NN options for names?

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-21-2006
NN options for names?
8
Tue, 05-29-2007 - 11:11am

So I posted recently that we had it down to a few names. I think we've more or less decided on Katarina mostly due to the fact that all four of our older children really seem to have their hearts set on it. For some reason they ALL just love it. We really love that name too so we're willing to go with it.

However our dilemma is in a NN for that name. The traditional eastern european (which is my DH's ethnicity) is Katia. I really love Katia for a NN, DH likes it too. HOWEVER our problem is that DH is one of 5 children and they are all WEIRD about anything that is even slightly pronounced with an accent at all... I mean really horribly bad about it. I mentioned to DH that they would all likely pronounce it "Kate-ee-a" becuase that's just the way they are. He admitted to me that he thinks that I am right (I was a little surprised he admitted it so readily). We would want it pronounced like "Kah-tee-ah" which is the proper way to pronounce it, IMO. I know for a fact that they just would NOT do that. So we discussed the option of Kaia... which it just Katia with the T taken out of the middle. We both like Kaia and we don't worry that his fmaily would mispronounce it because it's very basic, just like Maia with a K. So that's a viable option that would work and we wouldn't have to worry about all of DH's sibs, spouses, and TONS of children pronouncing our DD's name wrong for the rest of her life.

However DH and I also had the name Naia on our list. DH LOOOOOOOVES the name Naia, and there are VERY few names that he really loves, and I love it too. I like it just a little bit more than I like Kaia. It's similar but it has a slightly "softer" sound to me, which I find appealing.

So my question is.... could we actually pull off Naia out of Katarina? I mean.... all the letters are there right? LOL! Still it seems to me that Kaia would be more intuitive to go with it... but DH and I both prefer Naia. Are we really stretching it just a little TOO far???

catalina



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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2005
Tue, 05-29-2007 - 12:28pm

Personally, I would consider using the Katya spelling with dh's family to encourage the correct


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-01-2006
Tue, 05-29-2007 - 3:40pm

I much prefer Katya over Kaia and Naia. I also wanted to suggest Kasia - it is the polish NN for Katarina. Kasia is said Kaw-sha.

KT

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2007
Tue, 05-29-2007 - 6:42pm

Personally, I would either:
(1) use Naia (or Kaia) as the first name and not use any nickname; or
(2)use Katarina as the first name and Katya (this spelling) as the nickname. (This is a super-common nickname in Russia, for the Russian version of Katherine; but I seldom hear it used in the States. It's lovely and derives very naturally from Katarina. And it should solve the pronunciation problem.)

I'm not crazy about Kaia or Naia as a nickname for Katarina (although I do like both as first names). As nicknames for Katarina, both Kaia and Naia seem forced to me, since neither one derives very naturally from Katarina. I agree with a previous poster that nicknames can certainly be different from a given name, but in many cases, such as the one the poster mentioned, nicknames that don't derive naturally from the spelling or sound of a name come pretty naturally from a trait (such as blonde hair = blondie = dee; or the person reminds people of the character Blondie = dee), or the first letter of a name (such as Dorothy = D = Dee or Deedee), etc. To me, Kaia and Naia are so different from and unrelated to Katarina that using them as nicknames is like naming the baby Jane Elizabeth and calling her Emily. But that's just me. If you love Katarina with Naia as the nickname better than all the other options, you should use it, in my opinion.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-30-2005
Wed, 05-30-2007 - 2:11am

I love that you're using Katarina!

siggy
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-21-2006
Wed, 05-30-2007 - 8:46am

I'm so glad you like Katarina! LOL! I see that your DD's name is Anastasia! I kept suggesting that for this baby. It like the way it sounds in English but Spanish is my first language and while it's very pretty in English I think that that name is Spanish is just out of this world GORGEOUS! I just LOOOOOVE it in Spanish. "Ah-nah-stah-see-ah".... Oh I just love it! DH said that he loves it in Spanish but he's not as fond of it in English and living in the US nobody will say it the way I say it! LOL! So that's why it never made it to our short list. Go figure right? LOL!

At this point I think we'll either go with Katia, which we both like very very much or possibly Naia. I think we're going to decide when we see her. At least this way we have a name, it's just the NN that's up in the air. I may tell DH's side of the family that we're spelling it "Katya" in the beginning just so they'll say it right. However I think that for US I will always spell it Katia.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-07-2004
Wed, 05-30-2007 - 12:47pm
hello!! you know-i think a nickname would all depend on you-if you want naia-then use it. i posted before that from katarina, i like the nn trina best...and as far as katia-i thought you were saying kay-sha-so i can see how someone mispronouncing it would be a very real thing that could happen...anyway, use naia if you like it...it does have a soft sound-and is a pretty name even by itself...take care!
joanne
maman2goons@yahoo.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-28-2004
Wed, 05-30-2007 - 3:28pm
I think if you love Katia you should go with Katia. Regarding family members, if you told them her nickname in person, they would not need to know how it was spelled--and you can't mispronounce something that you hear pronounced correctly! : )
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