I write to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina, expecting a baby girl on 19th of Feb! My husband and I have a 2 year old son named Agustin Marcelo (said Ah-goo-steen in Spanish) which was lucky, because it can easily be pronounced in English, and my family will be moving to Virginia, U.S.A. about four months after the new baby is born.
We have not come up with any names we are seriously considering so far because we are wanting to be extremely cautious about the bilingual factor. We will be in the US for 10 years at the least, so our children will clearly be raised very American. I myself spent my high school years in Washington, and as a Marcela, I know the troubles of having a name that is not pronounceable in the country where one is living, and I do not want that to happen to my daughter.
The only names we've really liked so far are impossible to pronounce in English, so let us start from scratch. We like very lovely, long names, although short is fine too. Hopefully it will sound nice with Agustin (with the English pronunciation too). We would also love for the middle name to be Magdalena or Isabel, but it is not necessary. Hopefully it would not be too common a name in the US. We do not really like common names (we have looked at Andrea, Julia, etc, but they do not appeal). Also, we are inclined toward nickname-able names (Agustin is called Agu, I am Marce, my husband Feli).
Sorry if that is very much to ask! Of course not all the criteria needs to be met, just some things we am looking for.
These are, for me, the hardest questions to answer. I feel pretty solid with U.S. names, but nowhere near familiar enough with other countries' names or pronunciations---let alone the connotations of names, which is the hardest part for a non-local to get a feeling for, or to research---to even make a start at it.
But this is the beauty of the internet: we can pool our knowledge. And so I post this question, even though I'm unable to answer it, and I hope others will be able to work on it.
