Well, then don't give them a first name, but a Na'vi or Na'vi inspired middle name would still work.

I agree... a Na'vi inspired middle name souds kinda cool, actually. (Good thing I don't have any children :P). "Hanna Neytiri Smith" does have a nice sound to it. "Hanna Ney Smith" sounds even better. :airquote:

Tey'Kan

i kind of like the idea of trying to raise a kid to be bilingual in English and lì'fya leNa'vi. I know someone tried (and failed) to do the same with the Klingon, but Na'vi is so much more beautiful that I think it might actually work.

The point being?

...why not? If people get to inculcate their kids with all manner of unpleasant religious ideologies without the Social Services stepping in it seems to me that teaching a kid a constructed language is a relatively minor affair.

The main problem was that he had nobody else to speak Klingon to other than his parents, not difficulty or anything. Sadly, Na'vi would most likely give the same problem, so natural fluency is not that likely, although at least they would still gain an excellent understanding of it :)

I like some of the Na'vi inspired middle name ideas, but yeah never a first name.

Well.. I dont' have any children, but many i will get one in future! - i don't thinks i would name he/her a Na'vi name, maybe just call he/her it.. if you know what i mean?

slightly off topic
 

An interesting factoid concerning those who are worried about fitting in, the name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan". There was never a recorded Wendy before. That name is quite well known now and not considered strange in the slightest, despite it being from a fictional story. I just found that interesting...

I would give my ay'eveng (kids) the usual three name case. First name: japanese meaning name, middle name: Na'vi name like Txep for a girl or Mihnga for a boy, then my human last name. Yet it all depends on my mate's opinion.

Hmm, i'm not so sure I would, myself.

Being of Celtic heritage, I think I would be more likely to give my son/daughter a largely traditional Celtic/Welsh name, as a tradition for my own people. Although, I do think a lot of Na'vi names are indeed very flowing and beautiful.

I wonder, whether Sylwanin hasn't been borrowed from the latin name Silvia(Sylvia)?

I used to get hassled for my name back when I was a kid living in England. My first name, "Mikko", is the Finnish equivalent of Micheal. I still have to spell it out all the time.
Ironically when I later lived in Finland, I had a hell of a time always having to spell out "Wilson". And with Mikko so common, I often go by "Wilson" amongst friends in Finland.
So wherever I am; one of the names is being mis-pronounced. "Mikko" in Finnish "Mik-ko" and English "me-co" or "mik-co". "Wilson" in English "Will-son" and Finnish "vil-son".

The combination of two so normal names always means that I have to explain one or the other. But together they are a *really* rare combination (I've only ever seen one other "Mikko Wilson" on a Google search) which makes stuff like user-names easy. mikkowilson@ pretty much anything is me.

I think done tastefully a middle name could work quite well. And it could always be obscure enough that it didn't matter.
Or... "Well, actually, 'great' is my middle name." (nawm)

--

On the language side; My (younger) sister and I were bought up bi-lingual with my mom teaching and interacting with us in Finnish while we grew up in England. There weren't many others to talk to. Lots of Finnish childrens music & stories on tape in the car. My dad only speaks English; so when he was at home English it was.
We did spend our childhood summers in Finland with our grandparents though; that helped.

So; re-cap: "Jane Sevin Doe" can grow up perfectly normal; and successfully bi-lingual if she spends her summer vacations on Pandora.

- Mikko

It's easier with an established language like Finnish with many native speakers, more resources for learning - although Na'vi is certainly getting there :)

A name from a word in Na'vi wouldn't be so obvious, it would just seem to be an unusual name to many people.