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Help - pick a boy's name (Serbian husband)

Cocosilk

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818
Location
Australia
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Oh man, it's happening again. The fights with my husband about a name.. 3rd and final baby (really!) We live in Australia (I'm an Aussie) but my hard-headed Serbian husband is hell bent on baby having a Serbian name since they are apparently more cultured about that than Aussies, who pluck names from British, American, Italian, whatever backgrounds they fancy, TV shows, nature, or just plain made up names (also known as bogan... lol) I want something that he won't be teased for. I was allowed to choose my daughter's name- Asha (after a tramatic birth I think my husband felt sorry for me ). Our son's name is Ilija (Serbian) and I was happy to go with that. This time he wanted Miroslav, but I don't like 'slav' in the name. Then he's been unofficially calling him Rastko, which is different but will be shortened to Rusty or Rossco or Russel, or something and I'm not that into those names in English.
If you had to pick a name from a list of Serbian boy's names, what do you think would sound (and be pronounced) okay in English? And if you have any other name suggestions from anywhere else, I'd love to hear them as well. I've only got a week till the birth...
 
Hi @Cocosilk
Andrej - a form of Andrew
Alexander, you could shorten it to Alex or even
Axel, I have a 2nd nephew called Alec.
David, is a universal name, remember David and Goliath,

Good luck and wishing you all the very best, take care
 
Robinredbreast said:
Hi @Cocosilk
Andrej - a form of Andrew
Alexander, you could shorten it to Alex or even
Axel, I have a 2nd nephew called Alec.
David, is a universal name, remember David and Goliath,

Good luck and wishing you all the very best, take care
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Thanks for these suggestions. It's good to know how they sound to others. Andreja or Andrej was one I was considering because it was my father's brother's name. I actually like Alexander because the nickname is Sacha (spelt with a different character in Serbian) but we already have an Asha, and there's already a Sacha on hubby's side of the family. And I know one too many Davids But these are good names. Thanks!
 
Ivo is a short name, and several great former Yugoslavian poets etc were named this.

No Australian nicknames with that either.
 
Some form of John? Jan? Ian?
 
Just had a memory flashback to when I was working at the mines, one of our shift foremen was named Emil he came from the former Yugoslavia, I do not what part although his last name ended in cic. if that is a bit of a clue.
 
Bogdan and Bozidar are both good, strong names that you can shorten to 'Bosko', which sounds great in any Slavic or English speaking country. Failing that, maybe Alexander? That's versatile and will cause no complications in Oz. 'Ilija' was a good choice as its not going to confuse anyone- if you take one of the Serbian forms of a name like 'Gregory' or a saint's name it should probably be good too.'Rastko' is a good name, but he'll always need to correct teachers and insurance forms and whatnot as he goes through life. Last suggestion, give him a versatile middle name if he ends up with a very Serbian first name.
Good luck with it!
 
At this stage Rastko may end up being his middle name because I do like it but I don't want, as you said, for him to have to correct everyone with the spelling or pronunciation. We had a distant relative on my father's side called Bozidar who I met once when I was about 18 years old. Not sure I like Bogdan though because of the "bog" part...
The main problem we get with Ilija is the "ja" being pronounced as you would in English rather than the "ya" that sound it is in Serbian. Also the word stress - I've heard people call him "il-LEE-ja(dʒ for the j)", rather than "IL-lee-ya", which is a normal mistake for an English speaker I think. And with Rastko for English speakers the a will be a longer "ah" sound instead of like the 'u' in up and the ko will rhyme with "toe" instead of being a short sound like the 'co' in cot. And I think "Bosko" will have similar problems. It is cute though.
 
Sweet_Sophie said:
Lots of lovely names in this list, Emil is also Dutch and French, zlatan great football player
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My hubby suggested "Mladen", which is a little like "Zlatan" but I always defer to English words that might sound similar and and just think of "blood" when I hear "mlad" and, well, for "Zlat", you can work that one out... lol I'm just thinking like the teenagers that will find a way to make fun of each other's names. If it wasn't for that, there'd be a whole lot more that might sound cool and unique.
 
Tipetoo said:
Ivo is a short name, and several great former Yugoslavian poets etc were named this.

No Australian nicknames with that either.
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Ivo Andric you mean? I just asked hubby how about "Ivo Andrej" as a possible because it has a similarly nice ring to it, but apparently it would sound too much like the poet's name and he's so well known that the Serbs would laugh at that combination. Ivo by itself, hmm, have to think about it. Would it be said "EE-vo", or "EYE-voe" by English speakers?
 
I would pronounce it eye-vo.

Boris, Ivan and Victor all work in English speaking countries.
 
You could go the obvious route and use Novak. It is a lovely name but with Djokovic running about it is well known enough to avoid teasing.
 
I had student whose parents were from China. Her mom's last name is Wang, which all Americans rhyme with "rang" (the doorbell). They have given up. As she pronounces it in Mandarin, I'd spell it "Wong", but she illustrated the inflections for me. So the dayghter, a teen, and probably her dad, whose English is good, just rhyme it with "rang". You might be stuck with that.
I would say Illja right bc I know about the "j" in so many languages, and I'd say "Ee-vo" bc most languages except English have pure vowels, Italian being my personal go-to for vowels. But that's me.
And Boo-boo ALWAYS works!
Also Bubba, around here.
 

I worked as an ESL teacher for years and I can tell you I've seen some funny names over the years. The most memorable, and almost unbelievable, was a Thai girl called "Tittiporn"...
 
In the 1960's dad met a black man named Osborn Freeson. 'Thats I's born free son' always thought what a great name.
 
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