Names that work in multiple languages

[SorbusAucuparia]

Morning,

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself as we're TTC#2, but naming DD was difficult (and I had doubts for months afterwards). We're bilingual German/English, living in a German-speaking area, and we need a name that both sets of grandparents can pronounce. I much prefer longer, more traditional names. On the plus side, many popular names in the UK are rare here so having four in the same class isn't much of a risk. I'm of Russian extraction so it would also be nice to reflect that aspect.

DD is called Charlotte Sophia Josephine, after a louche 4x4 trip to Princess Charlotte Bay H's grandmother, her saints' name day, and our first baby, whom we lost in late pregnancy.

Any thoughts on the following? Any suggested combinations? Or any advice on finding multilingual-friendly names?

Alice
Anastasia
Philippa (one of H's middle names is Philipp)
Wilhelmina (H's grandfather is Wilhelm)
Luciana (my grandfather was Lucian)
Mathilde/Mathilda
Flora
Victoria
Ottilie (in German it would be pronounced more like Ott-EElee-uh rather than Otterly, like the ending of Emilia)
Leopoldine
Leontine (I love -ine endings, can you tell?)
Theodora

Benedict (another one H hates and I love, possibly due to Benadryl Cucumberpatch)
Alaric
Leopold (Leo-names are hugely popular here though)
Frederick (another family name but I dislike Fred/Freddie)
Gustav (unusable in English?)
Otto (ditto)
Ludwig (ditto)

Luciana is absolutely gorgeous, thats my fave from your girl list by far. Theodora also nice, Anastasia is niceish but a bit too princessy.

I quite like Gustav out of the boys list, not keen on the rest. Frederick is nice but it will definitely be shortened to Fred or Freddie so don't use it if you don't like those nicknames!

Same set-up as you. If you want names with no pronunciation issues/variants at all, you may have to go very simple. We've been surprised at the various pronunciations people give to what we thoguht were (and in fact are) very international names. Some of the other suggestions you've received will fall foul of that - Lydia will be approximately 'loo-dia' in Germany, for example. Anything ending -ine will have the een vs. eena vs. eye-n problem. Anything with Leo will have Leeo vs. Lay-o. etc. etc. etc.

At the risk of repeating others, my suggestions:
Girls: Maria, Natasha, Katinka, Luminita (I think that's perhaps Romanian? - I think it's lovely), Elisa, Miranda. I think Marina and Victoria would work really well from your list.

Boys: Alexander, Sebastian, Valentin (the lack of 'e' on the end would probably help the English side manage the pronunciation), Vincent, Magnus, Yannick. of your list, Otto fits your brief most closely, but I can't help thinking of it as having a bit of a hispter moment in Britain. Loads of people won't know where to put the stress on Alaric, and that will give rise to a surprising English-German variation again. Caspar as per a PP is good. I'd avoid anything starting with an A (or with a prominent A sound) that your German side might perceive as 'English' (such as Adam), as you'll invariably get people calling him 'Eddam'. (Alexander won't suffer from that because it's familiar to German ears, Caspar ditto).

I meant to add Henry. That works well too.

I keep thinking of more - Magdalena is one I've seen on a few girls lately, and while it's not my cup of tea, it sounds as if it could be yours. There's also Franziska, which, while very German in spelling, isn't really hard for English speakers to get their heads round pronouncing.

We had the same set up. Ended up going for a very short name, that’s pronounced the same in both languages

But on our lists we had:
Vincent
Alvin
Monty
Sullivan
Ralph

Nora
Sylvia
Zara

Liesel

I love Otto the most

Liesel is very old fashioned, it’s like calling your child in England Herman or Blanche

I’m zweisprachig too. I don’t think Leopoldine, Alaric or Ludwig are usable in the U.K. I like Otto but don’t really like the German pronunciation of Ottilie and I think Wilhelmina is a bit much.

Leonie
Dorothea
Anya
Elisabeth
Beatrice
Natalia
Johanna
Antonia
Elena
Valentina

Julian
Christopher
Lucas
Maximilian
Oliver
Daniel
Marcus
Bruno
Thomas

Eva
Maria
Angela
Katrina
Ursula
Matilda

Yes, Liesel is very old fashioned and it’s also a nickname for Elisabeth or Annelies rather than a full name normally.

Konrad

@PattyPan Alaric is unusual but totally usable in English - I know a five year old Alaric (born to totally English parents) and as far as I know he hasn't faced any problems.

Ludwig obviously isn't an English name but I think most people will be familiar with it and not struggle to pronounce or spell it.

You’re all amazing, thank you so much for some really lovely suggestions! Now just need to wait a week to POAS

Alice - ok
Anastasia - not keen
Philippa (one of H's middle names is Philipp) - fine
Wilhelmina (H's grandfather is Wilhelm) - ok
Luciana (my grandfather was Lucian) - Lucy-ah-na or Lootchy-ah-na
Mathilde/Mathilda - will be spelled Matilda
Flora - lovely
Victoria - fine
Ottilie (in German it would be pronounced more like Ott-EElee-uh rather than Otterly, like the ending of Emilia) - and O'erly in the uK. No
Leopoldine - lovely, Leopoldina even better
Leontine (I love -ine endings, can you tell?) - not keen
Theodora - don't like it

Benedict (another one H hates and I love, possibly due to Benadryl Cucumberpatch) - no. Your DH doesn't like it
Alaric - not keen
Leopold (Leo-names are hugely popular here though) - prefer Leonid
Frederick (another family name but I dislike Fred/Freddie) - No then
Gustav (unusable in English?) - definitely usable in the UK
Otto (ditto) - don't like it
Ludwig (ditto) - fine but Lewis or Louis might be easier

Alice Luciana Mathilde
or
Anastasia Luciana Mathilde
both sound great with sister Charlotte Sophia Josephine.

For a brother I love:
Leopold Frederick Gustav
or
Benedict Otto Ludwig
or
Benedict Ludwig Gustav

Amelia
Beatrice
Christina Carolin Carla
Dorothea
Emilia
Francesca
Georgina
Helena
Isabella
Josephine
Karolin
Lilly
Matilda
Nadine
Olivia
Penelope
Rebecca
Sienna
Theodora
Vivienne
Wilhelmina
Zoe

I’d avoid royalist/emperor type names (unless you’re of that political leaning) as German people will make assumptions if you go for Ludwig, Wilhelm, Leopold, Gustav and similar. A friend who is a left-leaning Karl Friedrich has never quite forgiven his parents I think.

Other names you’ve got ok the list, for example Mathilda, are more neutral