Me and my husband have a short list of names that we really like for our daughter.
Our favorite is Susannah. I really love this name, and since we are a very international family it was important that it works in all languages.
I am German and he is Persian but we live in Sweden but also want the name to work in English, so that is 4 languages.
I am worried about initials. Our last name starts with S and that would make her initials SS. As a German I am a bit worried about these initials. How would you react?
Middle name would likely be Rosa (same as my middle name).
Other names we are considering are:
Eva
Magdalena Catharina (Maggie the Cat)
Anamary
Anouk
Marie-Josephine
Middle names (family names) we are considering are:
Rosa
Viola
Andrea
Catharina
Ingrid
Miriam
I may be overthinking, but I just want the name to be perfect haha
I’m Canadian and the SS connection didn’t occur to me until you pointed it out, but if it bothers you I do feel like you’d have a better sense than I do as to whether it would stick out to other Germans.
[name_f]Susannah[/name_f] is a lovely choice. Speaking from a [name_m]German[/name_m] perspective myself, I’ve known a few people with the initials SS and they haven’t experienced any problems, nor have I immediately made the connection upon hearing their name. I don’t think many people outside of [name_u]Germany[/name_u] would make the connection straight away or be bothered by it, so it hopefully shouldn’t cause any issues in future.
I would go with [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] if that’s your favourite – initials aren’t something relevant in day-to-day life and shouldn’t be much of a burden in my opinion. Especially as you don’t live in [name_u]Germany[/name_u] the association will probably be much weaker.
[name_f]Susannah[/name_f] [name_f]Rosa[/name_f] sounds lovely. [name_f]Ingrid[/name_f] and [name_f]Miriam[/name_f] would also make lovely middle names for [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]! From your first name list, I absolutely love the name [name_f]Anouk[/name_f].
I understand the concern, but I don’t think it’s the first thing that will come to people’s minds. Granted, I’m in the U.S., so that could affect my answer. But here, when asked for our initials, we usually get to decide whether to use 2 or 3 (most of us have a first, a middle, and a last name, so three initials). And so if she uses, say, SCS, that waters down the association considerably. If you choose to monogram things, you can always have three initials and then the focus is not on SS.
I’m strongly in favor of you using [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]. It is one of my favorite names in the world. I have had some miscarriages, and the first one that I thought was a daughter, I named [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]. It’s gorgeous and timeless.
When I think of SS, I only think of ships. Like the SS Barter or, you know, something like that. I love alliteration in a name, too, to I think [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] S is pretty cool sounding! As a middle, I personally like [name_f]Ingrid[/name_f] very much. [name_f]Rosa[/name_f] is a lot of s’s and a’s next to [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]. But, since it is your middle name too, I still think it would be lovely!
I’m in the UK and I wouldn’t think anything of SS initials. Lots of people have SS initials so I can’t see it being a problem, especially if you live outside of [name_u]Germany[/name_u].
I know what SS means, but if I saw the initials written down in the context of it being someone’s name, I wouldn’t make that association.
[name_f]Susannah[/name_f] is a lovely name but I’d also love [name_f]Anouk[/name_f] [name_f]Rosa[/name_f] and [name_f]Eva[/name_f] [name_f]Miriam[/name_f]
When you mentioned SS and said you’re [name_m]German[/name_m], I immediately made the connection you’re concerned about. In saying that, with an R middle name and the fact that you live in [name_u]Sweden[/name_u], I don’t think it’s problematic enough to deter you from using the name.
In saying that, if you’re looking for opinions, I prefer [name_f]Anouk[/name_f] and think [name_f]Anouk[/name_f] [name_f]Rosa[/name_f] or [name_f]Anouk[/name_f] [name_f]Viola[/name_f] would be absolutely gorgeous. But of course you should use your absolute favourite and if that’s [name_f]Susannah[/name_f], I say go for it!
If her middle name was [name_f]Rosa[/name_f], or she had indeed any middle name for that matter, then her initials wouldn’t be SS anyway. I wouldn’t worry.
I adore the name [name_f]Susannah[/name_f]! And it’s great that it fits in with all your language requirements. I’m American, so I wouldn’t have made any connection with the initials if you hadn’t brought it up. However, there must be other Germans with those initials. I don’t think you should avoid a beautiful name because of the initials. Also, if you live in [name_u]Sweden[/name_u], I don’t see how it could be an issue there. Please use beautiful Susannah!!
Since she will have a middle name her initials aren’t really SS anyway so I really wouldn’t worry about it. [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] is a lovely name.
I think that if you use a middle name it will be fine, so there will be an extra letter in the initials. You seem to love [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] [name_f]Rosa[/name_f], so I would go for it!
When I initially saw the initials SS I did think that’s a bit awkward especially with the [name_m]German[/name_m] connection. I know I am in the minority and maybe I’m just hyper aware due to have family who died in concentration camps along with having family who survived and have relived terrible moments at the hands of the SS it makes the initials standout more. Maybe if I wasn’t from a Jewish family who had experienced Nazi Europe then it’d be different. It’s a shame because [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] is beautiful!!!
From your list I absolutely love the idea of [name_f]Anouk[/name_f] [name_f]Rosa[/name_f] that’s beautiful