Are foreign variants of names fairly common in your country?
April 22, 2025
Often see people from the Hispanosphere that have the name Ivan, which is Slavic for John.
Speaking of John, think I've seen more Ian (Scottish), Sean/Shaun (Irish) and even Evan (Welsh) than John in Australia.
11 comments
Ukrainians are often referred by Russian versions of their names even if they are ethnic Ukrainians and have Ukrainian names in their documents. In Ukraine it is very strange. When I was a kid, people weren’t differentiating between Russian and Ukrainian names at all, they were treated not as separated names but as words to be translated.
Ian is becoming a fad name currently even though we have slavic versions Ivan, Jovan(read Yohvan), or just Jan (Yan), and not to mention Ian breaks your tongue because you pronounce it E-Ahn
Another fad was eastern-slavic names, Aleksej, Oleg and Kirilo. We don’t have a south slavic variant for Oleg, but Aleksandar and Kiril were the native variants
English names are becoming more common in Ireland. Names of biblical origin have always been common, like Michael, Thomas or David.
You get Irish versions of these like Mícheál, Tomás or Daithí. However, native Irish names like Fiachra, Tadhg,
Jan, Johan, Johannes, Jo, Hannes, Hans, Jean, John, Ivan, Sean and Ian are all fairly normal names in Flanders. Some are more common in different age groups though.
Yes – Henry or Matteo for example.
Henry was ranked #10 for boys in 2024. It’s the English variant of the German ‘Heinrich’. But the English name is much more common nowadays, while the German name is very outdated.
And Matteo was ranked #2 in 2024. It’s the Italian variant of a biblical/hebrew name (Matthew in English) and the German variant would be Matthias. But Matthias is also semi-dated and not really used nowadays (it was very popular around 1960-1980).
Occasionally you’ll meet Germans who are “Steven” instead of “Stefan” or use the English pronunciation of their name (“Michael” turning into “mai-kell” instead of “mi-sha-el” or “Susan” being called “su-zn” instead of “su-sann”).
Otherwise, the trend has been to use English / French / Spanish names that don’t necessarily have a German equivalent, like Hailey, Jaqueline, or Luna.
Yeah, Ivan, Alex and Mathias are quite common despite the native Slovak forms being Ján, Alexej and Matej. I’m sure that there are other examples as well.
Ivan is somewhat popular amongst Italian males born in the 60s/70s as well. We have our own Italian variant, Giovanni, which is of course popular amongst all ages.
We’re also seeing more and more Michaels around (sadly sometimes spelt fonetically as Maicol) and we have our own native Michele.
I also know some Pablos (Italian variant would be Paolo); Christian or Cristian (Italian variant is Cristiano); Mary sometimes spelt Meri (Italian variant is Maria); Katia or Katy (Italian variant is Caterina).
Sasha is also used for women!
So obviously names like Iain aren’t foreign to us, but it’s common to use both, particularly amongst the older generations. It wasn’t the done thing/wasn’t allowed/was heavily discouraged to register Gaelic names, so in the case of my family, Iain only ever got called John in the army and the last person to call Mòrag Sarah was a teacher back in the ’50s.
But yes, typical English names are the most common here though.
It’s a trend in Hungary too. Martin is now more popular than its older version Márton, Elizabet is getting more popular than Erzsébet, Szofi is more popular than Zsófia, Dominik is the #1 boy name while Domonkos is all but forgotten, and Barbara has been more popular than Borbála for decades (although some old names are making a comeback). The social acceptability of these names varies wildly, though. The ones I’ve mentioned are considered acceptable, with a slightly “middle class suburb” vibe, while other foreign names are seen as lower class. You’d never want to name your kids Marcselló instead of Marcell, Rikárdó (instead of Richárd, which is kind of a “jock” name in itself, but still on the acceptable side), Ketrin instead of Katalin (Katerina is tolerated if you at least look middle class). The most hated names are those which start with J in English, as they have to be spelled with a Dzs for phonetic reasons. Names like Dzsesszika and Dzsenifer are generally looked down upon. Tbh I find it sad that kids are judged by their parents’ mistakes, I don’t understand what’s the point of having a list of allowed names when a large part of them are detrimental to the kid’s well-being.
Many people here will have both an Irish and an English version of their name, the usage depends on context and on the person.
It’s more common, in my experience anyway, for someone with an English name like Michael to sometimes be called either Michael or Mícheál, than it is for someone actually named Mícheál to sometimes be called Michael.
Many names (mostly biblical or old names) will have actual equivalents, Michael and Mícheál, Paul and Pól, John and Seán (sometimes Eoin too, due to being borrowed at different times), Mary and Máire.
Some names have long-standing “translations” despite being unrelated, just because they look similar, for example Anne and Áine, Charles and Cathal, David and Dáithí, Grace and Gráinne.
Some are deemed equivalent due to origins, for example Abigail and Gobnait both have connections with beekeeping.
