American-friendly Arab Baby Names

Name Advice
1

We’re struggling to find a name we both like that celebrates his Arab culture [Yemen/Saudi] but will be easy for Americans to pronounce [and Arab relatives] and isn’t religious.We dont know the gender yet. I just keep seeing the same suggestions i dont like over and over and even the ones i like i dont love.

For a boy so far the only one I like is [name_m]Laith[/name_m], but I don’t know if I love it. He likes [name_u]Ryan[/name_u], but I hate it.

For a girl I like [name_m]Elham[/name_m] to shorten to [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] and would be open to other options to shorten to [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] because I could see people struggling with [name_m]Elham[/name_m].

He likes [name_f]Norah[/name_f] or i like [name_f]Noreen[/name_f] or Nouran but we arent sure how Americans would pronounce those, might get the vowels wrong/be one we’d have to repeat a lot.

We’d also be open to non-Arab but easy for both languages to pronounce. Any advice/ideas appreciated! This is so much more stressful than i thought it’d be. All the Arab names i love i can’t even pronounce properly!

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2

[name_f]Norah[/name_f] is beautiful. I would say noreen as no reen

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3

Those are the names of a few Arab American kids around us:
Rayan/Ryan
[name_u]Julian[/name_u]
Idriss (European kid but would work well in the US too)
[name_u]Mina[/name_u] (not sure about spelling)

[name_f]Lya[/name_f]
[name_f]Hiba[/name_f]
Ayrah (not sure how it’s spelled, but pronounced I-rah)
[name_f]Norah[/name_f] is common even among non Arabs so it would work finer
[name_f]Maya[/name_f]
Leila/Layla

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4

Oooh I like Ayrah
Thanks for the ideas!

5

[name_f]Norah[/name_f] and [name_f]Noreen[/name_f] are the best imo!

[name_m]Laith[/name_m] is super cool too. I don’t really like [name_u]Ryan[/name_u].

Other names:

Masc
[name_u]Idris[/name_u]
[name_m]Anas[/name_m]
[name_u]Mo[/name_u]
[name_u]Ali[/name_u]

Neutral
[name_u]Zaire[/name_u]
[name_u]Amal[/name_u]
[name_u]Malak[/name_u]

Femm
[name_f]Maya[/name_f]
[name_f]Nadia[/name_f]
[name_f]Leila[/name_f]
[name_f]Alya[/name_f] // [name_f]Alia[/name_f]
[name_f]Fatima[/name_f]
[name_f]Safia[/name_f]
[name_f]Zara[/name_f] / [name_f]Zaira[/name_f]
[name_f]Aida[/name_f]
[name_f]Sonia[/name_f]

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6

[name_f]Asha[/name_f] is my favorite :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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7

Here’s some ideas:

Adila, [name_u]Amar[/name_u], [name_u]Amari[/name_u], [name_u]Amir[/name_u], [name_f]Alisa[/name_f], [name_u]Ali[/name_u], [name_f]Aya[/name_f]
[name_f]Dalia[/name_f], [name_f]Dania[/name_f], [name_f]Diya[/name_f]
[name_f]Emina[/name_f], [name_f]Emira[/name_f], Enver
Fahima, Fahmida, [name_m]Faisal[/name_m], [name_m]Faysal[/name_m], [name_f]Farah[/name_f]
[name_f]Galila[/name_f]
[name_f]Halima[/name_f], [name_u]Hani[/name_u], Hesham
[name_u]Idris[/name_u], [name_u]Isra[/name_u]
[name_f]Jalila[/name_f], Juma, [name_f]Jumana[/name_f]
[name_m]Kadir[/name_m], [name_u]Kairo[/name_u], Kais, Karima
[name_m]Maalik[/name_m], Makram, [name_m]Munir[/name_m]
[name_m]Nabil[/name_m], [name_f]Nada[/name_f], [name_u]Nasim[/name_u], [name_m]Nazim[/name_m]
[name_m]Omar[/name_m], [name_u]Omari[/name_u]
[name_u]Rana[/name_u], Rumeha, [name_f]Rumaisa[/name_f]
[name_m]Sadiq[/name_m], [name_f]Safiya[/name_f], [name_f]Saliha[/name_f], [name_u]Salim[/name_u], [name_f]Shula[/name_f]
[name_u]Taj[/name_u]
[name_f]Yara[/name_f], [name_f]Yasmin[/name_f], [name_f]Yasmina[/name_f]
[name_f]Zahra[/name_f]

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8

dalila is one i haven’t seen mentioned!

