Names that work in Nepali, German, and English
Hi!
We're looking for a name for a girl that would work both for the Nepali and the German side of the family, and would also work in the English speaking country we live in.
We're having a really hard time coming up with anything we're 100% happy with. We're leaning towards a Nepali / Sanskrit name, though we're open for other options. They just have to be pronouncable in some kind of reasonable way that doesn't sound awful by the relatives, and locals.
Some thoughts, though everything is negotiable if we fall in love with a name:
- Our surname starts with sh, so ideally the first name wouldn't have s/sh-sounds in it
- Names with r are tricky as that's a quite different sound in all three languages
- I like names with u and i in them a lot, particularly ending in u or i
- Our top choices for middle names are 1. Maya 2. Tara. We're not considering either as first names, and we're flexible with middle names (can also be neither of these), finding a first name we love is more important and then we'll pick a middle name that matches
- Would be best to avoid consonant clusters like e.g. Laxmi
Here are some names that we like, but don't feel like we love them enough to go with them. Sometimes there's a reason or two attached to that, but it all comes down to just not being in love with the name. Please note that all the judgment on these is very subjective, they're all lovely names (hence they made it onto the short list at some point).
- Mina (too old)
- Devi (too religious)
- Sarita (too much s / r)
- Rani / Rini (r)
- Nalini
- Lina
- Amina / Amira
- Shanti (hard no with the sh)
- Kahani (maybe also sounds a bit old?)
- Amelia (also a bit old maybe)
- Rani (r)
- An(n)ika (too German - not ruling out German names but this one feels too German)
- Sonali (s)
- Yamini
- Ameya
- Ashmina (sh not great)
- Vidya
- Elina
- Malina / Melina
- Anna (too plain)
- Kumari (too old, too religious)
- Juna / Juni (j is a tricky letter)
- Yuna
- Luna
- Sumi (s)
- Kiran (like this one a lot but reads too much like Irish boys name)
- Aria (also like this one a lot but too game of thrones now)
A name I'm absolutely in love with is Leilani, but that doesn't culturally fit. But I do love everything about it. So I thought I'd put that out there too as reference. I do generally seem to like 3-syllable names that end in -i a lot.
Would greatly appreciate any suggestions!
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