child two names - one Scandinavian and one Spanish - since we want our child to fit in both countries and cultures.
As for the Scandinavian GIRL name, my favorite name is Lavendel (which means lavender and is pronounced Lavennel) and although my husband likes the name, he refuses to use it since it includes the words Lavende - in Spanish La vende means she sells it (which he feels could be interpreted as referincing a prostitute). He argues that I don’t understand Mexican culture, where he feels that any subtle reference to something sexual will be taken advantage of - meaning that the child will be teased in school etc.
On the other hand, I have a hard time seeing the problem since the child will have a Spanish name as well, so she doesn’t even have to use Lavendel in Mexico (where it is common that people go by either first name or the second name or even just by a nickname.) Basically she would only be forced to use it in school when teachers would read the full name. The name Lavendel would be a beautiful reference to my home country and she would be able to use it there. I also feel that since the name doesn’t have a bad signification in itself, it shouldn’t be a problem, but since I am not a native Spanish speaker (although I do speak Spanish - I did not grow up in Mexico ), I would love other Spanish speakers’ perspective on our naming difficulty. Is it a problem to give a girl the name Lavendel - as well as a Spanish name - in Mexico?
Thank you in advance