Opinions?

[callmepatsy.livejournal.com]

So partner and I have been thinking about names...a boy is set, but as far as girls we're at an impasse.  There is a name we both LOVE, but we're not sure of it would be cruel to potential-female-child to use it.  Basically, I'm American and he's British, and we both have very common, "normal" English names.  We're currently living abroad in Russia, but we'll likely move back to either the US or the UK within the next few years.  The name we like- Ksenia- is fairly common in Russia, but there is no English equivalent (it's not like Anna or Katya or Natalya, which can be easily anglicized.)  The spelling in English is also pretty weird looking.  So guess I'm looking for opinions on 1.) would it be ridiculous to use a name from a culture we have no real connection to other than living here for a bit, and 2.) will potential-female-child eventually hate us for giving her a strange, hard-to-pronounce and weirdly-spelled name?  and 3.) will said weird, hard-to-pronounce first name sound silly with a common British last name?

Comments

[stacyinthecity.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't Xenia be the English equivalent?

[callmepatsy.livejournal.com]

I've always pronounced Xenia as beginning with a "Z" sound. The name we have in mind is definitely pronounced "Ke-senya". I've always assumed Xenia to be the English version of Женя (Zhenya).

[stacyinthecity.livejournal.com]

I believe Zhenya is the equivalent of a diminutive of Eugenie.

[callmepatsy.livejournal.com]

Yes, Zhenya is a diminutive of Evgeny or Evgenia.

[annainthecity.livejournal.com]

Native Russian here - everywhere that I've seen in the US, Xenia is the English equivalent of Ksenia. It's not traditionally/usually pronounced with a Zh, but as an X sound. Xena is the other one I've seen in the US, pronounced both with an X sound and a Z sound, but still as variations on Ksenia. Either way, I think if a name sounds "right" to you, go for it. I wouldn't even convert it to an X, but then again, I'm Russian so I may not be the best voice of reason on this :)

[laminy.livejournal.com]

1: No.
2: I don't think so.
3. Probably not.

I say go for it!

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Xenia is definitely an English letter spelling of Ksenia. You can see the exact same thing in names like Maxim/Maksim--it's just that in this case, English speakers instinctively pronounce initial letter X as a [z] sound. Xavier is pronounced with a "ks" sound in a few languages, but traditional with a "z" in English.

I think it's all going to depend on how you "market" the name to her and others--if you are overly defensive, don't explain it well, etc, then she might have a chip on her shoulder about it and resent it. If you're genuinely pleased with it and happy to explain (over and over) why you chose it, she will probably have a similarly happy feeling about it. "It's a Russian name. We're not Russian, but we fell in love with the name living in Russia." It doesn't take long, but you will probably have to do it a lot.

You'll also have to decide how you will deal with people who CAN'T pronounce it--who pronounce it as "Kuh-sen-ee-uh" or whatever, despite correction. This will happen when you have a name with multiple ethnic pronunciations; I have some people who persist in pronouncing my daughter's name "Philippa" according to Spanish etc "Filipa" pronounciation despite correction. If that makes you crazy with rage, you should be aware of it.

Edit: Uh... I just saw that you INTEND to pronounce the name with four syllables, am I reading that correctly? I thought the sound in Russian was a consonant cluster, and pronounced with three syllables? I could be wrong.

[wolf-shadow.livejournal.com]

I love that one too. I'm a Russianist but can't get it past the husband at all... If you like it, use it. It's not like it would be hard to pronounce in English. It's a beautiful older name and personally I'd prefer a more unusual first name with a common surname as it means it's more likely to be you. One thing though that I would say, silly though it is, as a child growing up with a then relatively unusual name, I loathed that I couldn't ever get my name on things like pens and rulers, but that was the only thing that got to me... Would you shorten Ksenia? Oh, and do you go with the ya or iya sound at the end (I've seen both in original documents, so...).

By the by, I've heard some Russians say that Oksana is the modern form of Ksenia, but I don't quite trust that as I have no sources...

[wolf-shadow.livejournal.com]

Ks-en-ee-ah /Kuh-sen-ee-ah (hard to write exactly how I'd say it) would be how I would expect it to be said. The first syllable is sort of elided into the next, so it's almost 3 and a half syllables, if that makes sense?

[callmepatsy.livejournal.com]

I didn't type it phonetically right, was just trying to emphasize the "ks" sound. We'd pronounce it with three syllables. I have students with the name, and to my American ear it's "ksen-ee-ah."

[callmepatsy.livejournal.com]

We've been saying it with an iya sound at the end, but spelling it in English as "Kseniya" somehow looks more complicated for an already unusual name. We'll probably use the Russian diminutive "Ksusha," since the boyfriend LOVES that, but not sure if we'd shorten it otherwise.

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to say I love Ksenia due to a lovely canadian actress named Ksenia Solo <3
It's such a cool name.

[mini-vulpini.livejournal.com]

I have a friend named Kseniya (Russian-born, living in the US). I'm not sure how much she likes or dislikes her name in general, but I know that mispronunciation and misspelling are a common annoyance and that she always uses a completely unrelated common American name as her "coffee name" (in unimportant one-time situations where she has to give a name) to avoid hearing it butchered, having to spell it out, or having to explain it's origin. People tend to mispronounce it Ke-senya or Ka-senya (adding a vowel sound between the k and s) because the Ks sound seems to be difficult for English-speakers to replicate. The soft/palatallized se and ni sounds of course are also pronounced the English way with hard consonants. As a native speaker, the pronunciation is unpleasant to her. Of course, if you don't stay in Russia long, your little girl won't hear much of the Russian pronunciation of her name and will be used to the English one.