(no subject)

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

I’d like to hear some opinions on names for our baby (I’m 25 weeks). Baby surname is Brizuela (Briz-way-lah). I understand people might hate that we have a mishmash of cultures in the names (Spanish surname, Japanese, French and we already have a daughter with a Sanskrit name, Priya). This doesn’t bother us so we’re more looking for opinions on the names themselves.

For a girl we’re pretty attatched to the name Amélie Darling.

Amélie - my husband wants to honour our French family and I love the sound/meaning/film. My question is do we leave the accent on or off? I feel the name isn’t really French without it but don’t want a lot of confusion for her later in life. Is this one of those things we can put on her birth certificate and she can take it or leave it as she likes?
Darling – this is after my husbands cousin, Darling, (13). She absolutely epitomizes the word Darling and we adore her. Since she lives in the Philippines we didn’t feel it would be too awkward using her name, especially as a middle name.

What do you think of this?

Second, for a boy we really like the name Hiro Asher.

Hiro – I’ve previously posted about this name and the general feeling was that yeah, it was okay. I really, really love the name Hiro but it’s the name I have the most hesitation to use. Namely because both my mother and my MIL keep telling me it’s awful and “we’ll regret it” later and we’re cursing him to having to explain the spelling of his name forever. I love this coming from my mother who named my sister Benedicte and ‘cursed’ her to the same fate. Even I have to spell out my name all the time and it’s Georgia! My husband is asian (Filipino) with some Japanese ancestory so I don’t feel it would be too out of place. I really love the meaning “bright and generous” and love the sound of it. I just wonder if people are going to look at me like “U named ur kid Hero?”. Please give me your opinions or experience with using a name everyone told you you’d regret.

Asher – We just love the meaning “Fortunate, Blessed, Happy”. We couldn’t ask for more than that.

I would like to hear opinions. I am open to hearing if the names are horrible or general opinions on if they sound okay together/on their own and especially in regards to the name Hiro. Sorry it got a little long, this is on my mind a lot!

Comments

[fangirlism]

With Hiro, you might get a lot of "was he named after the Heroes character?" opposed to what you're worried about.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

Good point, I keep forgetting that. We can honestly reply that we heard the name from a man named Hiroshi, nn Hiro (my aunts boss). I know most people who've seen the show will think of Hiro from Heroes. In which case another question I should add is should you use an unusual name which has featured on a incredibly popular TV show?

[hwar.livejournal.com]

I think Amélie and Hiro are similar in how recognizable they are based on their fictional characters. Frankly I think both the movie and the tv series are positive associations. Normally I don't go for famous names but in this case I think they fit your style, sound good with your last name, etc. I am not so hot on Darling as a middle name (sounds twee to me, like Precious or Princess) but I love Asher.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Amélie is fine, I'm just sorry that nowadays it gets confused with Emily, while they're two totally separate names.
Darling is ..kind of out there. I like how it sounds, but the meaning would hold me back a lot. It's just very pretentious.
Hiro - my two concerns would be the confusion with "hero" and also the character from Heroes, but that's bound to fade (hopefully) as he grows older. That said, since it's a legit Japanese name, I would feel comfortable using it if I were you, it's not your fault if people don't know better.
Asher - Not my style, but it's a perfectly decent name.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

I agree that I find it annoying that it is now often confused with Emily. Especially here in Australia where people pronounce it in all kinds of bad. My sister is CONVINCED it's Am-Ah-Lee. I am lucky though as we have some French family and they all know how it's pronounced.

I hadn't even considered that Darling might sound pretentious! Haha. That's my preggie brain for you. I don't think I realised it could sound that way as in my mind it is already attached to our cousin and I haven't ever thought the name was a bit stuck up. If she wasn't as adorable as she is and had the name Darling I might have thought it a bit weird but I've also felt it really suits her and hadn't considered what people might think of someone called Darling.

I do keep clinging to the fact that Hiro is a Japanese name and not something we made up so people can get over it.

