Names that are easily pronounced by Turkish speakers

General Name Discussion
1

A friend of mine is expecting her first child (unsure of the gender) in [name]July[/name]. In the last few weeks, her husband has accepted a job offer in Istanbul. So, it now looks like they’ll be moving to Turkey in [name]August[/name]–shortly after the baby is born.

Now that they’re headed for Istanbul (and this looks like it might be a fairly permanent move), she’s hoping to find a name that would would work reasonably well–or at least seem pronounceable–in Turkish as well as English.

She’s asked me if I have any ideas of names that would work, and, frankly, I’m stumped. Anyone know anything about Turkish pronunciation?

2

Wow, that is quite a development, moving to Turkey!
I do not know any Turkish, but I do know that the boy’s name [name]Aidan[/name] translates to Turkish ([name]Aydin[/name] in Turkish).
There is also [name]Adam[/name] ([name]Adem[/name]/Turkish).

The only girl’s name I could find would be [name]Sophia[/name]/[name]Sofia[/name], spelled [name]Sofya[/name] in Turkish.

[name]How[/name] about:
[name]Sophia[/name] [name]Daphne[/name]
[name]Sofia[/name] [name]Felicity[/name]
[name]Sophia[/name] [name]Claire[/name]
[name]Sophia[/name] [name]Charlotte[/name]

[name]Adam[/name] [name]Julian[/name]
[name]Adam[/name] [name]Henry[/name] or [name]Aidan[/name] [name]Henry[/name]
[name]Aidan[/name] [name]Charles[/name] or [name]Adam[/name] [name]Charles[/name]
[name]Adam[/name] [name]Oliver[/name] or [name]Aidan[/name] [name]Charles[/name]

[name]Hope[/name] this helps.

3

I looked for Turkish names that looked like they would be pretty. Not sure of the pronunciations, though. Please check with a Turkish speaker, because I can’t verify the names.

Adalet: [name]Justice[/name]
[name]Ayla[/name]: Possibly means “moonlight, halo” in Turkish.
Ceren: “young gazelle”
Cemile - Kindness, friendliness, compliment
[name]Daphne[/name]/Defne
Derya: “ocean”
[name]Eve[/name]/[name]Havva[/name]
Emine - “trustworthy”
[name]Esra[/name] - “More and quick”
Ferah - “[name]Joy[/name], pleasure, cheerfulness”
Kamile - “Perfect, complete”
Filiz : “sprout, shoot” possible nn for [name]Felicity[/name]
[name]Leyla[/name]: “night”
[name]Miriam[/name]/[name]Meryem[/name]
Hande: “to smile” Possible nn for [name]Hannah[/name]
[name]Peri[/name]: Nymph
[name]Rana[/name]: “beautiful”
Seda: “voice, echo”
Sule: [name]Flame[/name]
[name]Verda[/name]: “roses”
Zaide: “Adding, increasing” (one more addition to family)

Or you could name her something like [name]Rose[/name] and use the Turkish word…

4

I realized you were looking for boys too

[name]Adam[/name]/[name]Adem[/name]
Altan: “red dawn”
Ender: “very rare”
[name]Eren[/name]: “saint” (perhaps sounds like [name]Aaron[/name]?)
[name]Ismail[/name]/[name]Samuel[/name]
Taylan: “tall” looks trendy, no?
[name]Zeki[/name]: “intelligent” nn for [name]Zach[/name], maybe?
Yakup/[name]Jacob[/name]
[name]Yusef[/name]/[name]Joseph[/name]

5

I have heard that Turkish speakers sometimes reverse “w” and “v” sounds when speaking English so perhaps it would be best if they avoided names with those two letters.

6

[name]Aydin[/name] is not a version of [name]Aidan[/name] as [name]Aiden[/name] is pronounced A-dun, and [name]Aydin[/name] is pronounced AY-deen.

Here is a list of Turkish boy’s names- you might find some inspiration/guidance here- some of them have pronounciation clips also so you can hear how it sounds- http://www.learningpracticalturkish.com/turkish-names-in-plain-english-male.html
Same for girls- http://www.learningpracticalturkish.com/turkish-names-in-plain-english-female.html

I think if you keep it simple, you can’t go wrong. Names like [name]Aaliya[/name]/[name]Aliya[/name]/[name]Aaliyah[/name], [name]Ali[/name], [name]Marion[/name], [name]Maryam[/name]/[name]Mariam[/name], [name]Daphne[/name], [name]Alice[/name], [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Jack[/name], [name]Leo[/name], [name]Adam[/name], [name]Noah[/name], [name]Gabriel[/name] (Jibreel in Arabic) etc. should be fine, but I think there might be issues when going for something like [name]Charlotte[/name] and [name]Phoebe[/name] where it doesn’t work so well phonetically.