What do you think of these names and the pronunciation?

[MidnightSun77]

we're still struggling to find a Persian name that's easy to pronounce in English... what do you think of these? We're also considering non-persian names for girls (provided they are unusual/exotic names) though haven't come up with many yet... any suggestions gratefully received!

Girls:

Anisi (Ann-ee-see)
Zaramina (Zarra-meena)
Melody
Reyhaneh (Ray-har-nay)

Boys:

Niknam (Nick-nam)
Amitis
Kamran (Come-run)
Nariman (Naari-man)

Anisi, Zaramina and Nariman are the most straightforward pronunciations for an English-speaker. I work with a Kamran and it is consistently pronounced Kam-ran by everyone we work with. Zaramina is lovely!! Also like Zarlashta and Roxana. Reyhaneh would probably get pronounced as something approximating Rihanna.

Where is the emphasis in Amitis? I like that too, would prob pronounce it as AM-i-tis but it might be Am-EE-tis?

Anisi is lovely.

Yes, agree that reyhaneh and kamran will be mispronounced. The others are fine.

Kamran will become Cameron.

Nicknam may become nickname. The rest are lovely particularly zaramina.

Another vote for Zaramina - how lovely! For a boy, Amitis is my favourite - I would have pronounced AH-MEE-TIS though so I'm not sure that is the correct way?

Anisi, Zaramina and Reyhaneh are all lovely. I would have pronounced them as you have indicated, even if I hadn't read how to.

I would avoid Nicknam - it is just too much like nickname. Kamran will never be pronounce correctly by strangers. Amitis is my favourite - I would pronounce it AH-mee-tis.

Zaramina is lovely!

I like Amitis from your boys list.

I don't think Nicknam and Kamran translate well.

I went to school with Hita & Mithra ('heeta' and 'meetra'). They aren't hard to pronounced.

Azar is nice for a boy.

I like Zaramina and Kamran. How about...

Nasrin
Darya
Nousha
Parisa
Soraya
Yasmin
Shireen
Roshanara

Dariush
Eskandar
Javid
Faridoon
Roshan
Zubin

Aria
Mina
Amira
Tara

Aslan
Dara
Pasha

Zaramina is gorgeous.

LOVE Nasrin, Soraya and Javid! I used to work with a very sweet Soraya.

Zaramina is gorgeous and if you want a crossover name it will shorten nicely to Zara.

I know a Pakistani Kamran who does pronounce it Kamm-rann so you might run into confusions there.

Isn't Yasmin Persian?

I have a friend called Yasmin and she's half Persian. Its a beautiful name.