Turkish names

[Thenadish]

First baby due June, mum is Turkish Cypriot / English with family of Turkish names and Dad is English with a family of traditional English and biblical names. We are after a name that can be pronounced by English people and our Turkish family, preferably using the Turkish spelling.

Ideas welcomed! (Both genders please) x

I know a very lovely Devrim, easy to pronounce, nn Dev.

I know a Dilara a Rana and a Serpil - beautiful names for beautiful girls

Devrim is a bit of a 'loaded' name - means 'Revolution' and is typically given to children of communist supporters of pre-1980 coup d'etat.

Assuming that you want proper Turkish names and not Muslim names, and you don't want Turkish letters:

Girls:

Ayla (light around stars)
Alev (flame)
Buse (kiss)
Eda (elegance - close enough translation)
Ece (queen)
Ezgi (melody)
Hayal (waking dream)
Izim (my path/the trail I left behind - sorry, I'm really bad at translating)
Lal (shiny & dark red color)
Lale (tulip)
Maral (female deer)
Mey (wine - not the usual word for 'wine' but a word sometimes used in poems)
Naz (not sure if there is a word for this in English - "feigned reluctance")
Nehir (river)
Oya (elaborate needlework)
Peri (fairy)
Seda (pleasant sound)
Sema (sky)

Actually, scratch Ece. You will want to avoid the letter c as well, as it is pronounced j and will cause endless confusion.

Thanks CoteDAzur, we are actually open to Cs ç and ş and the confusion it will entail! Especially if you have a more traditional English name but pronounced in a Turkish way! Some fabulous suggestions thank you! X

Boys:

Ege (Aegean)
Atilla (yes, it's a Turkish name )
Efe (strong, brave man of the Aegean region)
Derya (sea)
Utku (goal)
Ozan (poet)
Deniz (sea)
Derin (deep)
Hakan (khan, king)
Erhan (same as above)

I know a Devran he's gorgeous!

Of the more phonetic girls' names I can think of Defne, Ipek (meaning silk), I like Ezgi a lot but I thought it had the "strangled" I at the end (for want of a better expression) so that might be hard for English speakers. One of my friends is called Nursel which I quite like too, but she's a bit older so maybe it's not a modern name. Her daughter is called Evin, which is also nice.

Other Turkish names I know all have the j sounding c or else lots of umlauts, or else are quite harsh sounding to English ears.

Izlet - No, Ezgi has a normal-sounding i at the end. Like the i in it.

"Strangled i" Are you thinking of the letter "i without a dot"?

Never knew Devrim means revolution - every day's a learning day!

I like Deriya for a girl. My friend is called Dee for short.

I know a Mesut, Bilal, Emre and Nazmi which I find easy to pronounce.

I love Ayse for a girl; fairly sure that's Turkish. There are some really lovely names here!

Sevda

means love, but more dark, passionate, sometimes forbidden.
I think

Cote, yes I am. Sorry for the bad description!

For girls, Kayla, Rabia, Suzan.

I know an Enes (8yo) - no idea what it means, but lovely boy.

Evren

I knew a Turkish Cypriot girl called Zerin (zeh-reen) growing up, not sure if this is a traditional name or its meaning but I always thought it was pretty.

Ayla
Ayse (Aysha)
Layla
Pembe (pink)
Dilara
Elif
Esma
Esra

Mehmet
Kerem
Timur
Taylan
Cem (Jem)

I met a Turkish Melis (pron Mel-eece). Pretty girl with a pretty name!

Girls:
Melis, Selin, Deniz, Leyla, Ayla
Boys:
Sinan, Bener, Aydan,

English/ international names that are easily pronounced by Turkish speakers: James, Isabella, Ben, Charles, Robert, Sienna, Olivia,

We had a babysitter called Senay, her daughter was Yasemin and her son Emre. All very pretty names.

For girls I like:

Ayse
Sevda
Senay
Ceren
Elif
Azra
Çemre
Emine
Ayla
Derya
Ela
Safiye

For boys:

Arda
Emre
Aydin
Evren
Kaya
Tanner
Taylan

These are just some of my faves.