Cross-lingual baby name suggestions

December 1, 2012 11:51 AM

Baby name finder... international edition.

I'd like to find something like The Baby Name Wizard, but with a twist: it needs to find names that work in multiple languages.

For example, it would generate a name that works in English, French and German, and it would leave out names which are bad for whatever reason in any of those languages: whether the name be tricky to pronounce, to spell, or mean something terrible.

posted by gorcha to Human Relations (10 answers total)

The advanced search function on Baby Name Wizard can somewhat do that. It can't tell you "don't name your Spanish baby Merida 'cause it kind of sounds like the Spanish word for shit", but you can definitely select for "internationally popular" name (the Wizard folks track the top 20 or so names in a ton of European countries, not so sure about international outside Europe, though), as well as specify that you want names from certain cultures -- or exclude names from certain cultures.

There are also comments enabled on individual name entries, which means that people might go in and specify "this name has bad connotations in X culture" or "this name sounds like a swear word in X language". Though obviously there's no guarantee.
posted by Sara C. at 12:41 PM on December 1, 2012

Seems like biblical names are the way to go because they have things that work in all languages (that you've named.)
posted by k8t at 12:42 PM on December 1, 2012

previously
posted by Lanark at 12:43 PM on December 1, 2012

Also it depends on your definition of "works". For example, Annette can be found in English, French or German names and it is spelt the same, but the Germans pronounce it differently, it's not difficult for the Germans to pronounce it the English way but they won't necessarily do so first time. Some names work in that all Germans, French and English understand the name, but may spell it different (think Elisabeth/Elizabeth, Mark/Marc etc.) and the pronunciation may or may not change.

So we would need to find a database that understands what "works" means.
posted by jujulalia at 12:50 PM on December 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think the comment on pronunciation above is also relevant.

Agnes, in English, is...not universally considered beautiful.
Agnés, pronounced a la francaise, is really quite lovely. However, little Agnés, growing up in St. Louis, probably won't hear her lovely name when hanging out with her fellow kindergartners. Or maybe not. If she introduces herself a la francaise, maybe it won't be an issue.

I dunno. Just a thought.
posted by vivid postcard at 6:21 PM on December 1, 2012

Response by poster: The definition of "works" is quite flexible, it's a starting point. Using top lists is something that I'd like to avoid though.
posted by gorcha at 1:57 AM on December 2, 2012

This website lets you browse for names by region/country.

I can think of: Sophia, Anna, Ariel, Melina, Maria, Anna-Maria, Margarite, Melinda, Katia, Cassasdra, Chloe, Christina, Andrea, Alana, Artemis, Andromeda, Daphne, Damian, Alex, Jonas, Lucas, Andreas, Philip, Jay, Michel, Nicholas, Adrian, Anthony.
posted by mkdirusername at 10:40 AM on December 2, 2012

gorcha, what's the end goal, here?

Are you looking for a filtered list of neutral names for some kind of business type purpose? (i.e. dummy entries in a database or something?)

Are you trying to name a bunch of characters in a work of fiction?

Are you looking for an actual name for an individual person who will exist in the real world?

Because each of those purposes would require a drastically different sort of search. And if the latter, certainly you'd want to go through names yourself to find something you actively like and which works for your little human, not just "this name does not mean 'penas and butt' in any language our kid is likely to encounter".
posted by Sara C. at 10:53 AM on December 2, 2012

Response by poster: gorcha, what's the end goal, here?

To find a name for a baby.
posted by gorcha at 12:18 PM on December 2, 2012

I don't think you're going to find a search engine that does all the work of finding a name for your baby. At a certain point, you're going to have to go through a list of options and consider them for yourself.
posted by Sara C. at 12:19 PM on December 2, 2012