Anyone from/living in an Arab country able to help me please?!

[kirrinIsland]

We need a name that works in both Arabic and English.
For a girl it seems quite easy but I'm struggling with boys names. (don't know what I'm having so this may never be a problem!)

We have a couple of possibilities but I love the name Solomon/Sulaiman but DP assures me it is very old fashioned. Problem is, he has a tendency to say that about any name he just doesn't like, rather than just say he doesn't like it

Can anyone tell me if he's actually right this time?!

I don't want to use a name that will make him a bit of a laughing stock but if it's just a preference thing then I have five months to work on changing DP's mind

When I taught in Dubai, there were several teenage Sulaimans in my classes - a lovely name! Adam would also be an obvious choice?

Was that recently dova ?
Adam is nice, but his close friend has used it already so we can't!
Also on the list is Ali, which I like, but I'm a bit worried that it's more of a girl's name over here....

Which names do you like?

Yup - last year. Trying to think of more but failing... What else did you have on your list?

Noah, Zachary, Adam, Harris, Elias all work well in English yet are Arabic.

I agree girls are so much easier. We liked Layla, jasmine, Sofia. Amelle and zara.

Some version of Yusuf? I had a friend with this name who lived in England and no one ever had a problem with pronunciation/spelling. Shortened to Yus.

Basically, my list is Solomon, Ali, Farris. DP's list is just Ali!

I'm liking Noah though - thanks quit And is Elias Ellie-ass or El-eye-ass?

I have no Arabic connections so am just helpfully posting to say I LOVE Solomon, please go for that. Ta.

Elias is Ill-y-ass.

Noah, Zachary and Adam are all Hebrew names and Elias is a Greek version of Elijah so they may be different variations in Arabic (like Yosef in Hebrew becomes Yusef)

Does it have to be Arabic, or just pronounceable in Arabic? e.g. my Arab father can't pronounce the letter 'P', thus ruling out Peter for my kids

Aidan
Leith (pronounced Laith in Arabic; it means lion).
Ibrahim/Abraham

I grew up in the Middle East with a few Suleimans in my school and no-one ever commented that their names were odd.

Friend's babies in the past year are Sufyaan, Adam, Benyameen, Dhanial, Yusuf for boys and Rhian, Ameena, Yasmin, Noor and Safya.

Thanks everyone :)

It does have to be Arabic, not just pronounceable - that is non- negotiable apparently!

rilla I'll do my best!

You may have chosen your name already but being Spanish and having a Turkish husband i actually thought the opposite. Boys names are easier. Any name from the Old Testament is Arab too: Jacob, Abrsham, Adam, Isaac, Noah, Moises, Daniel, Zacharia (that was one of our favourites if we had had a boy)..: all of them. If he says something dare him to tell you any of them is not mentioned in the Koran- that should get him quiet. And if he opposes your choice and he is Muslim I would use the 'so you don't think X and Y was a good prophet and so a good choice for our son?'
We went for Sophia - after going together to Aya Sophia in Turkey we dropped the options of Nuria and Sarah. Mary is another option. But, anyway, you weren't asking for girls names.
Good luck.

Laila, Dina, Mila, Yasmin, Mina, Noor, Mona and my favourite- Nesrin (ness-reen)

Suleiman, Sami, Driss, Iskander (Arabic for Alexander so maybe Alex as a nickname)

My favourites are Adil (pronounced Ar-del) and Hilal pronounced the way they are written.
DD had a boy propose to her in hospital when she was born. He was called Adam or Adaham.
I really like the name Sulaiman not much help I'm afraid.

Idris, Rafi/Rafiq, Sami, Zakir (Zak), Illias. There are loads of nice Arabic names but I don't like Ali much. Solomon/Sulyiman is a great name.

Suleiman is a lovely name and i also like Sami and Haris.

We know an Ali (a boy) who is half arab and half english - no one sees it as a feminine name as there is a boy in his class called Alistair who also goes by the nn Ali.

What about:
Zane
Joseph/Youseff
Jacob/Yacoub
Zacariah (Zak)
Ilyas (elijah)
Gibril (Gabriel

I like Soloman/suleiman too. Don't like Ali sorry. Gabriel is lovely too.

I know two little boys here in England called Kareem and Sami.

Zakarya is arabic but works in english. My first son is called Mahmood which has worked really well as most of his friendsa call him Moody or Moods (even Moodster!) Which is unique. Both strong prophet names too. I am having the same problem now with DC3. Girls names are easy but its hard to find an arabic/english name. We are leaning towards Yusef for a boy or Tariq.

Zakarya is arabic but works in english. My first son is called Mahmood which has worked really well as most of his friendsa call him Moody or Moods (even Moodster!) Which is unique. Both strong prophet names too. I am having the same problem now with DC3. Girls names are easy but its hard to find an arabic/english name. We are leaning towards Yusef for a boy or Tariq.

Imran, it's a lovely name and everyone can spell it in English because of Imran Khan, nn Immers or Immy. It's a bit old fashioned though.

Other than that I'd go for Bilal (Billy), Hasan or Omar.

Oops eta: Sulaiman is old fashioned - but surely we're due for some granny chic in Muslim names too?