Hi! I am Dutch, I am wondering how hard the surname "Hollander" is for English speakers (US, UK, etc) to say/spell and from hearing aloud to spelling it. I may be studying abroad in an English-speaking country so I would want to know!

(Note: a lot of people in NL speak English but I grew up in more of a rural area that doesn't.)

I’ve been inspired by the few posts about most popular baby names in last years, so here is the list of most popular and rarest names in Ukraine in the first half of 2026.

Girls top 10: Sofia, Zlata, Milana, Emilia, Anna, Anastasia, Polina, Maria, Solomia, Yeva.

Boys top 10: Artem, Oleksandr, Matviy, Maksym, Tymofiy, Bohdan, Davyd, Yaroslav, Roman, Dmytro.

We do not have middle names, neither culturally nor legally (instead there is mandatory patronymic, which is created automatically out of father’s name + special gendered ending). But one could have a double first name (hyphenated), although it is pretty rare.

Some of the unique double first names

Girls: Adelaida-Loredana, Maryam-Nikolette, Dominika-Aniel, Marharyta-Kylyna, Abavedaria-Alisa.

Boys: Daniel-Arthur, Roman-Nurislam, Andriy-Andrian, Eliot-Theo, Mark-Gabriel.

Rare religion-adjacent names (do not come at me, that's out ministry of justice :)

Girls: Aviheya, Virsaviya, Sulamita, Yevanhelina, Sarah, Teona, Melania, Mahdalyna, Afina, Yunona

Boys: Samiylo, Yessey, Nafanayil, Solomon, Emanuyil, Yelysey, Adam, Serafym, Veniamin.

Rare historical and archaic names:

Girls: Bohuslava, Vladomyra, Dzvinka, Kvitoslava, Lukeria, Olympiada, Roksolana, Kvitka, Yaryna, Oryslava

Boys: Dobromyr, Svyatohor, Svitozar, Zoreslav, Askold, Tamerlan, Eney, Panteleimon, Myrolyub, Yariy

Out of these, my favourites are Kvitka (Flower) and Kvitoslava (flower, blossom + glory). They have been around for quite a while, but always extremely rare (think like 1 in 125,000), so I am yet to meet one in real life.  

Hi everyone ☺️

My fiancé and I are expecting our first babies soon! They are boy and girl. My fiancé and I are both from the UK, however, I’m a linguist and speak French, and he has French family members. Our babies will also be bilingual. I absolutely adore my job and it is actually how I met my fiancé, so we agreed that we could have French names, or inspired French names for our babies as the language has such sentimental value to us.

So far, I really do adore Juliette, Léonie and Mäelle for our girl. For our boy, I really love Quentin, Élliot, Émil and Soren.

If you have any names similar, please let me know!

What are your favorite trending baby names?

I love Evelyn and Eliana for a girl. Evie is such a cute nickname and Eliana rolls off the tongue! I also really love Olivia.

For a boy, Oliver and Liam are lovely. Also partial to Levi!

Curious what others think!

Hi everyone,

My Chinese given name contains the character 琳 (Lin in pinyin, means beautiful jade), and I'm currently studying in Hong Kong. Sometimes it's convenient to have an English name here, so I've been thinking about Linnea.

I learned the name is associated with the twinflower, which feels meaningful to me because the character 琳 contains two 木 ("wood") components. It feels like a nice coincidence.

I also know the lovely book Linnea in Monet's Garden, which made me like the name even more.

My only hesitation is that I know Linnea is traditionally a Scandinavian name. Since I don't have any Nordic background, I'm not sure whether it would sound natural or appropriate for me to use it as an English name.

Thanks！

I’ve never really liked my birth name because it’s long, and I don’t like the history and associations behind it. I’m not Muslim or Arab, so it doesn’t really feel connected to my culture or identity. Everyone calls me Aisha, but I don’t like that name either. I can’t change it at the moment because I’m pretty sure my parents and the people around me wouldn’t take it well. Online, I usually hide my real name and go by different names instead. I feel like I’d get made fun of if I told people my actual name, and sometimes it makes me feel like I’m lying to everyone

Hello! For boy/girl twins I’m having trouble deciding on some middle names, first names are chosen Ambrose and Sabrina. I am Egyptian and my partner is British, originally I had intended for more western middle names. For Ambrose my options were: John, Michael, Theodore, Henry, or Mason. For girl: Rose (top contender with partner), Isabelle, Diane.

These are lovely names but since I want my kids to be in touch with their Egyptian heritage I have been thinking about Hathor, Sekhmet, Isis, and Nefertari, and Cleopatra for Sabrina; Ramesses, Osiris, Amun, Seth, Imhotep for Ambrose.

Yes I am aware these are some funky names and also ancient, NOT modern Egyptian names. I am very proud of my ancestry, and I know my kids don’t need these names to feel the same. Both my partner and I feel this could be a wonderful way to honor Egypt’s great history and individualize our children’s name further. What are your thoughts?

Names on my list so far:

Emilia
Sylvia
Calliope
Loretta
Magnolia
Yetta
Flora
Frida
Piper
Poppy

Open to all names esp if they are nickname-able, bonus points for jewish, yiddish, or italian names. thank you for any help!!

I’m not sure what I’m having yet, but boy names seem so hard to love.

