having cross cultural name crisis, please help!

[AisieSusie]

just a month to go til my due date, and NO names on the short list! here is the problem, I need to find a name for a boy that works well in UK [classic brit name?] and in Palestine [arabic names].

I really want a name that sounds familiar and has british/ english connotations, as I love words and meanings and history BUT my DH really wants a name that sounds familiar/ has meaning in palestine.

Its becoming rather an issue as its showing up all sorts of cultural tensions I never knew existed between us, and i had thought that maybe naming him something that didn't sound too 'christian' would be enough, and follow up with a arabic second name, esp. because its already palestinian tradition that one of the second names is his fathers, but my DH is adamant that the baby must have a name that sounds/ is arabic so his side of the family feel like the baby is part of them, and also so the baby doesn't feel like a foreigner when he visits palestine.

[tbh this last point is a bit academic given how unstable the region is, visiting a war zone isn't exactly likely to happen soon]

and just to balance the needs of this name... i don't want my baby's name to sound alien to me either, and my parents are getting really upset as they feel any non-brit name is some kind of exclusion for them...

so in short, I need to get this whole name issue dealt with before it becomes a divisive and political/ racial nightmare for me, husband and our families - as these things escalate so quickly!

Reluctantly I do agree that a child should have one name and one identity, particularly important not to feel like he has to chose between 2 cultures and 2 self identities... especially given the tensions between our two countries... but this is nigh on impossible! NB reluctant as i can't find any names that do this, not cos i am mean or anything.

so here's the challenge, do any of you lovely people know names that could work across the brit/arabic cultures [and sound nice!]?

I know an Issam, known as Sam. Or you could have Idris, which sounds Welsh and is at least familiar to most people, but as apparently also a prophet.

I really like Samir, called Sam (I have a Sam and he's great ) and Rafi is quite nice too.

Congratulations, by the way!

Am from v similar mixed background myself (own name as displayed here is actually unisex!) Suggestions based on my family include Samir (he shortens to Sam), Nazar (nn Naz), Jacob (can be pronounced Yakub) and Zaid. I'm assuming you know the sex btw.. I think it is important to honour cultural heritage, but only to the extent that you both feel comfortable with. Try not to base this on other people's ideas. Good luck xx

Kamran/Cameron
Rayyan/Ryan
Danyal/Daniel
Ali
Adam
Aden/Aidan

Lots of names starting Sam too.

Does anyone like the name Basil? lol

We were in a slightly similar situation, except there is no enmity between my country and dh's. For first child we did a compromise: chose a name from my culture but which could easily be adapted into an English shortened form. Dd used the shortened form outside the home and with her English grandparens until she got to Junior school and then started using the foreign form as being more grown-up: her English relatives still use the shortened form. We use the official form when we speak to her in Swedish and the shortened form when we speak to her in English.

When ds was born I was feeling quite emotional about my own culture so chose a very foreign name. Grandparents being unable to pronounce it were offered a nickname based on the meaning of his name. Noone outside the family has ever struggled with it, though; his mates are fine with his exotic name. Again, dh and I use the form that goes with the particular language we are speaking at the time.

Not too sure about this one name/one identity lark. Our dcs are bicultural and they know it. Bilingual too. Not a problem and even if it was, it wouldn't make a difference, because that's who they are.

But I can sympathise with you and your dh: dh and I felt quite vulnerable when we sat down to talk about names and it first occurred to us that "one of us is going to have a foreign baby". Hasn't been anywhere as scary in practice, you grow into these things. But I was afraid that my children would grown into strangers.

Maybe if you could agree on a family name from your DH's family, it would mean more to you and be more understandable, as a choice, to your parents? Assuming you like his family and feel reasonable close to them...

Laith = Lion
Skander = Alexander
Harris = Friend

Or so the internet says.

See this thread too.

I like Laith a lot
ds is at school with one ( who happens to be über bright as well as being a year young)