Anglo Persian baby names

[torshihunter]

dp and I are looking for names that would suit families in the uk and iran. Any suggestions? They have to be easy to spell and pronounce, and not have negative connotations in Farsi and english.
Can i rule out Cyrus and Dariush straight away, english family pulled faces when mentioned.

Saffron

Lila, Tara, Ava, Sara?

Mahvash

I like saffron, but it seems too mundane, as we use buckets of the stuff when cooking at home! Ava is a long standing favourite, and i think it would work with both families.

BonsoirAnna, is mahvash for a boy or a girl, and do you know what it means?

Mahvash is for a girl and is something to do with the moon.

I have a very nice friend called Mahvash!

maryam
ina

mona

caspian

(Are english faces going to be pulled until you mention something english enough like..... hugo or thomas?!)

Laila/Layla?
Mina?
Noor?

Amir?
Karim?
Milad?

Nadia?

Yazmin?

Roxana, Sima.... they are all beautiful names!

My sister threw a special face when I mentioned Yasmina, nothing to do with the name, just that she didn't like the winner of 'The Apprentice'. I love the name, probably second in line to Ava.
There is a Maryam in the family, and my grandmother was called Mary, so I think that would be a nice option as well.
for boys i like Amin and Abbas. We have a friend with a son called Milad, and i like that as well, but to fellow geordies it might sound a bit strange. Howay Me Lad being a common expression up here

Jasmine?

Idris is an Islamic prophet IIRC, as well as a Welsh name

Hana (spelt that way), Leila/Layla, Nadia, Yasmin, Zahra are all Arabic girls names which work ok in English too.

And Niki for a girl (means "goodness") too, or Sara ("pure"), Tara ("Star) or Lili (the flower).

For Boys Kian is a Persian name as well as a Gaelic one.

Franco-Persian children I know are called Sarah,
Elham (girl pron Ellame)
Younès (boy pron You-ness)
Elias (boy)

I know a Cyrus in the UK - no-one pulls faces at all at his name.

For girls:
Haleh
Orkida (don't know if that is the right spelling)

For boys:
Amir
Navid

Sameer can be shortend to Sam if he prefers it.

I wasn't going to say because it's gotten slated on here before, but since it's so timely (and since it's my name too! )

Farah?

We also know an Iranian born Issam, known to everyone as Sam.