So I understand that these are all “real” names, but do you actually consider them usable here (in the US)? Would you think they’d invoke teasing or be too foreign? [name]Do[/name] you love them and say pffffft to those who don’t like them?
[name]Emile[/name]
[name]Etienne[/name]
[name]Ilya[/name]
(Child would also have French citizenship, but they’d be living in the US…and this is all theoretical, no baby on board!)
I live in [name]Canada[/name] where [name]Etienne[/name] and [name]Emile[/name] are middle aged and not super uncommon. I would consider them very usable. Not sure about in the US though. [name]Ilya[/name] (which I really like) might be a little harder to pull off unless you have some Russian heritage.
[name]Emile[/name]/[name]Emil[/name] for sure is usable.
[name]Etienne[/name] doesn’t sound bad. I’m not sure about the pronunciation, if pronounced with a french accent it might work but I’m not sure how an american will see it.
[name]Ilya[/name] - I’m such a fan but unfortunately I don’t think anyone’ll ever get it. It’s the ‘y’ that bothers me here. I think its other variations might be usable though, [name]Ilie[/name] for example or [name]Ilia[/name].
[name]Emile[/name] would be okay. [name]Etienne[/name] sounds a bit feminine to me, somehow. [name]Ilya[/name] would also be okay.
My younger brother has a friend named [name]Ilya[/name] and I don’t think he has ever had trouble with his name. He is of Russian descent, I believe.
[name]Emile[/name] - very usable in the US! I’ve known several [name]Emil/names, and they’ve never had a problem with it, as far as I know. Very handsome.
[name]Etienne[/name] - I’m not sure how it would be received, honestly. I can’t imagine it would be received badly. The only association to it I have is that in French class, a [name]Stephen[/name] decided to take the French version of his name, so he became [name]Etienne[/name], and he paraded around the school, going “I am [name]Etienne[/name]! I am [name]Etienne[/name]!” He was a dork, though, haha. He was all impressed with the name. I think it’d be fine, though. It’s not that hard to say, and it seems fairly classic. I remember reading stories about characters named [name]Etienne[/name] as far back as elementary school, so I wouldn’t think people would have that much of a problem with it.
[name]Ilya[/name] - I don’t know, I think people might think it’s girly, especially with the popularity of [name]Eliana[/name]/[name]Ileana[/name]/[name]Elea[/name]/[name]Elia[/name] on girls. I adore it, though–I am not an [name]Eli[/name] fan, honestly, but I love [name]Elijah[/name]–I had seriously considered [name]Elijah[/name] nn [name]Ilya[/name], I really love that. I think [name]Ilya[/name] on its own is grand, too.
I probably wouldn’t use [name]Ilya[/name]. It looks very feminine for the US - and many unfamiliar with the name will think it’s a girls name.
[name]Etienne[/name] - is so clearly french to me I don’t see why it wouldn’t work esp with French citizenship.
[name]Emile[/name] - I’m probably spell it [name]Emil[/name]. It would be the English spelling of the name and with [name]Amelia[/name] being popular I could see [name]Emile[/name] being considered a unique spelling of [name]Emilia[/name]. When in [name]France[/name] you can just ask people to pronounce the L. I have to do it all the time with [name]Alexandra[/name] - it’ constantly turns into [name]Alexandr[/name] which I hate. Explaining its the English spelling should eliminate any confusion on the French side.
[name]Emile[/name]- Definitely usable
[name]Etienne[/name]- Could work!
[name]Ilya[/name]- [name]May[/name] have problems
It really depends on where you’d be living. In LA, San [name]Francisco[/name], Seattle, [name]New[/name] [name]York[/name], none of them would present problems. In the Midwest or the South, or anywhere in rural areas, only [name]Emil[/name] would stand a chance, IMHO.
[name]Emile[/name] - Totally usable
[name]Etienne[/name] - Could work. [name]Etty[/name] is a great nn.
[name]Ilya[/name] - Could work. Illy is cute.
[name]Ilya[/name] is my daughters grandfather so of course I think it is usable. He lived in [name]Russia[/name] though
Tons of Russians in my home town. ([name]East[/name] Coast USA) I know so many Ilyas. I never pitied them. They had not 1/10th of the shit the guys named [name]Igor[/name] got.
I really do like [name]Ilya[/name] but I imagine the effect varies wildly depending where in the US you are.
[name]Etienne[/name], on the other hand, I’ve heard on (American-born) girls. I know its a male name but just going off the “to people who’ve never heard it” I really don’t get how [name]Etty[/name]/[name]Etta[/name] + -enne sounds more masculine than [name]Ilya[/name]. I’d go for [name]Stefan[/name] instead, more Continental than [name]Stephen[/name] but more familiar than [name]Etienne[/name].
[name]Emil[/name] I’ve heard used before. I don’t like it but I don’t see how it presents any problem. I think [name]Emile[/name] looks a little girlier but not too bad.