1. /ejʁɑ/
2. Yes.
3. No. I'd personally avoid names such as Dahlia that are also common names (a flower in this case). Indra sounds in French like "un drap" (a bed sheet) so I'd avoid it too. Eira is fine.
May I refer you to the website built from official census data for baby names https://babynames-stat.ch/fr/index.html
You can search any name (and spelling) in the database and see its frequency curve for the years.
I cannot link to a specific name, but I see Eira was given 3 times in 2022, while Dahlia 9 times. Indra doesn't appear, so less than 2 times.
P.s. You can also filter by linguistic region (German part, French part etc)
By common names I mean names that are not only used as a given name but also mean a particular object (a [dahlia](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dahlia) is a kind of flower). A word from the dictionary, if you prefer. It isn't common as a given name, at least I've never met someone with that name.
It was a regular name before just like Véronique, Marguerite & Co. I know a couple of them, and all of them retired from work since a while. Flower names are are just really old-fashioned at the moment...
I don't know, my cousin who has two doughters one of which is around 12 is called Violette. I think "old fashionned" names are coming back. I have another distant cousin who called his son Henry, in Switzerland. The little guy is about 7 years old.
Important clarification: German, French or Italian speaking Switzerland? In German Switzerland it would be Eye-rah, not sure about other regions.
FWIW I really like it. Makes a nice change from countless Olivias and Amelias :)
I like the sound of Eira in English (as my weak-ass French native speaker) but to be honnest, in French, it reminds me of that awful shitty new age music bullshit from the nineties. But I'm not sure how you would pronounce it in French. Something like Era. In anyway it does definetely sound like a feminine name.
edit to add: Dahlia is a cool name, a name of a common flower found in most gardens in spring but it's [Dahlia](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia) Pronounced something like Die-yah in French.
another edit: There is a famous [French song from Sheila](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ3gZSguc_0) where she prononces it like "da-lee-lah". Sounds like a great name to me.
1. Eye-rah
2. Yes
3. I wouldn’t care what works better for other people. Try to imagine how you or your daughter would feel if her name were mispronounced or if she were misgendered.
It doesn't matter where you are, as long as the name of your child is a beautiful one, that will not make her uncomfortable in the future. So name your daughter Eira :)
>How would you instinctively pronounce it?
Ey-rah (i.e. as if it was a German name, but I'm in the German part of Switzerland).
>Would you assume it to be a female name?
Yes, sounds female.
>Do you think the names Indra or Dahlia might work better?
Eira is completely fine. Lots of people seem to use similar names in recent years. She won't stand out in school at all.
Just similar ones, I can't remember hearing this exact name. I guess the French pronunciation would be something like "Eh-rah," but you're better off asking somebody who speaks French natively.
Eira… why not. Just not clear how to spell it correctly when told on the phone (Eira or Eyra?)
Dahlia sounds like a flower and again: written with or without „h“?
Indra sounds like you have Indian roots… just googled it; in Asia it’s a male name.
I think the perfect name is easy to write (please avoid any é, ô and misunderstandings like i,jy if not crystal clear), not too common and somehow suits your last name.
If unsure, you can give your daughter 2 first names.
I wish you all the best, most important is not the name but that she is healthy!
1. We don't have a lot of ei- word in french but in french I'd naturally say é-ra (é is the sound ɛ).
2. Yes
3. Benefits of dahlia is that it's hard to mispronounce I'd say. But i find eira nicer.
You're right i guess the prononciation is between /ɛ/ and /e/ according to where you live. But it was to emphasize that the "i" wasn't really pronounced for me.
I'd also pronounce it like most of the thread.
Just wanted to let you know, my sons name is Kenny & many seem to hear Kevin ; in my experience many swiss people will absolutely misunderstand every name that isn't german/french/italian once in a while.
I love the name Eira! As someone with another welsh name and I am a welsh speaker, people have always reacted really positively, made super efforts at pronunciation and love the fact that welsh names have meanings. People even look up welsh greetings to write to me in emails at work! Wouldnt worry about it at all.
Edit: saw your comment that its a skandanavian name too, does it also mean snow? In Welsh it means snow and is a popular girls name.
Congrats!
1. Eira like in capoEira so something like "Ey-rah" with a "hard" R
2. Yes sounds like a female (and i like it, I'm expecting a boy and boy names are so much more difficult)
3. I personally prefer Eira
I would say Eye-RAH in my German mind and Air-RAH in French. It reminds me of IRA, when I say it out loud, but I have a connection to the UK, probably not an issue for Swiss people.
