🦁 help your nonbinary friend find a new name (please?)

i’ve held back from making a post for so long, but today is the day we say heck it, let’s do it! (even if nothing miraculous comes out of it) (thank you other poster looking for a friend for unintentionally giving me the strength today)

so! who wants to help your friend aren find a gender neutralinternational name?
i love aren in english, i even like it in other languages. except the languages i need it to work in. it’s horrible. terrible. no good. very tragic.

irl i also go by the nickname rey, but the more people say it the more i kinda hate it :sweat_smile:

what’s something that vibes like aren, but can be pronounced outside of english? for your little moon lion friend, any and all ideas, as obscure as it comes to mind, throw it at me

names / vibes for reference

vibes / meanings / me in a nutshell - :waning_crescent_moon: :night_with_stars: :lion: :sparkler:little spitfire, lion, moon, night sky , existential dread
(but not the sun! that’s a personal connection i don’t want to get near :upside_down_face:)

names i like (but only in english):
hallie / halley - slightly more feminine, but i also love it
rain :broken_heart:
samantha nn sam - like, if i were to have a feminine name in another life, i vote samantha, but sam is only english and sammy aint it. samantha but unisex? :sweat_smile:
shiloh
romy - it kinda works in other languages, but it’s crush, not a soulmate
eden - i liked it until people ruined it for me :sweat_smile:

I feel your pain, friend - I’m in a multilingual situation too and sometimes names just don’t translate well, no matter how much you love them in one language or the other. :sob:

These are varying degrees of neutral, but maybe…

[name_u]Arden[/name_u] - like a combination of [name_m]Aren[/name_m] and [name_u]Eden[/name_u]
[name_u]Camden[/name_u]
[name_u]Bowen[/name_u]
[name_u]Ren[/name_u]
[name_u]Seren[/name_u]
[name_m]Luan[/name_m] (meaning both lion and moon! Masculine name in its language of origin though)
[name_f]Lua[/name_f] (the feminine version of the above… again not neutral in its original language)
[name_u]Jericho[/name_u]
[name_f]Mab[/name_f]
[name_m]Pan[/name_m]
[name_f]Kore[/name_f]
[name_u]Evren[/name_u]
[name_f]Ilta[/name_f]
[name_u]Vesper[/name_u]
[name_u]Samar[/name_u] - as an alternative to [name_f]Samantha[/name_f], also the meaning fits your vibe I think!
[name_u]Dione[/name_u]

[name_f]Glad[/name_f] you felt comfortable to post today :heart:

A few ideas:

[name_u]Lior[/name_u]
[name_u]Ari[/name_u] (similar so it might not work either?)
[name_f]Leni[/name_f]
[name_m]Lio[/name_m]
[name_f]Azar[/name_f]
[name_u]Iggy[/name_u]
Aytac
[name_u]Nima[/name_u]
[name_u]Paz[/name_u]
[name_u]Ori[/name_u]
[name_m]Leonid[/name_m]
[name_m]Ziv[/name_m]
[name_u]Lux[/name_u]
[name_u]Lorin[/name_u]
[name_u]Merle[/name_u]

[name_u]Amazing[/name_u] to see your post! Cheers to you. I think you’ve got a lovely list to start, and I’ve got some ideas I think may strike for you.

[name_u]Sasha[/name_u] is an international and classically neutral name that blends [name_f]Samantha[/name_f] and [name_u]Shiloh[/name_u] well in my book. I adore this name. Worldly, lion-hearted, and totally strong.

[name_u]Ren[/name_u] or [name_u]Wren[/name_u] can serve as diminutives for all sorts of international names, from [name_u]Florence[/name_u] to [name_m]Soren[/name_m] to [name_u]Remington[/name_u] to [name_u]Loren[/name_u]. All sorts of goodies! Plus, similar to [name_u]Rain[/name_u] and similar forms, namely [name_f]Reine[/name_f].

[name_u]Lex[/name_u] is another I think is very brave sounding. A lion name! Reminds me of [name_m]Lev[/name_m], [name_u]Levi[/name_u], and the like. Also feels totally international, thanks to its roots (like Sasha) in both [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] and [name_f]Alexandra[/name_f] name families.