[celestinenox]

The accent with Amelie: I know in Louisiana, the program we use for birth certificates doesn't allow special characters, so whether or not you can put it on the birth certificate depends on the capabilities of the program used to create birth certificates where you live. In terms of whether or not she can add or leave it off as she likes, that's a legal issue. Technically, whatever is on her birth certificate is her legal name and what she should sign on all legal documents. Some people working in jobs that require legal signatures are more strict about this, some are less. We are very strict; if the name is something like Latoya, and on her birth certificate it says La'Toya, then she should always sign with the apostrophe and capital T. If it appears as Latoya on her birth certificate, then we will ask her to not add any apostrophes or capital letters other than L, even if she normally does.

Hiro/Hero: Shakespeare had a character named Hero in "Much Ado About Nothing." Plft on anyone who would look at you strangely for that. And you might not get as many people asking as you think, after all, Hiro is the name of one of the characters in the anime Gundam Wing, so with the child having obvious Asian ancestry, more people these days might understand how the name is supposed to be spelled.

As for just my general opinion on those names, I think they're great, and you should name your kids what you want. These are you and your husband's kids, no one else's.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the info on birth certificates. Where I am, Australia, accents are allowed on birth certificates so at least I know she can have it written there. I'm still unsure whether to use it or not though. It is the correct way to spell the name so think we should go for it, it's just hard here because people have no idea how to use accents in pronouncing a word.

I know a lot of people my age and thereabouts are aware of how Hiro is spelt, and even for those who aren't I think it's pretty easy to say "Hiro with an I". Whereas for my daughter, I have to spell it right out. If I say Priya with a Y people write it as Prya and if I say Priya with an I they use Pria. If I say Priya with an I and a Y they look at me like I am speaking Spanish.

[celestinenox]

You're welcome! If Australian birth certificate programs allow special characters, then absolutely go for the accent mark! People will have to get used to it; the internet is helping the world get smaller, and more people are becoming interested in other cultures and languages. Names are bound to be one the first thing that bleeds across cultural borders.

Bah, Priya is a short enough name. It'd be worse if you always had to spell a name like Cy'Briunatea (actual name).

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

How do Australians typically pronounce Amélie/Amelie? (I peeked at your userinfo to see where you're from.) I'm curious, because I'm from the U.S. and while people here tend to pronounce it "Ah-muh-lee," in French it's "Ah-may-lee." So if I were to use that accent here, very few people would pronounce it the correct way anyway, and one might get away with not using it.

I like your taste in names. ^_^

[harinakshi.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much what I was thinking. If you can, use the accent otherwise it "Americanizes" it and changes the pronouciation. At least if she's having troubles with people pronouncing her name right it's not because it's spelled horribly or it's barely a real name at all, it's just foreign.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

I have heard just about every pronunciation of the name Amélie. "Amily, Am-ah-lee, A-muh-lee, Am-lee (?), Ah-may-lee", I figure just like with my daughters name I will have to say "This is Ah-may-lee" and go from there. At least all her friends and family will pronounce it correctly and she'll have to deal with receptionists and whatnot getting it wrong the first go.

Thank you!

[beepandetch.livejournal.com]

I love the name Amelie. I wouldn't bother with the accent, it's unnecessary.

Darling seems pretentious but the fact that it's a middle name and a family name might make it okay.

Hiro is cute but I could see it being embarrassing for a boy to say his name is Hiro/Hero (if not in Japan). He would most likely start using his middle name.

Asher, love it.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

My mum says the exact same thing about a boy named Hiro, she is convinced he will be calling himself Asher. We don't intend to send our children to regular school so we aren't too worried about school yard bullying over his name.

[samaside.livejournal.com]

I don't know what you mean when you say not going to 'regular school' but teasing in school tends to be universal. Though I don't think a Hiro would get made fun of that much. It's a pretty average Japanese name and it's pretty legit. I mean, if he can pull it off it'll be a great name.

