names that work in both English and Indian cultures

[frangipani13]

I'm of Indian heritage and my husband is white British. We are trying to think of a list of girls and boys names that would work easily in both cultures and be easy to pronounce and spell. I have trawled the Internet for ideas and bought a book but there's not much that works for both...

So far we have:

Anoushka
Jasmine
Asha
Anya

Dhillon
Sunny

Would be great to hear any suggestions or ideas! Thank you

[BubGal13]

Love your girls names for boys hows-

Zach or Zayne

[Lulabellarama]

Arun is lovely for a boy

[VirginiaWoofs]

Zaid for a boy?

[motherinferior]

Ach, don't worry about it. Give them the name you choose. If you live in a city like London they'll be in a class of kids with all sorts of names anyway.

(My parents gave both me and my sister Indian names. Much nicer. We had English middle-names but I dropped mine years ago as it was horrible.)

[lemonyone]

I know several people who have this mixture. They have a Zaki, a Sanam, a Uma, a Mira, a Sanam and an Anna.

I love Sunny and Anoushka from your list!

[BlueChampagne]

I agree with motherinferior but being an inveterate fence-sitter, here are some suggestions as well!

Maya
Anisha
Sara

Ash for a boy (or full names for which Ash could be NN)

[frangipani13]

Are you from a mixed heritage background motherinferior? I completely get your point, and probably I'm placing too much importance on a name....

[motherinferior]

But any name like Minakshi or Mohan or Nalini or Renuka or Enayet would be fine!

Possibly if you wanted to call them Venkatesh Balasubramaniam a small number of people would find it difficult, but that's their problem.

[motherinferior]

Yep, Tamil mother British/Scandinavian father. (To make matters more confusing I am very, very white so nobody ever believes I have an Indian mother.) My partner is half Bengali half English - they all got one Euro one Asian name too. As did our kids (well, actually they got Jewish first names, for no particular reason at all, and then one got a Muslim and one got a Hindu middle name).

Give them the name you find beautiful; that you want for your child; with which you feel happy sending them into the world.

[Focusfocus]

OP, I am in your exact position and we considered -

Zaara
Rhea
Tia
Shree
Aakshi

For boys

Ambar
Adee
Wrishi
Ohm
Krit
Krish

[PlumpingThePartTimeMother]

My Indian colleague has a daughter called Sarah and a niece called Norah, so clearly those names work!

Anjali is also good, as are Hana/Hannah and Adam.

[guddy]

Tara for girls and kiran which is for a boy and girl.

[dinkystinky]

Kiran
Dylan/Dilan
Milan
Uma
Tara
Tanya
Taran
Ashwin
Jay
Ananya

[dinkystinky]

Forgot to add Leela, Leila, Ruby and Amber to the above list

Though I agree with motherinferior - pick a name for your child that you love. I'm hindu, DH is English - our older two boys have jewish first names and our youngest has a traditional English name, all 3 have hindu middle names and we love love love all their names.

[OneMagnumisneverenough]

Rohan & Kiran for boys and Maia/Maya etc for a girl.

[switchitoff]

Tara
Nina
Anita
Monica
Anjana
Urmi
Uma
Maya
India
Jasmine

Neil
Kamran/Cameron
Kiran/Keiron
Robindra (Robin)
Harinder (Harry)
Harvinder (Harvey)
Rohan
Dhillon/Dylan
Arun/Aaron

[frangipani13]

Some great suggestions thank you so much...

[ashtrayheart]

I work with an Archana (Archie) which I think is nice.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Priya?

All the names you've listed would work though. Very much like your girls list.

[Leeds2]

Jiya
Ria/Riya
Diya
Ruby
Lona
Huda

[newtonupontheheath]

We have an Archi, an Indira and current shortlist for dc3 includes Jasmine, Ravi, Sidarth, Maya (MIL's name though!)

Some fab suggestions here. We have gone with indian/hindu first names, western/English middle names to go with DH's Mauritian surname

[Belazu84]

English/Indian girls I know-
Serena
Ella
Alina
Lila
Sofia
Nisha
Priya
Seems like simple names with -a endings work, even if they're not known in both cultures.

boys-

Jay
Sacha
Albie
Harry