We are an American family who lives overseas for my husband’s career. Our home base is NYC which is where we are living currently but 8 weeks after our second child is born in [name_u]July[/name_u], we are headed to Shanghai for the next two years, and after that is unknown. We had our first child while living in [name_u]Bern[/name_u] and had this same naming issue with him.
Because we live all over the place and the likelihood of our children attending International Schools throughout their childhood, we want them to have names that work wherever we go. Our first child’s name is [name_m]Lucas[/name_m] who at age 8 has lived in 4 European countries and his name has worked out flawlessly. We want the same for our daughter, but have found girl names to be trickier. I know it is impossible to find a name that works in every language perfectly, but we’re trying the best we can.
Our list so far consists of…
[name_f]Lina[/name_f]/[name_f]Lena[/name_f]
[name_f]Camila[/name_f]/[name_f]Camille[/name_f]
[name_f]Emily[/name_f]/[name_f]Emilia[/name_f]
What do you think? Any suggestions? We want the name to also work well in the US as well. Thanks!
I like the suggestion of [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] a lot. It will definitely work in a lot of the world. [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] and [name_f]Anna[/name_f] are also nice ideas though they are a little dull. Her middle name will be [name_f]Marie[/name_f] after my grandmother if that helps at all. Thanks!
My favorite “international” names are [name_f]Anna[/name_f] and [name_f]Victoria[/name_f]. I really like [name_f]Lina[/name_f] from your list, too. [name_f]Angelina[/name_f] might work as well.
I’m just going to through [name_f]Amalia[/name_f] out there! It’s close to [name_f]Emilia[/name_f]. It’s definitely cross-cultural! Used in many many different countries.
As a Turkish person the names I consider “international” are names that can work in Turkey and Western countries.
[name_f]Sophia[/name_f] or [name_f]Sofia[/name_f] or [name_f]Sofya[/name_f]
[name_f]Alma[/name_f]
[name_f]Iris[/name_f]
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] - so many varieties
[name_f]Lara[/name_f]
[name_f]Zara[/name_f]
[name_f]Sarah[/name_f] can be [name_f]Sara[/name_f] or Sare
[name_f]Melisa[/name_f]
[name_f]Susan[/name_f] or [name_f]Suzan[/name_f] “[name_f]Suzy[/name_f]”
I don’t think you should use [name_f]Anna[/name_f] because it has multiple pronounciations even though it is a very simple name. Across Europe it’s mostly pronounced [name_m]Ah[/name_m]-na. I’d also avoid the [name_f]Lena[/name_f] spelling because here it’s pronounced differently, i.e. [name_f]Lina[/name_f] is [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-nah and [name_f]Lena[/name_f] is LEH-nah.
Of course I’m just saying how it is pronounced for languages I know (which I know for a fact it’s pronounced like this in every Slavic language, [name_m]German[/name_m] and probably Dutch.)
Suggestions:
[name_f]Dolores[/name_f]
[name_f]Doris[/name_f]
[name_f]Aurora[/name_f]
[name_f]Clara[/name_f]
[name_f]Isadora[/name_f]
[name_f]Maia[/name_f]
[name_f]Lia[/name_f] (love it!)
What about something simple like [name_f]Mia[/name_f], [name_f]Ella[/name_f] or [name_f]Leah[/name_f]? I don’t think you’ll be able to accommodate for every language but the sounds in those names are so simple that it makes it easy for everyone.
[name_f]Victoria[/name_f] is ~the~ international name, I think.
[name_f]Sophia[/name_f] can be confused with [name_f]Sofia[/name_f] and it is suuuper popular, but then so is [name_m]Lucas[/name_m].
[name_f]Anastasia[/name_f], [name_f]Marina[/name_f], [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], [name_f]Emma[/name_f], [name_f]Anna[/name_f], [name_f]Angela[/name_f]/[name_f]Angelina[/name_f], [name_f]Clara[/name_f], [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] (my fave from your list), [name_f]Diana[/name_f], [name_f]Irene[/name_f], [name_f]Eva[/name_f], [name_f]Bianca[/name_f], [name_f]Alexandra[/name_f], [name_f]Lola[/name_f]… They all work in most, if not all, countries.
I like the suggestions of [name_f]Emilia[/name_f], [name_f]Amalia[/name_f], [name_f]Clara[/name_f] and [name_f]Angelina[/name_f] because even though they are international and easy to pronounce, they are not at all dull or overused like [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] or [name_f]Sarah[/name_f].
As for [name_f]Camille[/name_f] and [name_f]Camilla[/name_f] ([name_f]Camille[/name_f] is my name), I would go with [name_f]Camilla[/name_f] due to experience, it travels quite a bit better and it’s what I ended up being called in places like Spain and [name_f]Italy[/name_f] in general.
I think all of the names on your list would work. I love [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] especially, and I think it could work in lots of different countries. Big vote for [name_f]Emilia[/name_f]!
[name_f]Sophia[/name_f] was the first name that popped into my head. That’s pretty much the same in every language but the ones you chose are also pretty versatile as well. What about a name with a lot of nicknames that could be changed based on the local language: names like [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], [name_f]Katherine[/name_f], [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]?
Well, I don’t move around as you do (yet), but I have the same “has to work cross-culturally” criteria. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you need a name that is versatile as possible while staying the same or okay with ones that technically work internationally, but can be pronounced different depending on the place/language? For me it’s the second. I don’t really mind if for example [name_f]Annabelle[/name_f] is pronounced [name_f]Ann[/name_f]-a-bell and the other times [name_m]Ah[/name_m]-na-bell. I think it makes a difference.
Some that come into my mind:
[name_f]Lily[/name_f]/[name_f]Lillian[/name_f] - lovely, international and easily pronounced, including in Shanghai.
[name_f]Sophia[/name_f] - gotta second this.
[name_f]Giselle[/name_f]/[name_f]Gisella[/name_f]
[name_f]Vivienne[/name_f]
[name_f]Fiona[/name_f]
[name_f]Isabel[/name_f]
[name_f]Olivia[/name_f]
[name_f]Selena[/name_f]
[name_f]Amelia[/name_f]