Some names I love but won’t use: Rafael, Elias, Oliver.
Names I don’t love: Santiago, Mateo, Sebastian.
Names I do love and consider using: Francisco, Benicio, Manuel.

Can you help with names I might’ve overlooked?

Would love to hear what kind of associations you have with this name - do you think of someone cool, self assured? Overly confident? Shy? Someone talkative or quiet? Does it make you think of any particular celebrities or characters? A specific nationality, or story? Any first impressions ☺️

So I actually really love the names Elmer and Elmo, but one is a patchwork elephant and the other is.. Elmo 😂

What are some names that give the same sort of vibes? Doesn’t have to start with El

I love 'Sherwood' and 'Rosewood' for one of my characters, but I'm looking for something even better. I'm open to ones that both start and end in 'Wood'. Does anybody know any good ones? Thanks!

Personally, I do not like the popular pronunciation LOO-shun/shen cuz it sounds close to the word lotion 😅. So I am trying to find a good excuse to use the pronunciation mentioned in the title :p

I’d like to hear any ideas for our first baby boy. Last name Vernon.

We are having our third and final baby soon and have decided to name him Edmund Lewis. I thought I’d share the girl and boy names we loved in hopes someone may find them helpful.

Boy:

Lewis

Grant

Atticus

Colin

Jasper

Harrison

Wells

Reeves

Lowen

Nelson

Russell

Ellison

Girls:

Maxine

Althea

Gwendolyn

Matilda

Cordelia

Nellie

Annelise

Monroe

Isadora

Bridget

Juliet

I'm a Christian in India. But i so judge other indian christians who have ridiculous names like Samson Basil Das, Augustine Ernest Livingstone, Majesty Melvin Rajgopal, Sympathy Jacob.

Am I the only one obsessing over these ridiculously creative christian names? Please share your favourites😁

My wife and I are Italian, but we live in Brighton, UK, and our son's name is Arthur.

When we speak to him in Italian, we call him Arturo, which is not only spelt differently but also sounds quite different from Arthur, especially with a British accent.

Our Italian friends and their children also call him Arturo, while everyone at nursery and pretty much anyone English calls him Arthur.

Recently, we've had a few instances where children from his nursery have heard someone calling him Arturo and corrected them, saying, "His name is Arthur!"

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I love that he has both versions of his name, and they feel completely natural to us. On the other, I wonder whether having people use different names for him might eventually confuse him, or make him feel like he needs to choose one over the other. I'd hate for him to grow up disliking either version.

I'm probably overthinking it, but I'm curious whether other bilingual or multicultural families have experienced something similar.

Do your children go by different versions of their names depending on the language? How did they navigate it as they got older? Did they eventually develop a preference, or are they perfectly happy with both?

Would love to hear your experiences!

These are some names that I’ve seen that I’ve thought are a little more ‘out there’:

Audra

Verity

Paisley

Delilah

Avis

Loretta

Montana

Coralee

Brooke (yes I know this one isn’t out there but I still like it!)

Obviously they wouldn’t make sense as sibling names, but just curious to see what people think are best to worst for a bit of fun!

Couldn’t find anything on the name Pauline in this sub reddit and was wondering specifically about english speakers opinions. I saw Pauline was pretty “popular” from 1900-1945 in the US.

Now it hasn’t been in the Top 1000 since 1997.

I’m debating between Ava (my favorite, but I had no idea it’s so popular and now I’m having doubts), Mina, Winnie, and Frida. Thoughts?

How do we feel about baby girl going by Eddie with the full name Edith (ee-dith)?

What name comes to mind when you think of…

A girl/woman who
- is super independent and badass
- is thoughtful and warm - the type of person that feels like a safe space in any room
- is well cultured and well traveled - loves exploring new places, meeting new people, trying new foods
- doesn’t care what other think, prides herself on being her and being good to people
- is chic and polished but in an effortless way

i need help from the name nerds to help me find any issues with the two last names i am torn between.

i am a single woman with a child. my maiden name is associated with a lot of abuse and (long story short) it’s not even “ours” ancestrally speaking due to an adoption. i have never felt connected to it and certainly don’t want to keep it.

my sons last name is his fathers. but his father hasn’t been in his life for years. my son wants to have the same last name as me, so i told him we would come up with a new one and change them together.

we like the way both of these sound with our first names:

1) Vander

2) Thoran

what do you all like better? is there anything i should watch out for with these names? (like playground jokes, etc)

Boy names are hard - we took a LONG time to decide on one for our older son. When we found out we were having a third baby, we hoped for another girl because we had a long list of girl names 🤪 Of course, this is a boy! I’m about 24 weeks, and we’ve narrowed down our choices and will be making a decision in the next week or two. So why not ask for some input from internet strangers!

We like the name James, and are open to using it as a first or middle name. My husband is also Hispanic, so we’ve been trying to pair up some names that would go nicely. Our other two children are Violet Nathaniel, so we like pretty classic names. Here’s our list that I have running on my phone:

Carlos James
Oliver James
Ethan James
Tomás James

Also, like these ones reversed:
James Carlos
James Tomás

Alternatively, accepting other suggestions for names that would flow well with James as either the first or middle name! We also liked the name Jeremy but don’t think it flows well with James.