Then you have recently invented names that are just words, Aisling (a vision seen in a dream), Saoirse (freedom), Fiadh (deer), or anglicised based on place names like Clare (from Co. Clare, An Chláir), or Clodagh (from a river).
11 comments
Ukrainians are often referred by Russian versions of their names even if they are ethnic Ukrainians and have Ukrainian names in their documents. In Ukraine it is very strange. When I was a kid, people weren’t differentiating between Russian and Ukrainian names at all, they were treated not as separated names but as words to be translated.
Ian is becoming a fad name currently even though we have slavic versions Ivan, Jovan(read Yohvan), or just Jan (Yan), and not to mention Ian breaks your tongue because you pronounce it E-Ahn
Another fad was eastern-slavic names, Aleksej, Oleg and Kirilo. We don’t have a south slavic variant for Oleg, but Aleksandar and Kiril were the native variants
English names are becoming more common in Ireland. Names of biblical origin have always been common, like Michael, Thomas or David.
You get Irish versions of these like Mícheál, Tomás or Daithí. However, native Irish names like Fiachra, Tadhg,
Jan, Johan, Johannes, Jo, Hannes, Hans, Jean, John, Ivan, Sean and Ian are all fairly normal names in Flanders. Some are more common in different age groups though.
Yes – Henry or Matteo for example.
Henry was ranked #10 for boys in 2024. It’s the English variant of the German ‘Heinrich’. But the English name is much more common nowadays, while the German name is very outdated.
And Matteo was ranked #2 in 2024. It’s the Italian variant of a biblical/hebrew name (Matthew in English) and the German variant would be Matthias. But Matthias is also semi-dated and not really used nowadays (it was very popular around 1960-1980).
Occasionally you’ll meet Germans who are “Steven” instead of “Stefan” or use the English pronunciation of their name (“Michael” turning into “mai-kell” instead of “mi-sha-el” or “Susan” being called “su-zn” instead of “su-sann”).
Otherwise, the trend has been to use English / French / Spanish names that don’t necessarily have a German equivalent, like Hailey, Jaqueline, or Luna.
Yeah, Ivan, Alex and Mathias are quite common despite the native Slovak forms being Ján, Alexej and Matej. I’m sure that there are other examples as well.
Ivan is somewhat popular amongst Italian males born in the 60s/70s as well. We have our own Italian variant, Giovanni, which is of course popular amongst all ages.
We’re also seeing more and more Michaels around (sadly sometimes spelt fonetically as Maicol) and we have our own native Michele.
I also know some Pablos (Italian variant would be Paolo); Christian or Cristian (Italian variant is Cristiano); Mary sometimes spelt Meri (Italian variant is Maria); Katia or Katy (Italian variant is Caterina).
Sasha is also used for women!
So obviously names like Iain aren’t foreign to us, but it’s common to use both, particularly amongst the older generations. It wasn’t the done thing/wasn’t allowed/was heavily discouraged to register Gaelic names, so in the case of my family, Iain only ever got called John in the army and the last person to call Mòrag Sarah was a teacher back in the ’50s.
But yes, typical English names are the most common here though.
It’s a trend in Hungary too. Martin is now more popular than its older version Márton, Elizabet is getting more popular than Erzsébet, Szofi is more popular than Zsófia, Dominik is the #1 boy name while Domonkos is all but forgotten, and Barbara has been more popular than Borbála for decades (although some old names are making a comeback). The social acceptability of these names varies wildly, though. The ones I’ve mentioned are considered acceptable, with a slightly “middle class suburb” vibe, while other foreign names are seen as lower class. You’d never want to name your kids Marcselló instead of Marcell, Rikárdó (instead of Richárd, which is kind of a “jock” name in itself, but still on the acceptable side), Ketrin instead of Katalin (Katerina is tolerated if you at least look middle class). The most hated names are those which start with J in English, as they have to be spelled with a Dzs for phonetic reasons. Names like Dzsesszika and Dzsenifer are generally looked down upon. Tbh I find it sad that kids are judged by their parents’ mistakes, I don’t understand what’s the point of having a list of allowed names when a large part of them are detrimental to the kid’s well-being.
Many people here will have both an Irish and an English version of their name, the usage depends on context and on the person.
It’s more common, in my experience anyway, for someone with an English name like Michael to sometimes be called either Michael or Mícheál, than it is for someone actually named Mícheál to sometimes be called Michael.
Many names (mostly biblical or old names) will have actual equivalents, Michael and Mícheál, Paul and Pól, John and Seán (sometimes Eoin too, due to being borrowed at different times), Mary and Máire.
Some names have long-standing “translations” despite being unrelated, just because they look similar, for example Anne and Áine, Charles and Cathal, David and Dáithí, Grace and Gráinne.
Some are deemed equivalent due to origins, for example Abigail and Gobnait both have connections with beekeeping.
Then you have recently invented names that are just words, Aisling (a vision seen in a dream), Saoirse (freedom), Fiadh (deer), or anglicised based on place names like Clare (from Co. Clare, An Chláir), or Clodagh (from a river).