I was away at an Armenian overnight camp, and here were some names I encountered while away. What do you think of them? Pronunciations are in the parentheses. Note that all the names are pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable. Especially with [name]TAH[/name]-mar. People have a tendancy to pronounce it tuh-[name]MAR[/name]
so, my questions for you:
what do you think of these names, in general?
how usable do you think these are on an Armenian-American child?
what are your favorites and least favorites?
I know two Armenian-Americans named [name]Sosie[/name] and [name]Anais[/name] nn [name]Ani[/name] :] I think they are beautiful names, I especially love [name]Sosie[/name].
[name]Sosie[/name] / Sosy (“SO see”) - reminds me of Kayser Soze from “Usual Suspects”. Sorry.
Nayiri / [name]Nairi[/name] ("[name]NYE[/name] ree") - I’d go with the second spelling, I think it makes the pronunciation more intuitive.
[name]Tamar[/name] ("[name]TAH[/name] mar") - Very pretty.
Talar ("[name]TAH[/name] lar") - Sounds vaguely similar to [name]Talon[/name]. I’d prefer [name]Tamar[/name].
[name]Karin[/name] / [name]Kareen[/name] (“KAH reen”) - people would probably want to pronounce it “[name]Karen[/name]” with the first spelling, but I do think that’s the prettier spelling.
[name]Carine[/name] (“KAH ree nay”) - I think this would probably get pronounced Kah-reen too. It’s very pretty though.
[name]Mariam[/name] (“MAH ree am”) - [name]Lovely[/name].
[name]Aleen[/name] / [name]Aline[/name] ("[name]AH[/name] leen") - Reminds me of [name]Eileen[/name] which seems dated.
[name]Alis[/name] ("[name]AH[/name] lees") - Sounds either like [name]Alice[/name] or A Lease for rental property.
Taleen / Talene / [name]Taline[/name] ("[name]TAH[/name] leen") - Another “talon”-sounding name.
[name]Ani[/name] (“AHN ee”) - Very cute.
[name]Lori[/name] ("[name]LORE[/name] ee") - NMS. Too '80s for me.
[name]Anais[/name] (“AHN ah ees”) - I love this name, but worry about the similarity to Anus.
What beautiful names. My favorites are [name]Sosie[/name], [name]Mariam[/name], Taleen, and [name]Anais[/name]. I think [name]Sosie[/name] is my favorite though”very sweet but feels hip and cool, too!
[name]Tamar[/name] makes me think of the biblical [name]Tamar[/name]. [name]May[/name] want to read that story before you name a child that. I loved [name]Carinne[/name]
I like them. Some are a little bland, like [name]Karin[/name], but some are beautiful. I don’t dislike any of them.
how usable do you think these are on an Armenian-American child?
I wouldn’t hesitate to use any of them if I were you. I love when people use names from their heritage, I think your child would like to have that connection, and none of these names would be hard to live with. The pronunciation problems are the only thing, since some of the names are so easy to change to English. [name]Ani[/name], for instance will probably be called [name]Annie[/name] in school. I know a little Icelandic American [name]Iris[/name], pronounced eed-ees. When she’s older and goes to school, I really doubt it’ll get pronounced her way. So if you’re okay with that, cool!
what are your favorites and least favorites?
Favorites are starred, don’t have a least favorite!
