Baby Naming Issue: International Names

Mariana writes:

I am writing to enlist your help in search of the perfect international boy’s name.

I live in Brazil and I am expecting my first, a boy, in September. My husband is also Brazilian. Growing up, I lived in Chile, England and Brazil, and through travel and studies became fluent in French, Spanish and English. As an adult, I spent 15 very happy years in New York, where I built a good career for myself as a graphic designer, and created strong and lasting friendships. I have since relocated to Brazil, but I go back very often, for work, and to see friends. I aso travel extensively for work in Europe, Canada and the rest of the US, and my husband and I have friends in many places. We truly feel the world is a small place and we hope our boy will grow up to be quite a traveller himself. In fact, we plan on enrolling him in a bi-lengual school as soon as possible.

With such an international lifestyle, I have always wanted a name that could work in English, French and Spanish, and of course our native Portuguese. By that I mean a name that could be understood and pronouced easily in any one of those languages, withouth spelling changes or adaptations. And which doesn’t feel immediately “foreign” in other countries.

For girls it was easy – Julia, Helena, Olivia and Alma were at the top of our list. For boys, however, we’re stumped. There’s Gabriel and Daniel (far too many around us already), Oscar (a little odd here in Brazil, and doesn’t go with our last names), and the only one we like, Bruno. My favorite boy’s name, the one closest to my heart, is Pedro – but that has such immediate “latino” implications, which is exactly what I don’t want. I also tend to like short names, rather than longer ones.

To further complicate matters, I have a Rumanian last name, Ochs, and my husband an Italian one, Corsi. We find them impossible to combine! My husband’s name is Gustavo (which we have to shorten to Gus when we’re in the US), and he has a 7-year-old son from his previous marriage named Artur (Brazilian spelling for Arthur).

Any suggestions would be tremendously appreciated!

Are you sure there are too many Daniels for your tastes? It has all the hallmarks of a great name: long roots, good nickname, flexible image (that is, it doesn’t call to mind any particular type of person/profession), easy to spell and pronounce. It works with both surnames, and also with the name Artur.

Gabriel, too, seems like an excellent choice: the long roots! the good nickname! the flexible image! good with the surnames and sibling name! Popular names, yes, but a GOOD kind of common: timeless, enduring, classic, traditional—never-wear-out kinds of names. More than two kids named Maverick in town and things get a little awkward, but you can easily have a couple of Daniels or Gabriels in every classroom.

For further suggestions, I have to turn to my readers: I’ve never even been out of my own country, except for brief drives through Canadian customs and right back out again. I’m hoping some of you are more well-traveled than I, and can offer some helpful suggestions.

26 thoughts on “Baby Naming Issue: International Names

  1. Peace

    Our first instinct was Paulo, and that was before my DH and I read the whole post. I think Pedro is fine as well, and so are Daniel and Gabriel. For Americans every name is foreign on some level. Good luck, bonne chance, and buena suerte.

    Reply
  2. janet

    I’m not at all qualified to answer this one, but I do love Daniel. Other ideas are Lucas, Leo(nardo), Marcos, or maybe Sebastian?

    Reply
  3. Steph

    I do like Gabriel a lot. Maybe Victor would work? I had coworkers recently looking for a name that translated across English and French who went with Alexander, but I guess that wouldn’t translate into the Spanish/Portuguese. Good luck!

    Reply
  4. Jenn

    If Daniel works, what about David?
    Michael
    Marco (or Marc)
    Adam
    Rocco
    Nathan or Nathaniel (not sure if the “th” works though)
    Paulo (or Paul)

    Reply
  5. Mayberry

    I don’t know if this helps or hurts, but I know three couples who are Latin-American (Chilean dad, American mom; Brazilian mom, American dad; etc.). Two have sons named Lucas and two have sons named Julian.

    Reply
  6. Leah

    Victor! Victor! Victor! I have a cousin who’s married to a guy from Brazil, and because they still have family there (and visit often) they wanted something that would translate well in both countries. Victor it is, and it’s a great name. (His nearest cousin, also have Brazilian, is Gabriel).

    Reply
  7. Anonymous

    What a great challenge! I’m not too familiar with what works in Spanish or Portuguese, but here are some good bilingual French-English names, some already mentioned (taken from Quebec’s top 100 names of 2007)…they are the French spellings (if they vary), but pretty doable in English.

    Samuel
    Jacob
    Nicolas
    Noah
    Adam
    Lucas/Luca
    Simon
    Leo
    Isaac
    Damien

    Good luck!

    Reply
  8. Mariana

    Thank you, Swistle and everyone else, for the great answers! However, of all the new suggestions, Paulo, Lucas, Leo and Victor (spelled Vitor) would be the only names that sound “naturally” Brazilian – and this is, after all, where we are based. Leonardo (Leo) was on our list, but got vetted for being too long. Hugo was considered for a while, but the initial “H” can be tricky. Lucas does seem to be the number-one crossover name at the moment – but, along with Paulo, Pedro and Marcus, in the end it was a little too biblical for us (my family is Jewish), as well as too popular in my DH’s side of the family already. Daniel and Gabriel, which would make the Jewish grandparents happy, are quite taken as well. So finally we went with Bruno, which pops up in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries, is used quite naturally in French, Italian and German, does not seem overused, and, though unusual in the US, is easily pronounceable in English. And we’re loving it now! Whew.

    Simone, the Baby Name Wizard post is fantastic, I will pass it along to friends who are facing the same issues.

    Thanks to all, merci, gracias and obrigada!

    Reply
  9. Frazzled Mom

    Unfortunately, I don’t feel worldly enough to help here either. But it sounds like you found a name anyway.

    I do know of a website that you may find interesting however.
    Baby Names World at:
    http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/

    At this site, you can find feedback from people with the name, and one of the questions is how often the name is easily pronounceable in other languages.

    The majority of those named Bruno said their name was pronounceable in other languages, “occasionally.” Bear in mind there were only 25 respondents with the name Bruno.

    However, I think the question was referring to all other languages, and it sounds like you are most concerned with Spanish, French, English and Portuguese.

    Reply
  10. Anonymous

    What about:
    Adrien/Adrian
    Eric
    George(s)
    Gilbert
    Manuel.

    I really like David…it’s my brother’s name, so I’m partial to it.
    I also like Victor. Such a strong name.

    Reply
  11. laura

    My absolute favorite boy name, Xavier, works in many languages, although I’m not sure about Portuguese? I love the varied international pronounciations–one of my favorite things about this name!

    Reply
  12. Mariana

    Frazzledmom, thanks for the tip, Baby Names World is a great site.

    David got a lot of votes here, it would be spelled Davi in Portuguese, which would cause a lot of confusion in other countries. It’s one of those names that have to be “translated” in other countries, which is what we don’t really want – like Jorge/George/Georges, Eduardo/Edward/Edouard, Paulo/Paul, Adriano/Adrien/Adrian, Sebastião/Sebastian, etc. We really wanted something that could be used everywhere with the exact same spelling.

    So Bruno it is. We sent this question quite a while back, so our decision is made, as we’re in the last moth of the pregnancy. Thank you all for the great input, and best of luck to all the expectant families!

    Reply

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