You’ve got lots of wonderful suggestions here!
[name_u]Happy[/name_u] you felt comfortable to post about this :purple_heart:

What about…

[name_u]Remi[/name_u] (kind of like [name_u]Romy[/name_u] but maybe more international?)
[name_u]Arden[/name_u]
[name_u]Wren[/name_u] (sounds a bit like Rain)
[name_u]Leo[/name_u]
[name_u]Aster[/name_u]
[name_m]Lavi[/name_m] (reminds me of [name_u]Levi[/name_u] but means lion!)
[name_u]Lupin[/name_u]

Lylune was the name of a genderfluid friend and [name_f]Lune[/name_f] is the name of a boy I saw somewhere - [name_m]Lev[/name_m] is masculine but might work for you too - there is also [name_u]Leone[/name_u] and [name_m]Leonce[/name_m] which are both gender neutral. There was a Pope named [name_u]Leone[/name_u] for example -

You can also consider [name_u]Sasha[/name_u], [name_u]Vanya[/name_u] and [name_u]Remy[/name_u]!

Sasha
Ariel
Leonide
Ciar
Cameron / Cam
Alva
Lee
Francis / Frankie
Micaiah / Micah
Nikita / Nika / Niko
Robin
Jamie
Claude
Laith / Leith

1 Like

and then i went missing for a whole day (sorry!) but thank you all so much for your time and your splendid ideas!

@Luminen

@Luminen :fist: :fist: … i think you found my language of origin :rofl:
i love so many of those names! some are my constant recs :laughing: i think this is the time to add that portuguese really, really screws up nasal sounds, so Ms and Ns are … unfortunate. :rofl: it’s my catch with aren, unfortunately. i really do love them oof this is a shout out to camden and ren :hearts:
-seren is a military rank where i live now which has my brain all kinds of confused about it, because it’s a really cool name.
-i love your super fresh ideas! pan yeeted me back to my peter pan obsessed childhood, how interesting. ive never heard of mab, kore and ilta!

-samar is too samara from the ring movies imatraumatizedchild

@greyblue

@Greyblue :hearts: :hearts:
-ari actually works! it’s the N in aren giving me the trouble (belatedly realizing i should have specified). it had been slightly stolen from the family until recently we decided it’s ok to name kids 99% the same name :joy: but now im having thoughts
-lior i think i would like this name better if i wasnt stupidly unable to pronounce the R :laughing: it’s a great name though (for the non tongue twisted)
-lio why does a different spelling make it so much more interesting? oh wow
-azar i didnt know this one! :fire: :fire: it would work so well …if it wasn’t for portuguese. i think there should be a study on how one language can ruin every other one. azar means bad luck in portuguese, which, if that isnt fitting :joy: (im truly extra bummed now)
-im playing with thoughts of paz and lux, thank you for reminding me of nice words

@snowmaiden

@snowmaiden thank you :sob:

-sasha i hadnt thought of it like that! it’s just that i live around a lot of russians who are already mad i don’t speak russian, they might beat me up :rofl: but it’s definitely a thought to play with
-ooo simple but true thoughts (why didnt i think of that!), longer names, of course! you’re giving me ideas! (related and unrelated, i really love soren, remington and reine!)
-lex really is so cool, ive actually been crushing on it lately (nameberries truly have a sense), though a little less for myself personally. i could totally see myself turning that thought around, except that lex is only lex in english :laughing: (looking at you, portuguese “lesh”)

@eggcelent

@eggcelent your @ is truly eggcelent, i love it. thank you :purple_heart: :purple_heart:
-i love remi arden and wren! i think i need to make a specific list of names i love that are ruined in portuguese and ask the government for compensation
-look at you knowledgeable with the lions! while an eggcelent suggestion, lavi is taken by family (lion obsessed family :roll_eyes: :rofl:). leo by itself is super masculine, but it’s definitely an idea to incorporate in a name.
-lupin might be a little too wolfy for my lion self, but heck yeah lupin!

@heartwings

@heartwings thank you for stopping by and sharing! i love your @
-lylune is so interesting! lune is definitely not something ive thought of before, but now ive got my eyes on it :eyes:
-leone is sounding very nice to my ears, leonce is so cool? so many cool finds today!
-sasha and remy while i love, have an unfortunate end with my circumstances :{

@mrbadger

@MrBadger thank you for the suggestions!
-ariel i swear in another life i would be named this, sadly in this life i was too late and it’s been taken by close family. but im always happy to see it
-i love lee! another crush of mine lately, though i never thought of it for myself before. here’s to a new thought!
-for all of my longstanding crush on niko and related names, i also never thought of it for myself. the wonders a simple suggestion can do!
-i also love ciar, micaiah/micah and jamie, though they’re also less likely to work

4 Likes