I love exotic names from other cultures, and I feel like I should be able to use them even though I don’t belong to any of the cultures/ethnicities, but I’m not sure I would have the guts to actually use one. So, what are some boys names that you love but aren’t part of your heritage/culture/ethnic group? Would you or will you use them? [name]Do[/name] you think it’s okay to use a name from a different background than your own?
I’ll start with the names I love and are on a separate list of mine entitled “Probably Can’t Use?”
And for information purposes, I am White with Welsh/Greek/Dutch ancestry and DH is Half Navajo/Half White.
Hmmm…I love exotic names as well. I am white with Italian ancestry and my boyfriend is white Greek, [name]German[/name], Guyanese ancestry. I think I would use them depending on the name and the type of vibe it has. I do not see why it is not okay to use a name from a different background. I think I would also use them depending on how I can handle the pronunciation because I suck at pronouncing names sometimes haha. But names I have liked from different cultures and can pronounce are:
[name]Raphael[/name]- if I were to use this I would use the Italian variation. And probably in the middle spot.
[name]Raoul[/name]
Navvaro
[name]Octavio[/name]
[name]Emmanuel[/name]
I like [name]Diego[/name] from your list
[name]Cesar[/name]
[name]Eduardo[/name]
[name]Manuel[/name]
[name]Emilio[/name]
[name]Johan[/name]
[name]Amadeus[/name]
Aurélien’
[name]Antoine[/name]
I am white with Ukrainian, Russian, Jewish and Polish roots. So you can say I am a fan of Slavic names as a person who knows quite much of them. My favorites are(with nicknames):
[name]Aleksey[/name] (never unisex here, only male for sure)
Andrey
[name]Boris[/name] - Borya
[name]Bohdan[/name] - Bodya, [name]Dan[/name]
[name]Constantine[/name](rhymes with green) - Costya
Dmitriy - [name]Dima[/name]
Evgeniy - Jenya
Elisey - Eliseyka
[name]Foma[/name] (again, never unisex - there are just a few boy names ending in a vowel)
Georgiy (with “g” like in “goat”, not [name]George[/name] - we pronounce “g” always like that), also like Irgek, Czech version(but there “g” is like in [name]George[/name])
Gleb
Goreslav - [name]Slava[/name]
Iliya
Innokentiy - [name]Kesha[/name]
[name]Leonid[/name] - [name]Lyonya[/name]
[name]Lev[/name]
[name]Maksim[/name] - [name]Maks[/name], Maxik
[name]Naum/name
[name]Oleg[/name] - Olegka
[name]Pavel[/name] - [name]Pasha[/name]
Radimir - [name]Rad[/name]
Radoslav - [name]Slava[/name]
Severian - [name]Seva[/name]
[name]Stanislav[/name] - [name]Slava[/name], [name]Stas[/name]
Svyatopolk - Svyatik
Timur(tee-moor) - Timurka
[name]Vadim[/name] - Vadik
[name]Vladimir[/name] - [name]Vova[/name], [name]Volodya[/name]
[name]Vladislav[/name] - [name]Vlad[/name], [name]Slava[/name]
[name]Vladlen[/name] - [name]Vlad[/name]
[name]Zinoviy[/name] - Zenik
I’ve struggled with the idea of using [name]Amir[/name] and [name]Javier[/name], I do love them so. I feel like they are both so strongly tied to their cultures that it would just be hard to pull off, even in the middle spot. I love the fact that [name]Amir[/name] means “tree top,” I feel like it’s connected to [name]Rowan[/name] in a subtle way.
My name is Javad, it’s Arabic/Persian/Sanskrit and my ancestry is Welsh/[name]German[/name]/Polish/Irish (and my parents and brother have incredibly common names). I never would have wanted a different name. It’s perfect for me. But I’ve also usually been in very diverse/accepting/open-minded communities. The only time my name was ever a negative issue is when I went to [name]Israel[/name], and having an Arabic name definitely raised some flags among the border control people there…
Some names from other cultures I really like and have considered using include: (but what to define as ‘other cultures’ here, I don’t know, I’m just including names that sound relatively far away from the middle-class, white American naming customs)
Rayhan
[name]Nabil[/name]
[name]Navid[/name]
[name]Amin[/name]
[name]Zamir[/name]
[name]Ezio[/name]
Evren
Badi
[name]Anatole[/name]
[name]Aldous[/name]
[name]Aurelio[/name]
[name]Oisin[/name]
[name]Anselm[/name]
[name]Harmon[/name] is no [name]German[/name] name!
I read it’s a variant of [name]Hermann[/name], but nearly nobody would usw [name]Harmon[/name] in Germany I think.
I never heard it before. I only know [name]Angie[/name] [name]Harmon[/name], but she’s not [name]German[/name] and it’s the last name.
I have a pretty hefty mix of cultural ties, so I feel like I could “get away with” using names from languages other than English fairly easily if I were raising my kids in [name]Canada[/name] because a lot of the international names I love are either names that go with my family’s lineage ([name]German[/name]/Austrian/Transylvanian [name]Saxon[/name], Hungarian, Romanian, Scottish), or with my own living experiences (French, Spanish, Basque, Catalan/ Valencian).
[name]Yago[/name]
Vespasien
[name]Unai[/name]
[name]Sim[/name]ão*
[name]Ruaridh[/name]
[name]Rafael[/name] (not gonna lie, I like this because I like [name]Rafa[/name] Nadal)
[name]Pau[/name]- I’d totally use this!
[name]Orlando[/name]*
[name]Mehmet[/name]*
[name]Marius[/name]
Liher
[name]Julius[/name]
[name]Jules[/name]
[name]Julen[/name]
Joscelin
Jaume
[name]Imanol[/name]
[name]Iker[/name]
Ibai
Hendry
[name]Gorka[/name]
Gianluca*
Gaël
Francesc
[name]Feliciano[/name]
Evgeniy*
Eneko
Emerens*
Ekhi
[name]Constantin[/name]*
[name]Cian[/name]*
[name]Caspar[/name]
[name]Bruno[/name]
Augustijn*
[name]Artair[/name]
András
Amets
”kos
Aitzol
= couldn’t/wouldn’t use for a cultural/ linguistic reason (ie: I’m not Italian, Turkish, Irish, Russian, Portuguese, or Dutch)
