Turkish/Bengali/English family - need boys name help

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

So tis is our ethnic mix at home. The name doesnt so much hve to work in Englsh as it needs to be easily pronouncable since after 30 years my mum still cannot pronounce most of my dads familiys names.

Both other sons have short 4 letter easy names.

We veer towards Muslim names so that it works in Turkey and Bangladesh.

So far the closest we have come is:

Rafi
Mikhail

I dont want traditional so no Mustafa's etc.

I think you are looking for Turkish names that come from Arabic/Muslim names. Off the top of my head:

Ahmet
Mehmet
Süleyman
Hüseyin
Hikmet
Hidayet
Refik
Hasan
Ömer
Adem
Ibrahim
Yusuf

Adil
Aziz
Bahri
Bilal
Emin

Bekir
Bedri
Ali (good choice for your circumstances imo - same in Turkish and Arabic, Muslim name, easy to spell and pronounce)

Akif
Bahattin
Fahrettin
Fahri
Ferhat
Ferit
Galip

Would you like to see more? I'm going through the list of Turkish names of Arabic/Muslim origin.

Cote - I think that is exactly what I am looking for unfortunately Turkish names with Muslim origin seem so old fasioned in Turkey and we do spend a lot of time there.

Emin is actually one of my massive favourites from the famous Emin and Nazli film - I am sure you know the one you mean. DS2 is named after a very famous Turkish actor beginning with E so DH not convinced on having two E's.

Ali is one I have suggested for the very reasons you suggest, DH says Ali and our surname are just too typically Bengali apparently.

Such a drama really it is.

I don't know if you read/speak Turkish at all, but if you Google "musluman erkek isimleri", you should be able to find some lists. Alternatively, I will try to continue the list below when I have a bit of time.

It's not really that they are "old fashioned" but post-9/11, life is just a little bit harder for people with Muslim names. Since we have loads of perfectly nice Turkish names that are not of Arabic/Muslim origin, I know a lot of people (including ourselves) who went for Turkish names rather than Muslim ones.

Actually I hadnt thought of googling in Turkish. Will give that a go. I actually prefer Turkish names it is just because DH family are from Bangladesh and I pushed through DS2 name that they had never heard of I feel like I have to try and be a little more accommodating this time.

Emin is lovely, I don't think it matters if there are two Es in the family just give him a middle name (initial) too. If you like Emin how about Amir? My husband is bangladeshi and is called Illias but I am guessing that is old fashioned?

Amir would be Emir in Turkey. I quite like Emre, too.

Ilyas is a name, but very old fashioned.

Zahi?

It's Muslim, maybe Egyptian. I know if from Zahi Hawass, Head of Antiquities in Egypt.

I like Rafi too.
What about Hani?

Zafi is not a name in Turkey and is too close a word to "zehir" (poison), which I think is a word from Arabic.

"Hani" is not a name but a word used to mean "what about?" or "what happened to?", so I wouldn't recommend it as a name.

Kerim
Kerem
Ekrem
Zeki

These are not old-fashioned.

Arun?
Came across that when trying to decide for DS

That would be Harun in Turkey. It's a good name and not old-fashioned.

I don't mean to be so overbearing on this thread, by the way, but it looks like I'm the only person of Turkish origin (aside from OP) here.

My favourite Muslim name is Samir. Not sure if it's Turkish though :( Don't Muslims need to have Arabic names?

No, Muslims don't all need to have Arabic names. "Arabic" is a language and an ethnic background whereas "Muslim" covers many countries with different languages & ethnic backgrounds. There are "religious" names that have Arabic roots (like your Luke, Peter, Paul, etc) but there are also many other names of their own cultural backgrounds that Muslims can choose from.

Sorry about that CoteDAzur...I knew a girl who converted to Islam and she changed her English name to an Arabic one. From that I just assumed it was sort of compulsory!

It's true that converts choose a "Muslim" name to be known by from that point onwards. I'm not sure quite why that is. Possibly as proof at they are renouncing their former (Christian) names/cultures/allegiances?

The important thing from a Muslim perspective is that the name has meaning so you could be called Hope and keep that name because it has a very good meaning.

Great suggetsions ladies.

I really like Cem/Jem so am going to try to convince DH of this (my mum couldnt pronounce a lot of names when I tested them on her). I think for DH it might have to be Jamal/Cemal or something which I dont think is great but might be a great comprimise.

I like to have a reason for the name I chose and I love the associations (western) with To Kill a Mockingbird, but also actually with the protest music movement in Trkey there is a famous Cem which I also like.

Actually Hani is an Arabic name- my dad's called that. It's derived from the word hanna which means happiness and it means happy. A lovely name for a boy that we considered but didn't want FIL to feel left out! i'm obviously biased but think it's a great boy's name!