[name_m]Hi[/name_m] All!
A couple years ago, nameberry helped us decide on [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] [name_m]Mateo[/name_m] for our son. [name_f]My[/name_f] husband is from Spain and I’m from the U.S. so we need a name both our families can spell and pronounce, while honoring both. We aren’t TTC just yet, but I can’t stopping thinking about potential names 
Sooooo, what Anglosaxon Spanish combos would YOU pick for a sister and a brother to [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] [name_m]Mateo[/name_m]??
If I had to choose a first today, I’d be between [name_f]Elinor[/name_f] “[name_f]Nora[/name_f]” and [name_f]Cora[/name_f] for a girl and [name_m]Adrian[/name_m] or [name_u]Owen[/name_u] for a boy. We tend to like middles that have a religious reference.
The Anglo [name_m]Saxon[/name_m] era was over 1000 years ago and most of their names died out then, so unless you are looking for the likes of Wigstan and Aethelred, I’d use the term ‘English’ 
[name_m]Felix[/name_m], [name_m]Hugo[/name_m], [name_m]Alexander[/name_m], [name_m]Oscar[/name_m], [name_m]Daniel[/name_m], [name_m]Xavier[/name_m], [name_m]Hector[/name_m], [name_m]Samuel[/name_m], [name_m]Tomas[/name_m], [name_m]David[/name_m] & [name_m]Lucas[/name_m] // [name_f]Laura[/name_f], [name_f]Marta[/name_f], [name_f]Sara[/name_f], [name_f]Maria[/name_f], [name_f]Anna[/name_f], [name_f]Lucia[/name_f], [name_f]Eva[/name_f], [name_f]Lara[/name_f], [name_f]Elsa[/name_f] & [name_f]Clara[/name_f] all strike me as names that could work well in Spanish and go well with [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] to boot. Plus a few are biblical/religious too.
I quite like the sound of [name_u]Owen[/name_u] [name_m]Alejandro[/name_m], [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Tomas[/name_m], [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_f]Isabela[/name_f], [name_f]Eva[/name_f] [name_f]Gabriela[/name_f] etc. I’m not much good with combos though, especially the girl ones 
I think [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] works because the pronunciation is straight-forward in both languages. [name_u]Owen[/name_u] wouldn’t be instinctive but I guess most Spaniards would be familiar with it thanks to [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_u]Owen[/name_u]. [name_m]Adrian[/name_m] wouldn’t work, [name_f]IMO[/name_f] —*unless you don’t mind him being called by two completely different pronunciations (AY-dri-un vs. ah-dree-AHN).
[name_f]Nora[/name_f] & [name_f]Cora[/name_f] would work great.
Some ideas (from the 2012 Spanish popularity charts):
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Nicolas[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Iker[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Lucas[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Ruben[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Samuel[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Aitor[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Eric[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Adam[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Bruno[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Oscar[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Rafael[/name_m] / [name_m]Raphael[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Gerard[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Christian[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Santiago[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Oriol[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_m]Ian[/name_m]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] (Sofía)
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Alba[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Noa[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Emma[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Carlota[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Valentina[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Eva[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Clara[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Victoria[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Isabel[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Alma[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Elsa[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Mar[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Alexia[/name_f]
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] and [name_f]Chloe[/name_f]
In Spain, they refer to English as an anglosaxon language. So I was hoping to refer to names with English roots, be it american, british, australian without using the word English, which atleast to me, can be confused with the word British. Sorry for the confusion.
Thanks Sugarplum for all the great ideas. I’m OK with the name we choose sounding different in the two languages… even [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] sounds different (Aw-lih-ver vs. ol-lee-vehr).[name_f]My[/name_f] problem with a lot of easy to spell and say names is they feel very common. Thats why we put [name_m]Mateo[/name_m] in the middle place because I wanted something a bit more unique. I know [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] isn’t very unique in the UK, but we dont know any Ollies in Spain or the US so it feels more special. [name_m]Adrian[/name_m] would actually be really pushing it for me since its so popular in Spain.
Sugarplum, I really like [name_f]Alba[/name_f], [name_f]Valentina[/name_f], [name_f]Emma[/name_f] or [name_f]Gemma[/name_f] and [name_f]Carlota[/name_f]. [name_f]Alba[/name_f] is beautiful in Spanish, but do you think it sounds too clunky in English??
I liked your ideas CharlieandPErry of [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] and [name_m]Lucas[/name_m],[name_f]Lucia[/name_f] and [name_f]CLara[/name_f] tho we cant use [name_m]Lucas[/name_m] and [name_f]Clara[/name_f] because of close friends and family. [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] is reaaally popular here tho so it might be better for a middle ([name_f]Elinor[/name_f] [name_f]Lucia[/name_f]?) and I dont love that [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] in Spain is OO-go.
Im really drawn to word names. If I had my choice, [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] would have been [name_u]River[/name_u]. Id love to use [name_m]Abel[/name_m] for a brother to [name_u]Ollie[/name_u], but dislike the feminine spanish pronunciation ah-[name_u]BELL[/name_u]. [name_f]Luna[/name_f] for a girl middle would be awesome too, but perhaps too cheesy for the Spaniards?
[name_f]Alba[/name_f]- I’d like to express my complete support for [name_f]Alba[/name_f] <3 When I lived in Alicante, I had a Valencian roommate named Alba. At first, I did think the name was very clunky, but within 24 hours I was in LOVE with the name Alba. My roommate was a petite ballerina and very artistic. I think the name is anything but clunky now. If she’ll be growing up in Spain anyway, I wouldn’t worry about how it comes across in the US because most people will meet an Alba with a clean slate in mind.
Amparo- Moreso as a middle name
Apolonia
Eulalia/ Olalla/ Olaia/ Olaya- depending where you live in Spain
Leonor
Leire/ Leyre
Mar
Nuria
Ariadna
Irene
Iris- super English-friendly, and works great with Oliver. Iris Amparo is one of my all time favourite combos
And in terms of Luna, it’s not too weird. I had a student in Gipuzkoa named Ilargi… that was very unexpected. Luna, not so much.
Bruno
Efraín
Gaël
Pau
Sebastián- this is perfect with Oliver
Yago
Augusto
Oriol- if you love word names, I think this is fantastic. I love it in English, too.
Leo
Good luck!