[killer-inme.livejournal.com]

i love the name Amélie. Before i found out i'm going to have a boy, one of the girls names i'd have chosen was Amélia. Definately with the accent. but that's because i'm part Swiss, and use french and english as my first languages. As i'd be speaking french with my child it makes sense having the accent in the name, but if you're not living in france, or speaking the language, it wouldn't make much sense to have the accent in, as it could cause confusion later on in life. I think Amelie is still quite french without the accent anyway

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

It's good to hear an opinion coming from someone else who is French. Our family in France told us the accent has to stay! I don't mind, I just don't want her to be really confused or confuse others. My sister's name is Benedicte and she has not used her appropriate accents. She did for a while start using them thinking it was trendy and made her name more feminine but it wasn't on her birth certificate and it didn't really stick.

[tiphanism.livejournal.com]

I like Amélie. Particularly if you're consciously using it for its Frenchness, I think you should use the accent. In French the accents are part of the spelling, not optional extras. E and é are different letters and pronounced differently. If you're going to pronounce it Amélie, spell it that way.

Hiro Asher is nice combination I think.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

We intend to pronounce it Amélie so I am thinking we may be best to stick with the 'correct' spelling. I guess on non legal documents she can leave it off if she doesn't like it.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Amélie is nice, but Darling is just too much. It's a bit silly, to be honest.

I like Hiro Asher.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

I hadn't considered how silly/pretentious Darling might sound until I posted it here. As I said in a previous comment I've always had the name attached to my cousin and because we love her so much by extension loved the name. I don't think it's too much of a problem though as it's a middle name and won't be used often. My middle name is Peach (yes, with the first name Georgia) and it's never been a problem for me.

[kort-ni.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who named her daughter Hero (after the shakespearean character, not as in super hero) and she hasn't heard any flack about it.

I say go with the names you love. Someone's always going to have something to say about it, just don't let it get to you.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think we will indeed go with whatever name we love but I just wanted to put it out to some strangers and get an idea of what other people think about the names (other than the grandma's who are probably just thinking that they'll be embarrassed to call their grandson Hiro).

[kilobites.livejournal.com]

I love Amélie, and I wouldn't normally like Darling but as it's a middle name, I can't complain. I tend to think that just about anything goes for middle names, so that combo works just fine.

Hiro Asher is quite nice.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

I think I agree with middle names. My middle name is Peach and my nieces is Love, we're still alright, so I think it's fine.

[harvestlunacorn.livejournal.com]

I love Hiro Asher.

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you, me too :)

[harinakshi.livejournal.com]

Hiro is a bit odd for America since it sounds JUST like Hero. But, all I can think of is Hiro from Heroes and he's my favorite character so I find the name quite endearing.

[frost.livejournal.com]

I love Amelie, but Darling is a bit pretentious, sorry. Won't matter too much as a middle name, though. ;)

Hiro...is going to be odd in an English speaking country, unless the kid is obviously Japanese (in which case, people would most likely understand that it is a Japanese name). If not, people are going to automatically think of the word 'hero.'

(The Heroes character never occured to me, since I've never seen the show.)

I think I'm the odd one out- I don't like Hiro Asher; don't like the way it sounds. I kind of like Asher on its own, though.

[azelmaroark.livejournal.com]

Amelie is nice. Darling is up there with Precious and etc. I know it's a family name, so use it if you love it, but without knowing the story behind it I'd find it rather trashy.

I like the flow of Hiro Asher, but I'll never not think of the guy in my icon.

[pixietangerine.livejournal.com]

i like both of your names. amelie (with or without the accent) is pretty and i looove that movie. :) darling is one of those names i secretly love but would never use myself (same with honey...they both just sound so love-y and nice! sigh) but i think as a middle name it really doesn't matter if it's a tad out there.

i like hiro, though my first thought is the show heroes...which isn't really a good association for me. i'm not a fan of the show. i'm sure that association won't be a big deal, though. hiro is a nice name, easy to pronounce and very respectable. paired with asher, i like it even more. i didn't know asher had such a great meaning!

i also really like your daughter's name. can i ask what her middle name is?