"Spanglish" Boys and Girls names.

[Zorion]

Baby will be British but spend a fair amount of their childhood in Spain.

I'm looking for the perfect combination of a name which is pronounced more or less the same in both languages, and doesn't scream "foreign" in either country! And that isn't in the top 50. DS is Albert which works well as even though Alberto is Spanish, Albert is Catalan so everyone knows it.

So far I have these, but I'm not really sold on them, they just feel a bit compromisey:

Girls:
Clara
Penelope
Isabel

Boys:
Daniel
Oliver
Oscar

Thank you.

[caju]

Luis
Marcus
Leonardo
Rafael
Abel

Ana
Maria
Juliana
Fernanda
Vanessa
Alicia
Adriana

It's kind of tough if you don't want it to sound at all foreign in either country. If it's pronounceable in both, what's wrong with it being a bit foreign (i.e. Santiago)?

[100paperclips]

Irene
Andrea
Camila
Gabriela
Luna
Carmen
Sofia
Beatriz
Cristina
Veronica
Susana
Monica

Luis
Rafael
Ruben
Adrian

[Kalispera]

Alba. It's one of my face girls names.

[Sadik]

Isabel is the really obvious one for a girl - but very common if not top 50 I'd have thought (maybe wrong, we left Spain a few years back). Otherwise Francisca, Maria-something, Lola, Ana-Maria, Ana.

Tomas, Daniel, David all good for boys.

[Sadik]

Rafael is one of my all time favourite boys names, and I think these days perfectly OK in the UK :)

BTW we spent hours coming up with a suitably non-country-specific name for dd then the two children joining nursery at the same time were called Marlon and Kimberley! (Admittedly parents I think came from Argentina / Bolivia respectively, but still . . .)

[Zorion]

I also really love love Alba but I already have an Albert... When I was younger I wanted to call my future child Bernarda Alba after the Lorca play!

Those names are pretty but they are Spanish names which the English can pronounce. I don't really want it to be identifiably Spanish.

Irene is lovely but in English eye-reen (isn't it?) and in Spanish more I-Ray-Nay. Beatriz also lovely but pronounced differently. And Leo (I also love) is lay-oh here and lee-oh back home. I guess I don't want the child to be correcting the pronunciation whichever country their in. The stress being on a different syllable is ok, but if possible I want to avoid an entirely different vowel sound.

Nothing wrong with a foreign name at all, but I'm English and would prefer an English name. Actually, more a name that is recognised throughout Europe, itd be nice if it was pronouncable in many places iyswim!

I like Anna/Ana and Maria, I will add them to the list! Thank you


I know... its really tough!

[Sadik]

Sylvia, Ella (too common?), Mia

Lots of Welsh names work well in Spanish (maybe not though if you want an English name!), eg Catrin, Elin, Megan, Nia

[TheRealAdaLovelace]

My daughter's best friend in Spain was called Whitney...

[caju]

I think what would be easier then would be to make a long list of English names you like, then see which ones sound similar in Spanish.

[Zorion]

Oh I know Sadik, I've met a baby Roy, Bryan and Jennifer all in Spain!

Isabel lovely but too popular, I have a popular name and was always known as "big Zorion" due to being marginally bigger than the other Zorions, its scarred me!

[MeeWhoo]

Not previously mentioned for girls:
Carla
Silvia
Emma
Cora
Caroline/Carolina
Olivia
Irma

Boys:
Alex
Nicolas/Nicholas
Samuel
Tomas/Thomas
Martin

[Zorion]

caju good idea, I'll do that. I struggle with girls names in general, boys a little easier for me.

[millicentfriendly]

Hi my half English half Spanish daughter is called Stella I also wanted a name that would work in both countries. Her Spanish half sister is Carla another name that's perfectly bilingual.

[leccybill]

Myou bilingual friends have a Tania, Maribel and Paco.

[badtime]

I have met several Spanish girls and women called Esther.
I know others called Laura, Monica, Emma, Victoria (not good with Albert, though), Sara.

[Ginpuddles]

I know a Spanish Anabel (with one n - the Spanish spelling).

[lljkk]

I met a Spanish lady with little girl called Nina. Yes without the tilde. I thought it was weird, but the mom didn't.

Others I know that work:
Sonia, Lola, Sofia, Ruben, Marisa.

[babyblabber]

Amaya/maya

[caju]

@lljkk Nina spelt with Niña would be weird, since that would literally be naming your little girl "girl"!

I've only known a couple of Spanish people with the name Nina, but neither used the tilde, thankfully.

[Artandco]

Margot
Estelle
Nora
Marina

[Artandco]

Max
Ned

[IamNotDarling]

Elia rather than Ella.

Alex for a boy.

[TheRealAdaLovelace]

Isn't Elia a boy's name?

[Hoppinggreen]

I am English, DH is German and we spend a lot of time in Spain.
DS is Oscar, which works in all 3