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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

What do you consider to be truly international names?

58 replies

Noterday · 19/10/2020 11:33

Some names (eg Raj, Sven, Chad, Ling) have pretty strong hints as to which country or region that person may be from.

Which names, to you, are very difficult to place? So if you heard the name, you wouldn't assume them to be from any particular continent or country.

So what works in many regions and languages, in terms of not being totally "out there", and not being too hard to pronounce in any language/ accent?

I'm struggling to think of ANY right now!

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bridgetreilly · 19/10/2020 11:45

Maria

florascotia2 · 19/10/2020 11:45

Sorry, cross posted a bit - should type faster!

florascotia2 · 19/10/2020 11:45

Anna, Alex (male)

Yes, there are different language variations, but these two names could apply to people from a very wide rnage of nations, though of course they have Biblical and ancient Greek/Macedonian origins, respectively. The full name Alexander might tell of an English-language heritage, but Alex less so.

villamariavintrapp · 19/10/2020 11:43

Anna (and variations), Zara, Lara, Katherine and variations.. Eliza, Mary/Maria..
Alexander, Joseph, Thomas, Marcus, Jacob.. I'd say classic/biblical names probably.. especially those also mentioned in Quran, or that also work as Muslim names.

BonnieTellyLass · 19/10/2020 11:41

Isabella- popular across europe, diversifying to Izabella in easten europe. Would work in north and south america- where there are spanish influences especially

PeigiSu · 19/10/2020 11:40

Anna
Maria

JaneJeffer · 19/10/2020 11:37

Alexander
Thomas

Noterday · 19/10/2020 11:36

Obviously this won't work completely, as there'll always be some places it'll be hard to fit, but just in as far as is possible :)

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