Baby names
Sunday, 16 May 2004 08:36![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pneWe used to have more girl names than boy names… but recently we kind of agreed on a boy name. So when the doctor said it would probably be a girl, we were thrown a bit :)
We've got a name we kind of like right now—Amy. Dead simple for Americans to recognise, but Germans also have a decent chance of pronouncing it after hearing it. Whether they'll be able to pronounce it on reading it or spell it on hearing it remains to be seen; I'm not sure how well-known the name is over here, but it's not completely unknown.
One reason I like it, though, is that it fits into the phonology/morphology of some other languages I know, such as Greek (η Έϊμη, της Έϊμης, την Έϊμη [i Amy, tis Amys, tin Amy]), Japanese (e.g. 詠美, 英美, 瑛美, 栄美, 永美—which, incidentally, would all be "Yeongmi" / "Young-Mee" in Korean), and Verdurian (Eymi, Eymë, Eyma, Eymin). Pity that -ий (-iy) is a masculine ending in Russian, and that it wouldn't work in Lojban which requires names to end in a consonant.
...I'm such a dork.
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 05:24 (UTC)I used to obsessively watch a German culture tv show, and there was a story about how western names were becoming more popular. Kevin was one particular name that has apparently sky-rocketed in popularity. So it's quite possible that the name Amy is a name that is already familiar to many Germans -- particularly to parents of youngish children.
Amy is a lovely name by the way. If you're worried about pronounciation, you could always change the spelling to one that's slightly more phonetical, such as Amiee. But then that starts the whole spelling slippery slope :D Here (http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html) is a funny website that talks about baby names. I thought it was a riot :D:D
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 07:13 (UTC)I believe "Amy" is most likely to be pronounced correctly by Germans if it it spelt "Amy", because writing it according to German spelling rules is both impossible (as German doesn't have [EI]) and would look weird. But there is at least some chance people are familiar with the spelling "Amy".
"Amiee" would look really weird in my opinion, and it would be very little helpful to Germans: I'd assume it should be pronounced like a French name then rather than as an English one.
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 07:21 (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 08:22 (UTC)And forgive my ignorance of German sounds, my German classes I had when I was 12 were a dismal failure :D
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 10:25 (UTC)I know one German girl who's called that (though I'm not sure whether she spells it Aimee or Aimée). She goes by her middle name Denise, though. I believe she pronounces her first name the French way, i.e. roughly /E"me/ (eh-MAY) rather than /"Ejmi/ (AY-mee).
(Her sister also has two French names and goes by her middle name.)
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 07:21 (UTC)Though theoretically I ought to feel the same way about Amy. Yet Kevin is really the only English name that arouses my ire like that when it's given to a German child.
Oh, and about that web site - I'd seen it before, but thanks for the link. There are some really weird names out there, that's for sure...
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 08:17 (UTC)It could be worse, Nigel could be really popular :D
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 10:56 (UTC)But I like the name "Amy" - I don't think that many Germans would have problems with it. There was a film, "Amy und die Wildgänse" which became quite famous, as far as I know (at least its name)...
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 11:10 (UTC)Oh heck yes, every German knows it. I'm sure they pronounce it correctly. I just hate it as a name for a German.
André isn't really a German name either.
Eh. It has a fairly long history, though, or at least I think so. Similarly with René, for example.
And neither is Danae, in fact, hehe...
Point there; that is a fairly unusual name for a German, I'd say.
*thinks of the only Danae he met, who worked in a McDonald's in Kifissia and served him at around ten-thirty at night when everything was dead*
There was a film, "Amy und die Wildgänse" which became quite famous, as far as I know (at least its name)...
*nods* *smiles* I think that's where Stella first came across the name.
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 08:48 (UTC)Amy is a nice name, though. :-)
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Date: Sunday, 16 May 2004 11:03 (UTC)It's also common in Puerto Rico to give English last names, such as Wilson and Nelson, as first names. No idea why.
Amy Newton. I like it.
Amy
Date: Wednesday, 2 June 2004 11:13 (UTC)She now has her own children.... two boys (my grandchildren.)
By the way, she is what her name means.... beloved.
Good luck with your baby.... enjoy and love her whatever you name her. By the way Amy's dad was of German decent... and her last name was VERY GERMAN sounding. Now she has an Irish sounding last name. That is what happens here in America... It is truly the melting pot of the world. My son still has the German sounding last name.... The other daughters now have Russian and French sounding last names..... The only two things I am sure of now in my life are 1. There is a God! and 2. I am not God! bvkonstant@aol.com