Geographically ambiguous names, like Lee

January 25, 2022 3:35 PM

The name Lee could be Chinese, or Korean, or English. What are some other names that are used in more than one language?

When writing classroom scenarios, I'd like to use more names that are ambiguous in terms of the person's race / native language / country of origin.

Some examples:
Lee could be Chinese, Korean, or English.
Maya could be Spanish or Sanskrit or Hindi.
Taj could be Pakistani or Black American.

These will mostly be written examples, so spelling does matter (for instance, Balkan Maja and Spanish Maya wouldn't overlap geographically).

BUT, I also need a few verbal examples, so sound-alikes with different spelling are ok too (for instance, Maja / Maya, or Irish Ciaran / Sanskrit Kiran), so it's ok to include those as well.

But identically-spelled names like Lee are more useful.
Thank you!

posted by nouvelle-personne to Writing & Language (41 answers total)

Park (Korean or some kind of Anglo)
Ross (Scottish or Jewish)
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:44 PM on January 25, 2022 [10 favorites]

Long (as a last name) can be Irish or Chinese (at least).
posted by likedoomsday at 3:55 PM on January 25, 2022 [6 favorites]

Best answer: According to Wikipedia, “Lina is a common female given name in Spain, Arab countries like Egypt and Morocco, France, Italy, Central Asia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.” And Lena is “popular in Persian, Hindi, Swedish, French, Finnish, and some other cultures.”
posted by kittydelsol at 3:57 PM on January 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Young -- from the English or other anglicized European; romanization of Cantonese Chinese Yang; or, more rarely, romanization of Korean Yong/Yeong.
posted by AndrewInDC at 3:58 PM on January 25, 2022 [5 favorites]

Kim
posted by JackBurden at 4:01 PM on January 25, 2022 [6 favorites]

Best answer: You might find someone named Avi in Israel (where the name means Father) or India (where the name means Sun and Air). I think it's typically a masculine name.
posted by mochapickle at 4:02 PM on January 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Many Black Americans have Irish surnames.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 4:02 PM on January 25, 2022

Best answer: Ana is used across quite a number of languages.
posted by jocelmeow at 4:09 PM on January 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: When I worked in a customer-facing role, I would often get “Oh Anna.. that name is from my country”, so it is very widely used across different European countries and then also Latin America (but perhaps more ‘Ana’ spellings). I haven’t seen it used so much in Asia but it is pretty pronounceable across languages.

Oh snap with above :)
posted by AnnaRat at 4:11 PM on January 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

Maria.
posted by heathrowga at 4:13 PM on January 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

And don't forget Anh from Vietnam!
posted by mochapickle at 4:13 PM on January 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Roy, which can be a first name or surname. It's a name that occurs in Scots, English, French, and I think Bengali.
posted by pipeski at 4:19 PM on January 25, 2022 [7 favorites]

The table of Saint Thomas Christian names gives Antony, Abraham, Yakov, Dominic, Sara, etc. as names/variants that are traditional and common for about 6,000,000 Malayalam speakers.
posted by Wobbuffet at 4:24 PM on January 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

For the written names this is less of an issue, but for the spoken ones, just a note that in Korean the name 이, which usually gets romanized as "Lee", isn't actually pronounced "lee" (there's no initial "l" sound or other consonant). Similarly, 박 is not actually "Park" (there's no "r" sound in the name).
posted by Lexica at 4:24 PM on January 25, 2022 [5 favorites]

"Abbas" is an Arabic name (or is the angliciization of such) but it's also a venerable Dutch surname.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 4:28 PM on January 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: "Kai" is a northern European man's or Pacific Islander woman's name.

In the midwester US, it's somewhat common for black men (who are not of hispanic descent) to have hispanic names, like Antonio, Francisco, or Carlos (although I feel like this probably isn't the example you're looking for).
posted by Ideal Impulse at 4:28 PM on January 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Similarly, 박 is not actually "Park" (there's no "r" sound in the name).

