Exegesis:

eneneuon de tō patri autou ‘and they made signs to his father.’

enneuō (‡ cf. dianeuō in v. 22) ‘to nod,’ ‘to make signs’; the use of this verb here seems to imply that Zechariah is deaf as well as dumb, which is not excluded by kōphos (v. 22); on the other hand the story supposes that Zechariah has heard the preceding discussion.

to ti an theloi kaleisthai auto “as to what he wished him to be called” (Translator’s New Testament); the indirect question is made into a substantival phrase by prefixing the article in the neuter. The connexion of this phrase with the verb in the main clause is syntactically rather loose; the article may be understood as introducing the question that is implied in eneneuon and explicitly stated in the substantival phrase.

thelō ‘to wish,’ ‘to desire.’

Translation:

They made signs … inquiring, or ‘asked … by (making) signs’; the following question is often better given in direct discourse. For to make signs see above on v. 22; Sediq has ‘to use-talk-for-the-deaf,’ a verbal derivation from ‘deaf.’

His … he … him refer to the child, the father, and the child again, which may have to be specified, e.g. by using ‘child/babe/boy’ in the first and/or in the third instance.

What he would have him called, or, ‘how he wanted that they/people should call the child’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘how he liked them to mention/call his name’ (Uab Meto); or, taking Zechariah as the agent both of the wishing and the calling, e.g. ‘how he would call his child’ (Tae’), “What name do you desire to give?” (three Dravidian languages), ‘what name he wished to name him’ (Ekari, which possesses two interrogatives, the one for a choice out of two, the other for a choice out of many; though the first is not impossible, since the names Zechariah and John have been in discussion, the second interrogative has been preferred).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.