Comments on: Name of the Day: Ivan http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/ Where Every Name Has a Story Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:48:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Baby Name of the Day: Arkady | Appellation Mountain http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-21307 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:02:58 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-21307 [...] of the 20th century Arkadys might’ve been inspired by the novelist Ivan Turgenev’s 1862 Fathers and Sons.  Arkady was one of the sons, part of the younger [...]

]]> By: appellationmountain http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-5892 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:35:27 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-5892 Ruth, congratulations on #2! What great names you’ve chosen – please stop back and tell us with Ivan/Florence makes his or her debut. :)

]]> By: Ruth http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-5891 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:32:58 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-5891 In 6 weeks I will be having my second child and if it’s a boy I will be calling it Ivan. My father is called Ivan and I love the name so much. We cant think of a nicer name and there has never been much discussion about it as we both adore it. If its a girl we would like to name her Florence which has taken much longer to decide on. Its the long wait now :)

]]> By: Shannon http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-2622 Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:00:35 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-2622 I like it a lot (in Russian pronunciation) and with the right last name I’d use it. I like John and practically of its forms in other languages. I wonder if any Americans upon hearing it pronounced ee-VON think of Yvonne. I don’t really make that connection though.

]]> By: appellationmountain http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-2617 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:05:33 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-2617 We considered Ivan for baby #2, had he been a boy. It makes a great sibset – Alexei and Ivan. And they’re both a twist on very traditional, classic names. He does seem to be rising, among families without any link to Russia – I’ve heard Ivan (ee VAHN) for a few small Spanish-speaking boys ’round these parts.

But Photoquilty, I was about to type “it’s not for us.” You raise a good point!

For me, the phrase almost always means there’s a deal-breaking reason. Sometimes they don’t fit with our surname or the choice reminds me of someone awful or maybe it seems like a poor fit with Alexei and Clio.

But Ivan was veto’d early for another reason. Even though Arthur and I both liked the idea, it’s too Russian. And with a (very, very, very) Polish family, that’s an issue. The Polish form of John is Jan – that didn’t seem like quite the right choice, either. We kept coming back to Nikolai, but that felt like we were trying too hard to match. And Alexei has proven tough to wear. It happened again this weekend – we stopped at a Burger King with a playground in rural Maryland on our trip back from Thanksgiving. Alexei was playing with another little boy and I fell into conversation with his mother. It went like this:

OM: What’s your son’s name?
Me: Alexei.
OM: Oh, I’m sorry. (She blushes, looks at his longish hair.) I thought he was a little boy.
Me: (Laughing.) He is. It’s a family name.
OM: Oh. And this is your daughter?
Me: This is Clio.
OM: Oh. That’s nice.

No one bats an eye in metro DC, but just a few miles farther out and my kids’ names aren’t just unusual, they’re hard to understand. Ivan is easy to handle, and I like that quality.

]]> By: Kim http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-2605 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:39:20 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-2605 I like Ivan, but only the ee-VAHN pronunciation. And it has so many cute diminutives in Russian!!

]]> By: Cat http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-2603 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:17:57 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-2603 Photoquilty – for me, it means exactly what it says. There are names I love more than Ivan and therefore would use them before I used Ivan, but it’s a nice name so I’d love to see it on someone else’s kid. Sometimes the name isn’t really my style but I like it objectively, like Priscilla, so again, wouldn’t use it myself but would find it interesting on someone else’s child.

]]> By: Lola http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-2601 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:45:55 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-2601 Photoquilty, It means exactly that. It’s not a name I would use myself but for anyone else, awesome choice! I have a lot of names that fit that category)

Ivan is awesome. I do have him on my working list mainly because he’s one of the few family names that don’t sound too awful with the surname. I don’t mind the Eye-van pronunciation but adore the ee-VAHN one.

If you want to hear quite a few Russian names in Russian and also want to watch a cool sci-fi ish fantasy movie (trilogy in the making, check this out: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403358/ (I’m hoping it’ll show, even if it’s not clickable) but just in case, IMDb “Nochnoy dozor” or “Night Watch” (“Day Watch” or “Nochnoy bazar” is the second one) Ilya, Kostya, Yuriy, Olga, Svetlana, Anton, Ignat, Darya, Simeon… I could go on. It is awesome. A bit weird at times, no one says the Russians are not faerie tale tellers but still, a great story and a really interesting watch. I’m looking for the books they were based oon in English. I want them for Xmas! Olga is Russian is gorgeous (I wish I could find someone Russian to say Ursula for me, I melt for her then!)

Alright, that a was bit of a veer off there. Back to Ivan. What I was getting at with that whole spiel is this: if you hear Ivan in Russian, you’ll never want to hear EYE-van again. :) As with John, he ages well. Ivan feels stronger and a bit more distinctive than John. And I agree he’s quite a bit more dashing. I’d use it to honor the great Uncle and the other half (who’s got John in the middle for his Grandpa!). It works out nicely for us. :D

]]> By: photoquilty http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-2600 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:13:33 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-2600 I grew up with an Ivan and his brother Pavel – worth noting that they were two Hispanic boys with Russian names. Ivan was pronounced ee-VAHN. there was another older boy I knew who was EYE-van. He was hot (well, I remember him that way; it was 20 years ago). I like the name Ivan better with the EYE-van pronunciation. It wouldn’t be a contender because of my husband’s pesky traditional streak, but its a nice name. I definitely don’t roll my eyes at it.

What’s with everyone always saying, “I wouldn’t use [insert name here] myself, but I’d be charmed/would love to meet one”? What does that mean?

]]> By: The Fuss (Jennifer) http://appellationmountain.net/2008/12/02/name-of-the-day-ivan/#comment-2599 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:08:47 +0000 http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com/?p=1129#comment-2599 I just met a little baby Ivan recently. He was Asian-American and absolutely adorable. The name has been on my mind ever since, as well as why I don’t hear it more often. After all, it’s just one letter off from Evan, which is EVERYWHERE. Yet Ivan is tougher, more exotic and more distinguished. And I hear Ivy fairly regularly as well. So…bring on the Ivans, people! :)

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