Will a child with a non-Finnish given name be picked on?

misu · Post by **misu** » Sat Jun 14, 2014 5:17 am

I'm American, my husband is Finnish. I'm wondering if we give our child a non-Finnish first name s/he will be picked on in school, assuming they go to a Finnish school and not an international one.

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Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:46 am

What I remember from my childhood almost anything can get you to picked on, on the other hand plenty of pure native families seem to give rather peculiar names and it would seem likely your kids school will have plenty of "more foreign" kids than yours anyway.

Personally I'd just avoid names that sound too strange in either language. With girls there are of course plenty of options, originally from the bible, that are (or can be) written exactly the same here and in USA.

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:10 am

As Rip and Cory said, the name is not critical, but I would still be careful. Pick a name that is easy to pronounce for Finns.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 1:10 pm

In the past I would have recommend a name that gets written down right in phone conversation. But with internet and online bookings that is quite irrelevant now.

macora · Post by **macora** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 9:41 pm

Upphew wrote:In the past I would have recommend a name that gets written down right in phone conversation. But with internet and online bookings that is quite irrelevant now.

Good thought though. Not sure it is obsolete, to be honest. My last name has a D. I even learned morse alphabeth in Finnish, guess how often it is spelled wrong. Enough times you need to tell someone the email address over phone to not make the recommendation obsolete IMO. Phonetics and its sister Phonology are very very interesting fields...

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:48 pm

Well, they won't approve too funny/weird a name at the Maistraatti. Unless the parents make it too easy and give a boy the name "Dick Urpo", any name can and will get a treatment. Depends on how well it rhymes. Of course you can take a sampling of the neighbourhood kids and run the names through them... Kids can and will make a naughty rhyme of any name almost... I guess I'd name the boy "Sue"

misu · Post by **misu** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:35 am

tummansininen wrote:But if you intend your child to be raised in Finland, I would give them a Finnish name.

I suppose they will be raised primarily in Finland, though we've been thinking about moving to the US at some point in the future, if at least for a few years. I'm not completely opposed to a Finnish first name, but there are none that I particularly like. The pool of Finnish names is so small, and there are so many American/English language names that I've had my heart set on. I know it probably is more practical and easier to assimilate and just give them a Finnish name, but I feel a bit bothered by the idea that I should relinquish my side of the heritage when it comes to naming my child. They will be bilingual and bicultural and a product of a mixed/international marriage, so to me it seems fitting to have them have a mixed American/Finnish name (s/he will have a Finnish last name regardless). I dunno, is that selfish? What about if s/he had an American first name and Finnish middle name?

jahasjahas · Post by **jahasjahas** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:08 am

misu wrote:The pool of Finnish names is so small

Are you only considering the name day calendar, or have you also read books and websites on Finnish baby names?

Anyway, it's impossible for us to offer conclusive opinions on things like "What about if s/he had an American first name and Finnish middle name?" without knowing what the actual names are. You could post the potential names here and we can tell you if they sound good to us, but I can understand if you want to keep them private.

misu · Post by **misu** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 11:32 am

jahasjahas wrote: or have you also read books and websites on Finnish baby names?

Are there any you could suggest?

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 11:53 am

misu wrote:What about if s/he had an American first name and Finnish middle name?

That would be fine, especially if s/he is called by the middle name (or the 3rd 1st name... can I say that?). Translating kutsumanimi as nickname isn't right imo. My bro's 2nd name is the name he is called as was one of my best friend's (he changed that at some point though).
http://www.maistraatti.fi/fi/Palvelut/n ... oittaminen

jahasjahas · Post by **jahasjahas** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 1:12 pm

misu wrote:Are there any you could suggest?

I'm not familiar with any books, but I'm sure your local library will have some.

etunimet.net is in the top Google results for "nimet". (I love how their list of user-submitted "invented names" includes things like 'Famine' and 'Toffee'. Only browse that section for laughs, please.)

Here's a list of the new names that are going to be included in next year's name day calendar: http://uutiset.helsinki.fi/2013/08/21/u ... 6FjZPl_uHM (in the following order: girls / boys / Swedish-speaking girls / Swedish-speaking boys)

biscayne · Post by **biscayne** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:57 pm

Honestly, I would give your child the name (or one of) you like, and damn anyone else, Finland, the environment etc. People will learn how to pronounce and write it if they need to, and kids get bullied over anything, names are probably far down the list. I wanted to call my girl Niamh, a very traditional Irish name from a beautiful myth. It would be pronounced Neeve, in the Irish language "mh" is pronounced like "v" at the end of a word or like "w" at the beginning (you thought Finnish was hard???) , I was vetoed, so gave her a common, easy to pronounce Irish name, which happens to be also the name of a Montenegran river, means star in Sanskrit, and is a common dogs name in Slovenia, so noone connected it with her Irish roots. Just go with what you want. By the way, my girl told me recently she looooved the name Niamh.......

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 12:18 am

biscayne wrote:By the way, my girl told me recently she looooved the name Niamh.......

Name change papers in already?

biscayne · Post by **biscayne** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 12:36 am

Ah, she's a grown-up now (doesn't stop her looking for hand-outs though...), so she can call herself whatever she wants. Don't actually know how it happened that I have an adult child. Seems yesterday I was hanging out in Cantina West (anyone remember that place), going to rock festivals, trying to stop my finnish boyfriend from getting into fights after he was tanked up. Suddenly, I'm 45. How does that happen?

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 12:01 pm

biscayne wrote:Ah, she's a grown-up now (doesn't stop her looking for hand-outs though...), so she can call herself whatever she wants. Don't actually know how it happened that I have an adult child. Seems yesterday I was hanging out in Cantina West (anyone remember that place), going to rock festivals, trying to stop my finnish boyfriend from getting into fights after he was tanked up. Suddenly, I'm 45. How does that happen?

Really fast, it seems

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