Really stumped on a name for Nikolai’s brother. We speak both English and a Central European Slavic language at home, so need something that works in both languages. He’ll be at home in both the US and Central Europe. We love Nikolai’s pan-European feel and familiarity in the US. We call him Nick and Nicky a lot too, giving him a European name with a nickname that’s very common in the US. Best of both worlds!
If this baby is a girl, our current frontrunner is Hazel (not so pan-European, but we love it).
We know Nikolai leans Russian, though there’s also a Danish Prince Nikolai, and since we have no ties to Russia, we’d like to steer away from that (so no Dmitri, Aleksei, etc.). Spelling should be somewhat phonetic: not a hard and fast rule, but for example, TH, SH, CH, J are pronounced differently in our languages. We’re ideally looking for names that are comfortable or at least usable in Central Europe and the United States. Familiar or unusual, but not wildly popular.
Some names on the list:
Isaac
Blaise
Alexander (too common and expected next to Nikolai? Plus, the nicknames aren’t singing)
Bellamy (probably more of a guilty pleasure)
I like [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] and [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] with [name_m]Nikolai[/name_m]. I don’t think [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] is necessarily too expected with [name_m]Nikolai[/name_m], although it is more popular in the US. [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] feels like a natural choice for an English/Slavic bilingual household. I like [name_u]Blaise[/name_u] as well, but it feels very [name_u]French[/name_u] next to [name_m]Nikolai[/name_m].
I really like [name_u]Bellamy[/name_u], [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] and [name_m]Alexander[/name_m], although I have to admit that [name_m]Nikolai[/name_m] and [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] together immediately make me think of Russian tsars.
[name_u]Blaise[/name_u] is also cute but to my ear it sounds less European and more solidly English/American and could be difficult to pronounce depending on the languages you’re contending with - I know my non-English speaking, Eastern European family members would find it a bit tricky.
Since our family is also Pan-European and American, I’ll share some boy names we’ve considered (seconding a lot of suggestions from @VEL!):
Oh gosh what wonderful suggestions!
From the names listed I love
[name_m]Isaac[/name_m]
[name_m]Alexander[/name_m]
[name_m]Dominic[/name_m]
[name_u]Leo[/name_u]
[name_m]Matteo[/name_m]
[name_m]Marek[/name_m]
[name_m]Oscar[/name_m] / [name_m]Oskar[/name_m]
[name_m]Hugo[/name_m]
Conrad/Konrad
I will suggest
[name_m]Benoit[/name_m]
[name_m]Otis[/name_m]
[name_m]Linus[/name_m]
[name_m]Lucien[/name_m]
[name_u]Julian[/name_u]
Albie/ Albert/ [name_m]Albus[/name_m]
[name_m]Garrett[/name_m]
Hm, your names all feel very American/English to me, save [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] (and maybe [name_u]Blaise[/name_u] could be [name_u]French[/name_u] but then that’s also very specific).
With [name_m]Nikolai[/name_m] I would pair something slightly more cross-European, now not all these will still be popular in all of Europe but they do feel rather fresh thinking about the “American name market”, I’m thinking [name_u]Julian[/name_u], [name_u]Florian[/name_u], [name_m]Vincent[/name_m], [name_m]Benedict[/name_m], [name_m]Matthias[/name_m], [name_m]Augustin[/name_m], [name_m]Emilio[/name_m], [name_m]Maximilian[/name_m], [name_u]Henry[/name_u], Dominic,…
Thanks so much! I agree that Blaise would be odd to pronounce in a Slavic language, which is very phonetic. My worry with Alexander is exactly that - sounds like a history of Russian Czars (not that that’s a bad thing, but it would stand out for sure!).
Wonderful names! I love Robin - very underused!
Caspian/Kaspian has been one I’ve loved for ages. Might take some convincing for my husband His grandfather was Hugo, so that’s been a contender as well!
They definitely lean far more towards American/English than what we hear in Europe (save Alexander). I guess I’ve been in Central Europe for so long that all of the names here sound really tired and overused to me (though they’d be very interesting and unusual in the States!). We’ll end up back in the US sooner rather than later, so it would be nice to stick with something with a European flare
Wonderful suggestions! I really love [name_m]Augustin[/name_m] and [name_u]Julian[/name_u]!
Thanks so much! I agree that [name_u]Blaise[/name_u] definitely feels [name_u]French[/name_u], especially next to [name_m]Nikolai[/name_m]. I’m surprised that I don’t hear [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] more often since I am surrounded by bilingual families. Maybe it’s a bit dated and that’s why?
[name_u]Love[/name_u] [name_u]Adrian[/name_u], [name_m]Anton[/name_m], [name_u]Dominik[/name_u], [name_m]Valentin[/name_m] (especially Valentin!), and [name_m]Viktor[/name_m] (I had a great uncle [name_m]Victor[/name_m], actually)
I am so grateful for all of your amazing suggestions!! Thank you so much! Definitely added to my list
I’m glad to hear that [name_u]Blaise[/name_u], [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], [name_m]Alexander[/name_m], and [name_u]Bellamy[/name_u] seem like generally good options! Keeping them on the table (maybe as middle name options too).
I really love:
[name_u]Adrian[/name_u]
[name_m]Anton[/name_m]
[name_u]Julian[/name_u] (love this and could probably overlook the pronunciation difference)
[name_u]Dominik[/name_u] (too much [name_u]Nik[/name_u] though?)
[name_m]Valentin[/name_m]
[name_m]Viktor[/name_m]
[name_m]Oskar[/name_m]
[name_m]Caspian[/name_m]
[name_u]Remy[/name_u]
[name_m]Hugo[/name_m]
[name_m]Matteo[/name_m] / [name_m]Mattias[/name_m] (though [name_m]Mattias[/name_m] would be pronounced differently in the two languages)
[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] (was a strong contender for Nikolai)
[name_m]Garrett[/name_m]
[name_m]Klaus[/name_m] (I love this, but not sure if another [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] variation works?)
Florien/an “Finn” is great!
[name_m]Andrei[/name_m]
[name_m]Ivan[/name_m] (one of my favorites, but was the name of my favorite dog)
[name_m]Bram[/name_m] (love this, but too much with my last name, lol)
[name_m]Viggo[/name_m]
[name_u]Florian[/name_u]
[name_m]Isidore[/name_m]
[name_m]Alistair[/name_m]
[name_m]Baltasar[/name_m] “Baz” is fabulous (I’d never considered this)
[name_m]Isidore[/name_m]
[name_m]Casimir[/name_m] / [name_m]Kasimir[/name_m]
[name_m]Augustin[/name_m] (this is a top contender!)
It’s so interesting how many of the suggestions are very popular where we live, but might not be so common in the US, including: [name_u]Adrian[/name_u], [name_m]Marek[/name_m], [name_m]Martin[/name_m], [name_m]Roman[/name_m], [name_m]Lukas[/name_m], Miro/ek, [name_u]David[/name_u], [name_m]Mattias[/name_m], [name_m]Tomas[/name_m], Andrei/j, [name_m]Erik[/name_m], [name_m]Konrad[/name_m], [name_m]Oskar[/name_m], [name_m]Milos[/name_m], [name_u]Milan[/name_u], [name_m]Stefan[/name_m], [name_m]Marcel[/name_m], [name_m]Maximilian[/name_m] (all the [name_u]Max[/name_u] names!)
His grandfather was Hugo, so that’s been a contender as well!