When you choose your child’s name, as parents you go through all the possibilities of how it might be said, would they be teased, would their initials be something inappropriate? But do parents ever think about what their child’s name would be in another language?
This is the dilemma a mother is facing after moving to an English-speaking country. Posting anonymously to Reddit, she recounted her dilemma and asked for advice.
“My son’s name is Semen (Семен) [səmən],” she began, noting the pronunciation in her language isn’t the same as it is in English.
“In our country, this word does not have the meaning it has in English – sperm.”
Because of this, the mother never realised that his name would be a problem until now.
“We had to move to an English-speaking country, and I want to fix this name while my son is 3 years old.”
She began searching for modifications that would still resonate with her son: Simon, Simeon, and Sam, were some of her initial options.
“But they are not OK for different reasons. Simon is not OK for me because this name does not suit him,” she said.
“Simeon sounds like Simian, [which is] monkey-like, and that stopped me. Otherwise, I would have chosen Simeon.”
The mother, who knows what she does and doesn’t want for her son’s new name said, “We try to call him this way to understand if it’s ok. But it’s not ok. I can’t explain. you know, it’s when you like something or not, without any reason. This is the same.”
The internet to the rescue
Stumped, she turned to the Reddit community for guidance and further options.
“I went to school with a guy named Semi. (Pronounced sim-e) I always assumed it was a nickname for a non-English name and it worked. He was popular and well regarded,” one poster offered the concerned mother.
“Samin, which sounds like salmon if you emphasise the SA, but it’s an easier correction than semen. Spell it Samin, pronounce it Səmən, and no one will think twice, especially if you have accented English,” another suggested.
This person weighed into the debate, commending the mother for making the change, “I don’t have any suggestions, but genuinely, thank you for acknowledging his name in a new country will harm him and taking appropriate action. I know some foreigners who insist that because it’s “not like that” in their culture, it doesn’t matter, but it definitely does.”
“On the legal side of things, there may be value in doing a similar/direct transliterated version of Seamon/Simon/Ziemon/Ceamon/Semyon as the legal English name to avoid confusion between your English and Slavic documents, but schools, jobs, etc will be fine using a nickname (whether it’s similar or different) as his primary name 100% of the time.
With the lengthy commenter going further offering nickname solutions for the mother.
“For nicknames, is there a non-Semyen name you like? Plenty of people have a first name they ignore and go by names like John “Ryan” Johnson where everyone understands that Ryan is the preferred name (Ryan not being a legal, documented name – just a nickname). Such a nickname could be a vaguely similar sounding name like “Steven”, “Sean” or even something made up like “CJ”.
Finally, the mum may have made a decision, replying to one of the comments: “Sebastian/Stephen/Steven good variants! Thank you!”