✈” Names that Travel well Internationally! ✈”

General Name Discussion
1

My boyfriend and I are expecting our first child in [name_u]June[/name_u] (gender will be a surprise) and we were discussing how with our lifestyle and different languages and cultures we would need a name that traveled well, that could be easily recognized/spelled/pronounced in a number of countries. An example of these names are [name_f]Anna[/name_f], [name_f]Sophia[/name_f], [name_m]Lucas[/name_m], [name_m]Victor[/name_m] etc., but these feel to overused and common for us.

My boyfriend is a native Spanish speaker and I’m a native English speaker, but for instance I’m currently living in Eastern Europe and there’s a good chance we’ll move to Cape [name_f]Verde[/name_f] (Coast of [name_f]Africa[/name_f], speak CV Criolo and Portuguese) at the end of this year as he’s just applied for a job there and I’m looking into them as well.

Anyways, am looking for some ideas for both a boy or girl.

2

[name_f]Elena[/name_f]
[name_f]Elise[/name_f]
[name_f]Ava[/name_f] or [name_f]Eva[/name_f]
[name_f]Vera[/name_f]
[name_f]Nora[/name_f]
[name_f]Clara[/name_f]
[name_f]Celia[/name_f]
[name_f]Talia[/name_f]/[name_f]Natalia[/name_f]
Lucy or Lucia
Ivy

[name_m]Henry[/name_m]
[name_m]Jack[/name_m]
[name_u]Max[/name_u]
[name_m]Maddox[/name_m]
[name_m]Liam[/name_m] or [name_m]William[/name_m]
[name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] or [name_m]Bennett[/name_m]

In my experience with having an international family, I’ve noticed that keeping it simple tends to be the easiest option, but if you love a name, use it regardless! People will learn how to say it, try not to stress (easier said than done, I know).

3

I’d say there are two groups of names that travel well, those that are pronounced very similarly in most places and those that exist in many languages/work in many languages but may have (very) different pronunciations.
Sofia, for example, is of the first group while Hugo or Jasper are of the second.

What I like about these is that they don’t tend to stand out anywhere, so even if a child doesn’t have the same skin color or doesn’t speak the same language at home as everyone else, they will still feel like a natural part of the group due to their name.
For girls, going with an -a ending seems the safest option, I’d generally try to avoid names with Xs and Ys and depending on how you like their Spanish/Portuguese pronunciation also J, S and G)

Ada, Adela, Adelia, Adina, Alida, Almira, Alta, Alva, Amalia, Antonia, Augusta, Aurelia, Aurora, Ava
Carlotta, Carolina, Cecilia, Clara, Cleo, Cora, Cordelia, Cornelia
Eleonora, Elinor, Elisa, Elsa, Emilia, Emma, Eva
Flora, Frieda
Ida, Iris, Isabel, Iva
Katharina
Leonora, Lola
Maria, Matilda
Nina, Nora
Octavia, Odessa, Odilia, Ottilia / Otilia
Penelope
Rosa
Sabina,
Tessa,
Vera, Veronica, Victoria, Viola

Anton, Augustin
Ben, Benedict, Bennett, Bruno
Caspar, Cornelius
Daniel, David, Dominic
Edgar, Eliot
Hector, Henri, Henry, Hugo
Ivan
Leo, Leon
Max, Maximilian, Milo
Ned, Nicolas
Oliver, Oscar, Otis, Otto
Victor, Vincent

4

I speak English, [name_m]German[/name_m], Russian and Portuguese and I believe these names would work in all four languages:
[name_f]Ines[/name_f]/[name_f]Inessa[/name_f]
[name_f]Olga[/name_f]
[name_f]Monica[/name_f]
[name_f]Maria[/name_f]
[name_f]Alexandra[/name_f]
[name_f]Frida[/name_f]
[name_f]Marta[/name_f]
[name_f]Rita[/name_f]

[name_m]Marcus[/name_m]/[name_m]Mark[/name_m]
[name_u]Max[/name_u]
[name_m]Stefan[/name_m]
[name_m]Adam[/name_m]
[name_u]Alex[/name_u]
[name_m]Miron[/name_m]