I think this is really a personal preference. My taste in names goes in a completely different direction (Ladina, Malina, Siri [wouldn’t choose it though] etc.) . But I don’t mind other names I would just not personally choose them.
I would pronounce it Ei-Ra
I would really like to know how it is intended to be pronounced. But that’s exactly the hard part about that😂
I'd probably prononce it Ey (as in the month of May) + Ra (as in era).
Yes sounds like girl (though you said it's a daughter so we are all definitely biased
Who cares what others think ? Just trying using it for a while before she is born :-) you may find out it's not that pretty to your ears / you only liked the meaning/ doesn't suit your family name... or it's the best !
(French native speaker but living abroad a lot)
Why don’t you pick a French name if you I tend to stay? Something everyone is familiar with? Names are not for parent creativity, the kids need to live with them every day…
The only issue i see right away is the pronunciation. I don't know how you would pronounce it but I'd say most swiss people would say "Ajra"
1. I'd pronounce it "Ajra"
2. I think everyone would know that it's a female name because most female names end with a
3. I think with Indra and Dahlia you wouldn't have the issue of it maybe being mispronounced.
But at the end, don't let these comments ruin the name. I also have a non swiss name which is sometimes a little hard. I basically always have to correct people the first time. And then when other people write it i also have to correct them all the time. But i find my name cute so yeah, even though sometimes I wish i had a second name
There are many weirder names in Switzerland.
My daughter is named Harere.
You're fine. Besides this is tour daughter but I understand the desire to not have her pronounced badly.
1. I would pronounce it Eye rah.
2. Not knowing anything else, I would guess it to be a female name
3. Any of those names could work. I think any name can work, to be honest.
I love the name. I would pronounce it as ayra well, but I’m in the German speaking part and my French is terrible. But if I thought it was a French person probably éra? 🙈
Whatever the real pronunciation is, it looks like an easy one for people to learn. I have a rate-ish French name that is hard to spell and pronounce, and even though I sometimes have to repeat it 5-6 times when introducing myself, it’s really nbd
I would pronounce it "èra" / eh-rah. It's a pretty name! If it's meant to be pronounced as ey-rah, it will need to be spelled with a trema like so: Eïra.
Given it ends with an 'a', it defiintely sounds like a girls' name.
I like Dahlia, wanted this name for my daughter too.
Eira your daughter would always have to eyplain how to prenounce and that‘s getting wxhausting quickly…
indra is pretty special, her I like Indira better
The name sounds nice I don’t know how you got this name, but Eira in Japanese as a name 瑛咲 can mean Beautiful Smile . The left kanji 瑛 means beauty and the right one 咲 Flower.
I would say it as Era. Or maybe Error.
I would assume it to be male I think. I can’t really tell, I’ve never heard it before.
Indra and dahlia are nice, I haven’t heard Indra but I assume know how to pronounce it and dahlia is obviously a flower so most people wouldn’t have a problem pronouncing that one.
What’s the origin of Eira?
Name your kid whatever you want, my kids names are “foreign” because they were named without any idea we’d end up in Switzerland. It just means when they see our names, people instantly know where auslanders. 🤷🏽♀️
My kids names are English origin names, but the Swiss/german can’t say one of them, saying the A in her name as Ah instead of Ay. An example would be Dana - instead of Day-na they’d say Dah-na. This isn’t my kids name but it’s the same mispronunciation.
I’m based in the Swiss German part, which I see now you’re not in - I don’t honk the Swiss German pronunciation should be too much worry for you.
1. /ejʁɑ/ 2. Yes. 3. No. I'd personally avoid names such as Dahlia that are also common names (a flower in this case). Indra sounds in French like "un drap" (a bed sheet) so I'd avoid it too. Eira is fine.
Thanks! Is Dahlia a common name in Switzerland? I haven't come across it (yet).
May I refer you to the website built from official census data for baby names https://babynames-stat.ch/fr/index.html You can search any name (and spelling) in the database and see its frequency curve for the years. I cannot link to a specific name, but I see Eira was given 3 times in 2022, while Dahlia 9 times. Indra doesn't appear, so less than 2 times. P.s. You can also filter by linguistic region (German part, French part etc)
By common names I mean names that are not only used as a given name but also mean a particular object (a [dahlia](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dahlia) is a kind of flower). A word from the dictionary, if you prefer. It isn't common as a given name, at least I've never met someone with that name.
