Luay or Rayan?

Hello!

Hubby and I are both Muslim and, in Islam, you are required to choose a name with a good meaning. This is going to be our first born and we are expecting a boy!

My feeling with choosing a name is that, in today’s times, it would be better to have a more international sounding name. We are based in the UK. I don’t want him to face any possible discrimination when he applies for a job or goes through airport security, and I don’t want him to get picked on at school.

Our top two names are now:
Luay (Pronounced Luway) - I love [name_m]Louis[/name_m]/[name_m]Lewis[/name_m], and Luay means ‘Protector, strength’ in Arabic.
[name_m]Rayan[/name_m] (Pronounced [name_u]Ray[/name_u]-yan) - Which is the name of a gate to Paradise, and means ‘[name_f]Wisdom[/name_f]’ in Persian.

Which do you think sounds better?

Thank you!

They both have great meanings but I like [name_m]Rayan[/name_m] over Luay. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t be surprised if it gets confused with [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] though when being pronounced. Good luck!

I really like Luay!

They are both lovely names with lovely meanings. I just can’t help the following associations: The pronunciation “Luway” reminds me of the song [name_m]Louie[/name_m] [name_m]Louie[/name_m] (it’s an oldie though, may not be relevant anymore). And [name_m]Rayan[/name_m] is similar to the fabric Rayon. Those aren’t necessarily bad things though. Good luck!

I think I like [name_m]Rayan[/name_m] just a little bit better than Luay, they are both nice though. [name_u]Sami[/name_u], Mikaeel ([name_u]Michael[/name_u]), Kamran ([name_u]Cameron[/name_u]), [name_m]Adam[/name_m], [name_m]Farrin[/name_m], Ayman ([name_m]Eamon[/name_m]), [name_m]Harris[/name_m], Faris, [name_m]Danyal[/name_m], [name_m]Zain[/name_m]/[name_m]Zane[/name_m], [name_m]Idris[/name_m], and [name_u]Dani[/name_u] ([name_u]Danny[/name_u]) are some other options.