Ivan

I like this name but in Australia there’s an infamous serial killer with the name, so there goes that

I've never heard anyone say it ee-vahn. Maybe in Europe.

I know some people think this name is very masculine but, for some reason when I first heard this name I thiugth It was for girls. I was super shocked when I read The one and Only Ivan and realized that the gorilla (Ivan) was a male

Ives would make a really cool nickname.

Ha, I can't even remember posting that comment. I don't think I was in a good state of mind when I did it, but the fact still stands that I did. So, I'm sorry if it bothered you in any way.

ivan the terrific

It's short enough it doesn't really need one. Ivey would be cute among close family for a young Ivan, though.

one of the Avengers is literally a Russian...... and once they even said her whole name in a Marvel film, pitch perfectly, which Natalia Alianovna Romanova. As a matter of fact in another Marvel film they literally speak Russian (to control the Winter Soldier) and have Russian signs visible. It's just laziness not to be consistent. Yvonne and Ivan come form the same origin which is John (and via Jane). Many Russian names and nicknames sound feminine to untrained ears. Vanya is equivalent to Johnny. Mischa is equivalent to Mike. Danya is equivalent to Danny. Kolya is equivalent to Nick. etc. etc. This is the same country where Santana (Saint Anne) is more popular for boys than girls. All of these multicultural names that are the most popular such as Isabella and even Sasha (which is unisex in Russian), yet simple names like Ivan are butchered for no reason other than "Americanism". If they wanna go that route, use Evan. Straightforward, easy, same origin, no "alternative" ways to pronounce it.

I don't think it's for a lack of research, I just think if they had pronounced it the Russian way people may have thought his name was the female "Yvonne." It's an American movie with the American pronunciation of the name. I understand where you're coming from but personally I adore this name and being Canadian would pronounce it "eye-van" which I think is completely normal for North American English speakers. This is the same for a lot of names popular on multiple continents :) I don't think anyone is trying to offend.

The bad part about this name is that it doesn't have a good nickname.
'Van' sounds dumb, and 'Ivy' sounds too feminine...

Unfortunately, pronounced wrong a lot! It's not eye-ven, it's ee-von!

I personally can't imagine saying anything but ee-VONN. That said, it is a wonderful name with either pronunciation.

Just stopping by to say it's still me indiefendi just a new account because something went wrong with my other (now I have to come up with new things to say 😭). My statements/comments about Ivan still remain the same tho. 😝

I was just watching Iron Man 2 where the villains name is Ivan Vanko and the Russian dad said it the correct way but several other people kept pronouncing it the "English" way (i.e. WRONG way, there is no eye sound when there's an I in a Russian name and there is no an sound, it's ahn like in Anja). I just wanted to yank my hair out because the movie had a $200M budget yet no one told the other actors how to say the guy's name? It drove me mental! 😫

Umm... indiefendi, it might depend on the person's accent. Some names are pronounced different depending on the country.

Sigh. I wish people would stop saying eye-van. It's ee-vahn.