[name_f]My[/name_f] sister and her husband are really struggling with the name for their son. They’re a Portuguese & [name_f]English[/name_f] speaking family, so they prefer names that are at least pronounceable in each language.
[name_f]My[/name_f] sister likes:
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m]
[name_m]Theodore[/name_m] (there’s already a [name_m]Theo[/name_m] in the family)
[name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m] “Enzo”
[name_m]Rafael[/name_m] “Rafa”
Her husband prefers:
[name_f]Pele[/name_f]
Zico
[name_m]Dwayne[/name_m]
[name_m]Koby[/name_m]
[name_m]Arthur[/name_m] (my sister likes the Portuguese pronunciation, but can’t stand the English)
They’re having a hard time finding a middle ground. Any ideas people have would be greatly appreciated.
I’m not American so my thoughts not as relevant, but I would advise against:
Pele - too much of an honour name? Would keep as middle name
Dwayne - very 1980s/dated
Koby - every other Staffordshire terrier dog is called Koby
Zico - unfamiliar in English speaking countries, might be misheard as “sicko”
I get this is a bit harsh on the husband - especially as these are likely honour names for sports stars/ football & basketball idols.
Would keep: Lorenzo, Rafael, Arthur & Oliver
Then how about:
Caio
Fabio
Luis
Nico
Fabian
Leandro
Mateo
Elio /Elias
Santiago
Gustavo (love this! Gus/Stavo/Stav)
Caspar/Jasper
Davi
Cruz
Lucas
Gabriel “Gabe”
Xavier
Anastacio
Inacio (handsome!)
Rexford “Rex” - could be a good compromise!?
[name_m]Enzo[/name_m] was the first name that came to mind when I saw the title! It is so handsome, and works really well in both [name_m]Brazil[/name_m] and the US. It also seems like it could be a good compromise name, since your sister likes [name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m] and her husband seems to like shorter names.
[name_m]Rui[/name_m] was the first that came to mind, it’s easy for [name_f]English[/name_f] speakers and is shorter and packs a punch like the names the husband prefers!
Oliver - Pretty and familiar because of movies, books etc in Brazil. People will know how to pronounce it.
Theodore - Also probably easy to pronounce
Lorenzo - I love it!! I know a few. It might get the Esperanza treatment in the US, but I think that’s an easy correction.
Rafael - Easy correction, works in both languages, and seems like a good middle ground.
Pele - NO PLEASE NO!! Spelled with e instead of é it means “skin” in Portuguese and would get pronounced “PEH-lee”. (Edit: When I said varied negative connotations I was thinking of a different soccer player…Never been much knowledgeable on the field, sorry For the record I advise against Neymar in case they consider it, but it IS a pretty name.)
Zico - Maybe too nicknamey and could get zeye-co pronunciation, but I second Nico as an alternative.
Dwayne - Never heard it before, so my guess is that it’d get pronounced differently? The a would be an uh sound in Portuguese, most likely (assuming it’s usually pronounced with an eh sound?) But it’s an easy correction.
Koby - …Maybe not, because of pronunciation, but again, easy correction, and it’s possibly it’s more familiar because of movies. I second Tobias “Toby” as an alternative.
Arthur - Are they currently in the US or Brazil? If in Brazil, English pronunciation is easy to correct. If in the US, they might have to correct it all the time.
Edit: I second Leonel, Enzo, Caio, Luan, Luca & Lucas! And Felipe, not sure how pronounceable it’d be though.
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m], [name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m], [name_m]Rafael[/name_m] and [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] would work well in both languages.
I would eliminate [name_f]Pele[/name_f] (that spelling means skin in Portuguese). In this case, I believe it may be inspired by the nickname of [name_m]Pelé[/name_m], the futebol player. Same for Zico, which I have never seen before, but it’s inspired by a former brazilian futebol player/ trainer.
@lucy_halo1 [name_f]My[/name_f] sister and her husband love [name_m]Tobias[/name_m] “Toby”! It’s now between that or [name_m]Enzo[/name_m], but I’d never have thought to suggest [name_m]Toby[/name_m] and it’s perfect for them. Thank you so much!!
Brazilian here! I would not recommend [name_m]Enzo[/name_m] as it’s a very memed name here right now. [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] doesn’t really sounds nice in portuguese, and [name_m]Dwayne[/name_m] is hard to pronounce. [name_m]Pelé[/name_m] is also too recognizable to work as a baby name.
As for the other nanes, [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] is a beautiful name in my opinion. [name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m] (without the nickname part) and [name_m]Rafael[/name_m] works as well.
Brazilian names usually don’t have middle names, but if your sister wants to add one, I would go for [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] [name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m] or [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] [name_m]Rafael[/name_m].
I agree with many of the suggestions already given; especially
[name_m]Nico[/name_m]
[name_m]Mateo[/name_m] (I personally know a Portuguese/Welsh/English speaking family who used this! They also used Josaeia, which is the Welsh version of Josiah).
Tobias/Tobiah
[name_f]Rio[/name_f]
I don’t know if the following have been suggested, as I haven’t read through them all:
[name_m]Leo[/name_m]
[name_m]Neo[/name_m]
[name_m]Tino[/name_m]
[name_m]Antonio[/name_m] (Tony)
[name_m]Marco[/name_m]
[name_m]Harley[/name_m]
[name_m]Albert[/name_m] (Bertie)
[name_m]Darius[/name_m]
[name_m]Ren[/name_m]
[name_m]Santiago[/name_m] (Tigo)
[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] (Seb)
[name_m]Freddie[/name_m]
[name_m]Ross[/name_m]
[name_m]Rocco[/name_m]
[name_m]Mario[/name_m]
[name_m]Daniel[/name_m] (Danny)
For the record I advise against Neymar in case they consider it, but it IS a pretty name.)