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It reminds me of dastardly - how about Gaston instead?

I'm also confused on the pronunciation. DAH-stan? DA-stan? DAY-stan? It's weird. I can't form an opinion because I have no idea how it's supposed to sound.

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No, that's not true- no matter what, I think it sounds terrible. Sorry.

Quirky, but not outrageous.
Manages to to be a unique personal name without being surnamey.
Five times better than Brayden.
Two orders of magnitude nicer than Ryder.
If they're not pronouncing it to basically rhyme with Aston, it could seem to be too exoticized for a unique name. Maybe not. But I would worry a little that people would pronounce it "duh STAN." And I did think of dastardly, but that would not bother me.
I basically like your sister's choice of names. If you're going to use unique or invented names, these are the kind of style I like. Firstnamey, pronounceable, spellable.

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This message was edited 7/30/2013, 10:34 AM

Interesting. It does seem to be pronounced so that the first syllable rhymes with "last" and so would remind people of "dastardly."

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I'm surprised because the writers of the film evidently did look up a real Persian name for the character (though the pronunciation they use may not be the real Persian one.)

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The Complete Book of Muslim & Parsi Names by Maneka Gandhi and Ozair Husain includes two Persian names that could be the basis for Dastan:

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Dāstān, which is said to mean "history, romance, fable"

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and

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Dastān, which is said to mean "strong, powerful", and is an alternative name for Zal, the father of Rustam. Rustam was a major figure in Persian legends.

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I'd guess the screenwriters found a mention of Rustam's father under the name Dastān in the Rustam legend and decided it would be a great choice for their character, since it fits "two syllables ending in -n" pattern so popular for American boys these days.

This message was edited 7/30/2013, 9:23 AM

If I'm pronouncing it correctly, it sounds like Dustin said in a weird accent. I don't like it. It's no worse than Teleia and Laithan though. Eek.

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I'd like to rename this sibset Talia, Ethan, and Dustin haha.

I'd guess DAYstan. Which is like Drystan or Dristan, not sure which; a medication for sinusitis, anyway. Not a good idea to name a child after a pill; but your sister is clearly an imaginative namer, so perhaps she won't mind.

I wouldn't know quite how to say it, but I'm picturing it like a bit of an awkwardly pronounced Dustin. Plus it reminds me of "dastardly". :) But I don't know how to pronounce their other kids' names, so it fits in!

I love Dastan. I've loved it ever since I watched "The prince of Persia".