There are NO names! Please help!

[doodlecrayon]

We're expecting a little boy in three weeks. We have a girl whose name we love, and didn't for a moment imagine we'd have problems choosing another name we could feel the same about. Not the case at all!

We have a very mixed cultural background (I'm Welsh-Middle Eastern; my husband is British-Indian). We want a name that is 'placeless', so no William, Charles, etc. We don't want it to be really 'way out'/made up either. We don't want a long ream of middle names ticking off each of our family lines.

This is really starting to stress me out! Any bright ideas?!

Jacob
Nathan
Henry
Samuel

What's the girls name you love - might give us a hint about the type of names.

Cyrus
Alam
Erol
Leo
Marcus
Ray
Jay

Are Biblical names placeless?

Asher, Adam, Abraham, Benjamin, David, Daniel, Ezra, Elijah, Felix, Gabriel, Isaac, Isaiah, Joseph, James, John, Jacob, Joshua, Jeremiah, Jonah, Joel, Luke, Moses, Michah, Matthew, Mark, Michael, Noah, Nathaniel, Paul, Peter, Phillip, Reuben, Saul, Samuel, Simon, Thomas, Timothy, Titus, Zachariah, Zechariah.

Sam/Samir/Samuel?

But Welsh names are the best!

Difficult one as all names have some cultural baggage!

Here are some names that may fit the bill but, really, I think it's a tall order to find a truly placeless name:

Amos
Arlo
Asa
Byron
Cassius
Conrad
Cyrus
Dexter
Elijah
Ellis
Griffin
Harry
Isaac
Jasper
Jensen
Lennon
Lionel
Max
Micah
Miles
Miller
Orion
Paul
Raphael
Reed
Rex
Rufus
Seth
Simon
Spencer
Tobias
Winston
Zachary

Just tried to think of some that might be able to be pronounced and spelled in other major languages as well.

Maybe (nick)names like Alex, Ben, Charlie, Dan, Dave, Ed, Frank, Jack, Jake, Josh, Luke, Matt, Mark, Nick, Pete, Rob, Sam, Will, Tom, Zac would work too. They are just nice, average bloke names and are so commonly used that you could be anyone with such a name.

What's your girls' name or girls' short list? That'd massively help work out what you think is a placeless sort of name.

Old Testament names work in lots of cultures?

adam
noah
isaac
jacob
elijah
reuben
levi
asher
asa

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm going to work through them with a pen in my hand (always the best way!) later.

Agree, Mothership...but not that many go with our Indian last name!

I know, Gwennan, all names have a cultural baggage, but girls' names seem to 'float' a bit more, iykwim! Our daughter's name is Lara.

Aidan

Ooh like Lara.

Lara and Isaac
Lara and Elliott
Lara and Fred

Rohan

It has Irish and Sanskrit origins and sounds nice with Lara.

My son is Callan, nn Cal. Not common at all but not too out there.
Congratulations :)

Hmmm my suggestions are:

Reuben
Jorge
Arvind
Tristan
Elliot
Seth
Mark
Saul
Ash

Was going to suggest Luke as that's the most transferable name I could think of when naming my son (UK / Irish parents, but born overseas) - I wanted something that would be understood in every possible language, but if you have a Lara then that's not really going to work.

I would say go biblical too, those names are so well known (OT especially because they are often versions of muslim names so work just about everywhere). Zac? Gabriel (Gabe)? Urm... will keep thinking.

Adam seems to feature in lots of cultures.

Could you use something Indian with an English / Welsh derivative?

I knew a Rikesh known as Rick.

Ash - could be derived from quite a few names.

Jay

Or two short names that can be put together, can't think of a good example but say you used

Ashley Wynne - you could concatinate it to Ashwin / Ashwen

Neil.

Sebastian. Apparently Seb Coe's mother was part Indian so could be apt!

I also have a 3 week old James too but not ure that fits in!

Thanks everyone! I genuinely thought we'd considered every possibility. This is giving me hope. Any and all ideas welcome...we're going to go through the list tonight. Thanks again!