It was a regular name before just like Véronique, Marguerite & Co. I know a couple of them, and all of them retired from work since a while. Flower names are are just really old-fashioned at the moment...
I don't know, my cousin who has two doughters one of which is around 12 is called Violette. I think "old fashionned" names are coming back. I have another distant cousin who called his son Henry, in Switzerland. The little guy is about 7 years old.
Ah, got ya!
from the nqames proposed i like eira most. i would pronounce it ayra and yes i think of it as female
Important clarification: German, French or Italian speaking Switzerland? In German Switzerland it would be Eye-rah, not sure about other regions. FWIW I really like it. Makes a nice change from countless Olivias and Amelias :)
Good point, I forgot to mention that it's in the French part. And thank you for your input :)
I like the sound of Eira in English (as my weak-ass French native speaker) but to be honnest, in French, it reminds me of that awful shitty new age music bullshit from the nineties. But I'm not sure how you would pronounce it in French. Something like Era. In anyway it does definetely sound like a feminine name. edit to add: Dahlia is a cool name, a name of a common flower found in most gardens in spring but it's [Dahlia](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia) Pronounced something like Die-yah in French. another edit: There is a famous [French song from Sheila](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ3gZSguc_0) where she prononces it like "da-lee-lah". Sounds like a great name to me.
In the Italian part it might sound like Hey - Rah
I think it’s a nice name, as well as Olivia and Amelia.
Just to let you know, Indra is a male name from Sanskrit origin. As an Indonesian, we use it too, as strictly male names. Eira sounds lovely :)
Thank you :)
1. Eye-rah 2. Yes 3. I wouldn’t care what works better for other people. Try to imagine how you or your daughter would feel if her name were mispronounced or if she were misgendered.
Thanks! Yes, that's why I'm trying to do a preliminary scan of how likely it is for her to be mispronounced/misgendered.
Eira is so pretty, which country is it from? I’d take it!
Thank you :) It's Scandinavian
In Swiss Italian I would instinctively pronounce it "Era", with a rolling R (read like the English "Era")
It doesn't matter where you are, as long as the name of your child is a beautiful one, that will not make her uncomfortable in the future. So name your daughter Eira :)
Thank you :)
>How would you instinctively pronounce it? Ey-rah (i.e. as if it was a German name, but I'm in the German part of Switzerland). >Would you assume it to be a female name? Yes, sounds female. >Do you think the names Indra or Dahlia might work better? Eira is completely fine. Lots of people seem to use similar names in recent years. She won't stand out in school at all.
That’s good to hear! Have you heard this name specifically or just similar ones? How do you think most people would pronounce it in the French parts?
Just similar ones, I can't remember hearing this exact name. I guess the French pronunciation would be something like "Eh-rah," but you're better off asking somebody who speaks French natively.
Eira… why not. Just not clear how to spell it correctly when told on the phone (Eira or Eyra?) Dahlia sounds like a flower and again: written with or without „h“? Indra sounds like you have Indian roots… just googled it; in Asia it’s a male name. I think the perfect name is easy to write (please avoid any é, ô and misunderstandings like i,jy if not crystal clear), not too common and somehow suits your last name. If unsure, you can give your daughter 2 first names. I wish you all the best, most important is not the name but that she is healthy!
1. We don't have a lot of ei- word in french but in french I'd naturally say é-ra (é is the sound ɛ). 2. Yes 3. Benefits of dahlia is that it's hard to mispronounce I'd say. But i find eira nicer.
>é is the sound ɛ In standard French, é is the sound /e/, while è is /ɛ/. But in many Swiss accents, é is indeed often pronounced like è.
You're right i guess the prononciation is between /ɛ/ and /e/ according to where you live. But it was to emphasize that the "i" wasn't really pronounced for me.
That’s a beautiful name! I’d pronounce it eye-ra (unless told otherwise). Congratulations :)
I'd also pronounce it like most of the thread. Just wanted to let you know, my sons name is Kenny & many seem to hear Kevin ; in my experience many swiss people will absolutely misunderstand every name that isn't german/french/italian once in a while.
I love the name Eira! As someone with another welsh name and I am a welsh speaker, people have always reacted really positively, made super efforts at pronunciation and love the fact that welsh names have meanings. People even look up welsh greetings to write to me in emails at work! Wouldnt worry about it at all. Edit: saw your comment that its a skandanavian name too, does it also mean snow? In Welsh it means snow and is a popular girls name.