IIRC it’s spelled that way because English people established the spelling of the Korean name in roman characters, and English people (or at least, those with certain accents) don’t pronounce the R in park.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:28 PM on January 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Here's a thread from 2017 on the same topic.
posted by theodolite at 4:31 PM on January 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: 'Sara' is a feminine first name in many parts of North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

But it's also used as a last name among the Sami people. So, someone could be concievably be named Sara Sara.
posted by spinifex23 at 4:55 PM on January 25, 2022

Best answer: You can't get more universal than Mina. It's also a cryptocurrency!
posted by foxjacket at 5:03 PM on January 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

For surnames, there’s “Rao”, which I’ve seen originating in China, India, and Italy.
posted by supercres at 5:46 PM on January 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Naomi, with separate Hebrew and Japanese origins.
posted by grouse at 6:09 PM on January 25, 2022 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you for these great answers so far! I only need first names so I marked as best some of the ones I know I can use. I’d be grateful for even more- thanks!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:31 PM on January 25, 2022

Best answer: Some good ones from the other thread
Sasha
Ali
Kiana
Dana
Idris
Jan
Mia
Kira
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:36 PM on January 25, 2022

Best answer: Also from the ambiguous Indian name files, the inevitable Neel and Jai.

Good for you for doing this!
posted by athirstforsalt at 9:18 PM on January 25, 2022

Kim is a name in several cultures and crosses genders.
posted by latkes at 9:28 PM on January 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Ken is a given name in both English and Japanese
posted by librarina at 10:43 PM on January 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Andrea swaps between feminine or masculine as you travel around Europe.
posted by fullerine at 11:48 PM on January 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Yuri could be either a Russian boy's name or a Japanese girl's name (though they are pronounced differently, they are usually both Romanized/spelled Yuri).

> Maria

Perhaps less common: Marie could be either a French girl's name or Japanese girl's name (e.g. Marie Kondo). Again, pronounced differently but spelled the same.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 1:01 AM on January 26, 2022

Zara is an Arabic-Hebrew first name that is popular in Anglo, MENA and South Asian communities, as well as being an Italian surname.
posted by guessthis at 2:56 AM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: What about Hannah/Hana? Hannah is fairly common in English and Hebrew, but also exists as Hana with different meanings in Kurdish, Persion, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Hawaiian, Maori, and Albanian!
posted by cilantro at 3:39 AM on January 26, 2022 [3 favorites]

Marx/Marks?
posted by james33 at 4:54 AM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Robin might work -- tends to be a male name in Europe and female in the US.
posted by jabes at 6:37 AM on January 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Annika is common in both northern Europe and India
posted by epanalepsis at 9:19 AM on January 26, 2022

Yeo - England (Yeovil; Tim Yeo), China (Yeo's)
posted by scruss at 9:35 AM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Kaya is listed as, alternatively, Scandanavian, Japanese, Indian, Turkish, and West African. It's the title of a Bob Marley album and slang for "penis" in Bambara
posted by olopua at 9:36 AM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Fatima originates as an Arabic woman's name, but Fátima is used in Portuguese-speaking and Spanish-speaking countries as well.
Simon is used with that spelling in many many countries.
posted by drlith at 10:47 AM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Jong as a last name. from wikipedia:

The North Korean spelling of Chung (Korean surname)
The Chinese spelling of Zhong (surname)
Common Dutch surname "de Jong"

(or in the case of people I know, "het Jong" or "'t Jong"
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 2:21 PM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Shanaya is an Indian girls' name that is pronounced just like Shania.
Kok can be a surname in Chinese and Dutch (no idea about the pronunciation though, and probably not the best for a classroom setting).
posted by Rora at 5:24 PM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: "Kim" keeps being brought up, but as a surname it's really only used by Koreans. It is virtually never used as a given name in Korean or even part of one.

The OP later asks only for first names, but regarding "Lee", it's not used as a given/first name in Korean or Chinese on its own--and it's uncommon in Korean even as a part of a given name. What makes it more complex is that romanization actually mucks things up: "Lee" in Korean actually can represent "리" or "이", and has also been romanized as "Rhee", "Yi", or "I".

"Young" is also not used as a given name in Korean on its own, and has been a romanization for both "용" and "영", which are very different sounds--the latter has been romanized as "Young", "Yeong", "Yong", and "Yung", while the former as "Yong", "Ryong", and "Young".

"Park", referenced above, is "박", and has been romanized as "Park", "Pak", or "Bak"
posted by i used to be someone else at 6:37 PM on January 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Got this in the DM's (thanks!):

Another answer for you is Mira - it's known in many countries/languages with a variety of appealing meanings; I know there are at least six or seven.

The Bump says, "Mira is a feminine name that derives from many origins and bears an abundance of etymologies. The multi-cultural name extends across Latin, Spanish, Eastern European, Sanskrit, and Arabic languages and means "admirable," "peace," "female ruler," and "ocean," among others."
posted by nouvelle-personne at 12:03 PM on April 18, 2022