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9

He hates [name_u]Idris[/name_u] but i keep suggesting it and i hate [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] but he keeps suggesting it :sweat_smile:

[name_f]Fatima[/name_f] is like our top option for a middle name because we love it but people would say FAT-ima

Thanks for all these great ideas

[name_f]Layla[/name_f] is one he likes that i dont. [name_f]Lilah[/name_f]?

10

I just saw this right after I responded to someone saying [name_f]Lilah[/name_f]?

[name_f]Dahlia[/name_f] or [name_f]Delilah[/name_f] are pretty but i dont love them. [name_m]Just[/name_m] [name_f]Lilah[/name_f] seems cute though?

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11

[name_f]Lilah[/name_f] is super pretty!

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12

I love [name_f]Amaya[/name_f] (girl) and [name_m]Zayn[/name_m] for a boy

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13

[name_f]Salma[/name_f], [name_f]Aya[/name_f], [name_f]Samira[/name_f], and Amala are some of my favorites for girls.

For boys I like [name_m]Rami[/name_m], [name_m]Ilyas[/name_m], and [name_m]Hasan[/name_m].

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14

[name_f]Lilah[/name_f] is cool! But might have a lot of spelling problems. Also:

[name_f]Dalia[/name_f] // [name_f]Delia[/name_f] // [name_f]Dalila[/name_f]
[name_f]Inaya[/name_f]
[name_f]Sabrina[/name_f]
[name_f]Jannat[/name_f]
[name_f]Lidia[/name_f]
[name_f]Hana[/name_f]
[name_f]Sofia[/name_f]
[name_f]Aziza[/name_f]
[name_u]Isra[/name_u]
[name_u]Elif[/name_u]

[name_m]Malik[/name_m]
[name_u]Amir[/name_u]
[name_m]Harun[/name_m]
Tanim
Jibran
[name_m]Adam[/name_m]
[name_u]Basil[/name_u]
[name_m]Jafar[/name_m]
[name_m]Ilias[/name_m]
Sofian
[name_m]Latif[/name_m]

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15

[name_m]Laith[/name_m] is nice!! [name_m]Elham[/name_m] ‘Ellie’ feels like a good way to honour your culture while also having a more familiar nickname and is easy to pronounce! [name_f]Norah[/name_f] is lovely and I think [name_f]Noreen[/name_f] is familiar enough!!

A few more ideas:

[name_f]Amira[/name_f] (could be [name_f]Miri[/name_f], [name_f]Mira[/name_f], Ami)
[name_f]Amna[/name_f] (could be Ami)
[name_f]Farrah[/name_f]
[name_f]Anisa[/name_f] (could be Ani/Annie)
[name_u]Isra[/name_u]
[name_u]Dana[/name_u]
[name_f]Jamila[/name_f] (could be Mila)
[name_f]Layla[/name_f]
[name_f]Muna[/name_f]
[name_f]Yasmin[/name_f]
[name_f]Nadia[/name_f]
Safiya/Safia/Saffie
[name_f]Zayna[/name_f]
[name_f]Dalia[/name_f]

[name_m]Haris[/name_m]
[name_m]Iskandar[/name_m] (could be [name_u]Andy[/name_u], [name_u]Sandy[/name_u], Issy)
[name_m]Samir[/name_m] (could be Sammy/Sami/Sam)
[name_m]Zayn[/name_m]
[name_m]Jamil[/name_m]
[name_m]Adam[/name_m]
[name_m]Omar[/name_m]
Rafi/Raffi/Raffy

(I’ve met people with most of these names and while I’m in the UK, they were pronounced ok)

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16

altair came to mind immediately for a boy ! it gives me the same vibe as laith.

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17

I like that! Thanks

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