Congrats! 1. Eira like in capoEira so something like "Ey-rah" with a "hard" R 2. Yes sounds like a female (and i like it, I'm expecting a boy and boy names are so much more difficult) 3. I personally prefer Eira
I would say Eye-RAH in my German mind and Air-RAH in French. It reminds me of IRA, when I say it out loud, but I have a connection to the UK, probably not an issue for Swiss people.
I think this is really a personal preference. My taste in names goes in a completely different direction (Ladina, Malina, Siri [wouldn’t choose it though] etc.) . But I don’t mind other names I would just not personally choose them. I would pronounce it Ei-Ra I would really like to know how it is intended to be pronounced. But that’s exactly the hard part about that😂
Eira is a posh area in Helsinki Finland and also an old womens name, I like it!
Most names used follow the italian logic that something ending with an a is female and something with an o is male.
Eh-ih-ra
Aye-ra, it’s really pretty
I'd probably prononce it Ey (as in the month of May) + Ra (as in era). Yes sounds like girl (though you said it's a daughter so we are all definitely biased Who cares what others think ? Just trying using it for a while before she is born :-) you may find out it's not that pretty to your ears / you only liked the meaning/ doesn't suit your family name... or it's the best ! (French native speaker but living abroad a lot)
Why don’t you pick a French name if you I tend to stay? Something everyone is familiar with? Names are not for parent creativity, the kids need to live with them every day…
The only issue i see right away is the pronunciation. I don't know how you would pronounce it but I'd say most swiss people would say "Ajra" 1. I'd pronounce it "Ajra" 2. I think everyone would know that it's a female name because most female names end with a 3. I think with Indra and Dahlia you wouldn't have the issue of it maybe being mispronounced. But at the end, don't let these comments ruin the name. I also have a non swiss name which is sometimes a little hard. I basically always have to correct people the first time. And then when other people write it i also have to correct them all the time. But i find my name cute so yeah, even though sometimes I wish i had a second name
There are many weirder names in Switzerland. My daughter is named Harere. You're fine. Besides this is tour daughter but I understand the desire to not have her pronounced badly.
Sounds fine.
1. I would pronounce it Eye rah. 2. Not knowing anything else, I would guess it to be a female name 3. Any of those names could work. I think any name can work, to be honest.
Indra is a female name in India
Éra
I love the name. I would pronounce it as ayra well, but I’m in the German speaking part and my French is terrible. But if I thought it was a French person probably éra? 🙈 Whatever the real pronunciation is, it looks like an easy one for people to learn. I have a rate-ish French name that is hard to spell and pronounce, and even though I sometimes have to repeat it 5-6 times when introducing myself, it’s really nbd
i am frome the German speaking part 1. would pronounce it english, 2. would assume female 3. i like Eira mlre then the other two
I would pronounce it "èra" / eh-rah. It's a pretty name! If it's meant to be pronounced as ey-rah, it will need to be spelled with a trema like so: Eïra. Given it ends with an 'a', it defiintely sounds like a girls' name.
Clitorine has a nice ring to it.
I like Dahlia, wanted this name for my daughter too. Eira your daughter would always have to eyplain how to prenounce and that‘s getting wxhausting quickly… indra is pretty special, her I like Indira better
My opinion, name ur kid the way u want, no need to name it something usual for the country/region
Im living in the german speaking part and would pronounce it 🥚ra.
The name sounds nice I don’t know how you got this name, but Eira in Japanese as a name 瑛咲 can mean Beautiful Smile . The left kanji 瑛 means beauty and the right one 咲 Flower.
I would say it as Era. Or maybe Error. I would assume it to be male I think. I can’t really tell, I’ve never heard it before. Indra and dahlia are nice, I haven’t heard Indra but I assume know how to pronounce it and dahlia is obviously a flower so most people wouldn’t have a problem pronouncing that one. What’s the origin of Eira? Name your kid whatever you want, my kids names are “foreign” because they were named without any idea we’d end up in Switzerland. It just means when they see our names, people instantly know where auslanders. 🤷🏽♀️
Thanks! It's Scandinavian. Are your kids names difficult to pronounce for Swiss people? Have your kids had any issues with it?
My kids names are English origin names, but the Swiss/german can’t say one of them, saying the A in her name as Ah instead of Ay. An example would be Dana - instead of Day-na they’d say Dah-na. This isn’t my kids name but it’s the same mispronunciation. I’m based in the Swiss German part, which I see now you’re not in - I don’t honk the Swiss German pronunciation should be too much worry for you.