Xanthe

I love it! It's my name. People usually say it's pretty/fancy, but some people did not really care for it. The good thing is that this name now is known enough to the point where a lot of people stopped asking me how to spell it! I'd say if you like uncommon names you should go for it! And also, I've seen a few people here mentioning "xanthan gum" which I never heard of before, but anyways, no one is gonna actually say it to a child's face, I've never had anyone say this to me, and they won't ever say it to your kid if you name them this, so let's just ignore that part. And I'm not a blonde, I'm a redhead and no one pays attention to that (mainly because a lot of people don't know the meaning of names). Anyways, overall this is a perfectly usable name! It's pretty, unique... I've been living with it for 14 years and I love it!

While I love how this name is so classical yet so modern sounding, it's quite difficult to pronounce unfortunately. I'd pronounce this name "ZAN-thee".

On the lookout for something unique, historical, but modern-sounding, we named our daughter Xanthe in 2020. We pronounce it ZAN-thee, but we usually call her Xan (Zan). She surprised us by being blonde in a family of brunettes! Her middle name is Fiona if she ever finds Xanthe too much of a hassle, but we hope she sticks with it!

It's not the worst but it's definitely not the best. In between.

I love the spelling of this name and I think it looks pretty cool, but I cannot stand the pronunciation. It’s such a shame as I love how Xanthe looks as a name, but I don’t like the pronunciation :/

Sounds like a name of a medication. It's not very attractive either way.

Beautiful! I love color names and this one is special.

I love this name. I also like how it’s not girly. I pronounce it “ZAN-thee.”.

Seems like an ugly modern name, even though it's from Greek Mythology.

I named my daughter Xanthe, and she loves it. She is a non-identical twin, and loves the fact that it is unusual. I named her after a little girl I had met years before at a Shakespeare festival. The little girl's sister was named Sarah, so I did not feel that I had to name Xanthe's twin an equally unusual name. Eventually, I gave her nicknames like "Xanthe-Roo," like I was Kanga and she was Roo. Then, Xanthe-Zoo, then just XuXu (like the lady above) like ZuZu's petals from 'It's a Wonderful Life". We pronounce it ZanThee. Almost everyone likes it. It is ancient and beautiful.

I named my daughter this and it suits her so much: she is sociable and friendly. We nicknamed her zoo zoo referring to her as Xanthe zoo. I think it's pretty, we loved the classic influence (Oceanus' daughter who was a sea nymph) and I love the meaning of the golden one. Our little zoo zoo will have dark hair when she is older but I don't think this detracts from the meaning of being golden or fair in nature.

I'm personally not a fan of this name. I've never really liked names that start with "X" (due to the way it just seems so out of place and not natural to me), so this one is just not for me. Don't like the spelling or my assumed pronunciation. It's just my opinion, though. I bet others love this name.

My name is Xanthe [zan-thee] (actually inspired from the House Martin's "I Can't Put My Finger On It") and I've never had any issues with it. People actually tried to persuade my parents to give me a more 'normal' name, but aside from the occasional mispronunciation, I've only ever been complimented. I'm blonde, too, so that's just icing on the cake!

I really love this name. Though I pronounce it as one syllable.

It's not unlike naming your daughter "Rubia", "Flavia", "Fiona", and the like since they all indicate flaxen or fair hair; thus, you're naming your daughter "Blonde".

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I like this name. I just find it interesting that it's also used to refer to a woman with flaxen hair.

My name is Xanthe and I pronounce it zan-thee and I do happen to have blonde hair, haha.

Oh, I love this name. It's a breath of fresh air to me. =)

It's quite an interesting and unique name. Also, I know a girl called Xanthe and she happens to be blonde XD.

My Name is Xanthé pronounced (Zan-thay) and I love it! It's really not a hard name to pronounce or remember. If anything everyone remembers it because its so unique. There are many different ways that different cultures pronounce it. With the crazy names people are naming their children these days, I feel like it's a wonderful name that is different and interesting but not over the top.

This is my name. I pronounce it Kan-tha. I have never liked my name even with the story I have behind it. It is not a family name just my parents thinking they were naming me my hair color. I am a brunette, so the joke is on me.

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In my 30's I did hear the Greek pronunciation of Ksan-ti which is better than any of the American/English versions I have heard. I found it just as difficult to get it pronounced correctly regardless.

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Please don't put your children through the pain I have gone through by having an unusual and difficult to pronounce name placed upon them.

I like this name, pronounced "ZAN-thee", because Greek names that end in E usually sound like "ee" rather than "uh". And I think when somebody pronounces this name (and others) like EKS-an-the, etc, them saying X as an "EKS" sounds uneducated and dumb.
So yes, this is a pretty name, pronounced the real way, which in my opinion is ZAN-thee.

To the poster above, KSAHN-thee is how it's supposed to be pronounced in Greek. If anything, pronouncing it with a Z is a bastardized version of the original beautiful pronunciation. But of course anglophones will always argue it's their way, their pronunciation. It DOES sound educated because that's how it IS in Greece. Use google more, it might help- it shows how to correctly pronounce things.

This name sounds more masculine than feminine to me. I like it, though.

So beautiful, but I couldn't imagine anyone named this.

I prefer it to be pronounced ZAN-the, with the E silent. Maybe it's just me!

I love this name. Maybe it's just the "x", but I think Xanthe sounds really cool and pretty. It's unusual and kinda dramatic, but far simpler than other mythological names, like Clytemnestra. I like it pronounced "ZAN-thee" and "ZAN-thay".

In a story I'm writing, there's a girl called Mary Chrisantha, and Xanthe (pronounced as ZAN-tha) is her nickname. I think it should remain as so, simply a nickname. The 'z' sound isn't great at the start of somebody's first name.

I love the name Xanthe. The meaning "golden one" is fantastic, with the imagery it creates. Personally I would pronounce it Zan-thee, but any way is great.

I really like this name pronounced zan-thee, I like it because there aren't many X names around.

Xanthe is a great name. I prefer it pronounced zan-they than any other way. Not many common names start with an x, which I think makes it even more special and unique.

This is a great name for a character!