Spanglish baby names!

[SophieStripe]

Hi... I'm very early, only 10+4 but petrified of first scan and something being wrong. I can't cruise the pregnancy board anymore as too many things to worry about in there so thought I would come here... Seems a lot more fun and positive which is where I need my head to be right now! So, we are English mum and Spanish dad, living in UK but lots of family back in Spain. Name could be either English or Spanish origen but it needs to "work" in both places - e.g. Can't be something that in Spain they would read and wonder how the hell you pronounce it and vice versa. Ideally also can't end in "ía" like Sofía or Lucía (although I love both of those) as surname also ends in that sound! Any thoughts?

If DD2 had been a boy, we were going for Francisco Rafael

Ofitck i had a laugh at your 'Spanglish kids' comment.

We loved Agustin, Edurne and Izaskun from oop north where DH hails from, but my family would be buggered spelling and pronouncing!

We are in Catalunya but know of siblings called Unax and Enneko (sp?) which i think rock. Oh, and a couple of boys named Roc.

And we know a handful of Kevins and Adrians.

Camila - becoming well known in English because of Camila Cabello, and timeless in Spanish speaking countries.

Santiago is a lovely name, very Spanish but would be hard to screw up in English.

I also LOVE Alba... But everyone I've mentioned it to hates it! And says it reminds them on peach melba haha. I also like Alma. Augustin not sure but really like Austin?? Love gabriela that's going on the list! Not so keen on valentina/Vanesa,not sure why (no offence!) and Santiago is a bit too "Spanish" for me haha. But these are all. Such great suggestions please keep them coming!

And yes, Claudia would be pronounced cloudier (almost)!

Ofitck So sorry, didn't know Amaia was a Basque name! We know a lot of vascos but do not live up there. Apologies.

Talking of Basque names, I met an Iskander recently and thought that was a brilliant name!

OP, Austin would be difficult in Spain as it would be pronounced Ow-stin or Ow-steen.

How does millicent (millie) work in Spanish? Just realised gabriela doesn't really work with our surname which starts with G... Shame I really like it!

Yeah.. I didn't think Austin would work... Off the list it comes!

I kinda like Ainhoa... But I think English people would struggle with it

Milicent would be pronounced Meeleethent, so similar to English apart from the ss/th sound in the middle (some parts of Spain say ss instead of th so this could depend on where your DH is from). LL in Spanish is pronounced like English y. Would the one L spelling mean that her name is always misspelled in English-speaking countries?

Emma is a name that works in both languages and is spelled and pronounced the same.

Cecilia, Mafalda, Marissa, Marina, Elena, Gloria, Anna, Alexandra, Bianca, Clara, Penelope.
Leo, David, Daniel, Christian, Ian, Isaac, Lucas, Marco, Sebastian.

We have English/Mexican friends who have Leonardo (Leo) I know that it is a different dialect but they chose that because it worked in both.

For a boy I like
Mateo
Leanardo
Diego
Valentino

For a girl
Maria
Alma
Gabriella

Oops I meant Leonardo

Hi, I'm Spanish married to Scottish. I've got an Erica and a Carla. In my list of names there were: Daniela, Bianca, Aitana, Ariadne. For boys I had Aitor, Elliot, Victor and Iker. Good luck on your pregnancy.

By the way, my daughter's are delighted when we go to Spain to the Chinese 1 euro shops as there is always crap with her names on it, something that doesn't happen in England...

@elQuintoConyo Kevincostner de Jesus!? surely there is only one? From Granada?

OP lots of saints / biblical names work in Spanglish. I love Gabriel & Rafael for boys or Sebastian or Inigo.

Lots of lovely girls names ending in ia but not all. Maribel, Ester, Alba

That is a good point... Gotta make sure there will be crap with their name on in one country or another!
Don't have a problem with one L in millicent to get over the Spanish LL pronounciation... But I wonder if its just not translatable enough. Husband is from central Spain, west of Madrid so its more S than TH like in the south. I think we will have to rule it out. I love Alba and Alma but my family don't (I know its not up to them though!). Any more boys names? I really struggle with boys names I dislike a lot of them... I like Mateo, Oscar, Luis, Lucas, Luca. And that's it so far!

If you love Alma would Alva work?

Alva is a Hebrew name and also sometimes an anglicised version of the Irish Ailbhe.

I do like Álvaro for a boy and our family in Spain and uk seem to manage that ok. :)

Love Alba :)

If I were to go with Alba/Alma and forget what family thought I would just go Alba. Not sure I like Alva... It reminds me of the chipmunks?! Alvin, Simon, Theodore! I like Alvaro, thanks! On the list. Do people in UK pronounce it álvaro or alvaaaaro (as in emphasis on var like jar rather than ALvaro with emphasis on AL)?

You might like Ada of Anna.

Alba is really nice imo, btw. :)

I think slight emphasis on var like jar...

al-VAR-o.

But then I guess we've taken pronunciation from Spanish family...