I’ve been posting about this on the Sibling board for awhile, but now that we’ve narrowed it down to two names, I thought I’d see if anyone on this board had any new insight!
We are either going to name our next son [name]Cavan[/name] (rhymes with [name]Gavin[/name]) or Cierdan ([name]KEER[/name]-den).
Our first son is [name]Rowan[/name] [name]Scott[/name] and the middle name for this next son will be [name]Jerome[/name] (family tradition. He will be the 4th “C. [name]Jerome[/name]”).
Our family doesn’t seem too keen on either name, particularly Cierdan (not sure why we even asked them their opinion this time around… my brother in law replied with “I like [name]Caden[/name].” No thank you.) but I know they will love it once it’s on a child. That’s just kind of how it goes.
My hubby and I are both leaning toward Cierdan, although I still have some mild concerns. 1: I’m worried it sounds feminine. 2: I’m worried it will be mispronounced/misspelled like mad.
Personally I don’t think it sounds feminine and obviously I’m drawn to softer boy’s names anyway, so it’s not a big deal to me, but I’d like to know what others think.
When it comes to the pronunciation and spelling issues, it’s pretty darn close to [name]Kiernan[/name]/[name]Kieran[/name]/[name]Ciaran[/name], so I’m thinking it won’t be as big of an issue as it seems. It’s actually pretty phonetic if you are going by international standards. The only issue would be if people try to pronounce it with a soft C rather than the hard K sound.
I survived a childhood full of mispronunciation/misspelling issues with both my first and last name without any emotional scarring, so it’s not that big of a concern.
When it comes to [name]Cavan[/name], I actually have more concerns about mispronunciation than with Cierdan; I’m sure [name]Cavan[/name] would be misheard/mis-said as [name]Kevin[/name], [name]Calvin[/name] or [name]Gavin[/name]. That would actually irk me more than having to correct long vs. short vowels/hard vs. soft consonant sounds. (When [name]Rowan[/name] was born everyone thought his name was [name]Rolland[/name] --!!!-- and it drove me nuts.)
The bonus of [name]Cavan[/name] is that it is close [name]Calvin[/name] (just take the “l” out) so it’s directly honoring Grandpa [name]Calvin[/name]. Any C name will honor him though due to the family “C. [name]Jerome[/name]” name tradition-- we don’t have to use something close to his actual name.
Another minor concern about [name]Cavan[/name] is that it is a place name in [name]Ireland[/name] with apparently negative connotations.
Whew!
So there are my concerns and my thoughts on those concerns. I’d really appreciate your always wonderful and impartial feedback! Thank you!