Hi mamas,
We are expecting our second (due in May) and I am in desperate need of help with a Spanish-English ‘bilingual name’. Essentially, we are looking for something that will sound good in both languages and will not be “butchered” in either language.
Our first son’s name is Lucas. If it is a girl, we are set with either Micaela or Catalina. For boys we like, but not love: Marcos or Marco and Lorenzo or Enzo (these I love, but my husband has vetoed both). Names that we love, but cannot use because we have close relatives in similar age groups: Sebastian, Mateo, Franco, Santiago, Max, & Bruno.
Would love any and all suggestions. Thank you in advance!
ETA: Micalea would be pronounced Mee-kah-ella. Mica for short (mee-kah)
Most of the names mentioned above we won't be using as they are all first or second cousins names and I think it would be weird to have two of the same in such close proximity.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far!
@ Laura ♫ ♬ ♪ ♩ ♪ U. -- I reported Rhonda - I am sure a lot of others did too!
@ Jess - that book is one of my all time favorites and is where I got the idea for the name! :)
@ Mama Duck - Matias was actually one of the top contenders. I liked that it was also a biblical name like Lucas (Luke), but wasn't sure how easy it was to pronounce in English. Thanks!
How about Matthias? My son's name is Matthew, and I call him this from time to time. And we are not Spanish speaking at all. I just love the way it rolls off the tongue. It is a variant of Mateo, but not exactly the same. Later in life, he could always go by Matt.
Hope this helps!
I think you will find that a lot of the English speakers will pronounce Micaela as Mick-kay-la so if you are going for something that won't be butchered, you might want to reconsider.
Boys names that I think most people know how to pronounce: Augustino (Augustin), Alvarez, Carlos, Renadlo, Alejandro, Eduardo, Celio, Emilio, Luis, Pablo, Rafael, Pedro, Ramon, Armando, Cruz, Santos.
Good luck!
Here are some of the names that I have heard among my Hispanic friends that I think could work: Diego, Anton or Antonio, Miguel, Logan, Javier, Joaquin, Emmanuel, Eric, Rafael, Leo, Mario, Enrique, Gabriel, Ricardo, Cristian, Adrian, Isaac, David, Jorge, Carlos, Juan.
Some of them will have some flexibility between their English and Spanish pronunciations, but not to the point that either side would consider it butchering. I kind of think that's cool. :)
I think most English speakers will pronounce Micaela as "Mi-KAY-la." I know I would.
I like the name Micaela...but it reminds me of a salsa song I used to dance to all the time..."Mira Micaeala...como baila boogaloo." Do you know it?
We are also a bilingual family (spanish and English) and we named our daughter Olivia. It hasn't been butchered yet by my husband's family. lol We also like Isabella, but I have a cousin that I can't STAND name her daughter that. Anastasia was high on my list. Not my husband's.
For boys...we have a Sebastian (ha!) and an Elijah. I don't recommend Elijah NONE of my husband's family can say it. BUT, Elias is really nice. I also like Xavier and Antonio and LOVED Benjamin. David and Issac also were close.
Good luck!
L.
I am sorry I MUST add....Rhonda...You don't like "bilingualism" than DON'T answer the question! Your comment was so rude. Some of us think it's a GOOD thing that our kids are bilingual.
izabella, cassandra, eva.
ferdinando, alessandro, miguel etc
Alina, Ariana, Veronica, America, Sofia, Angelina, Alicia, Camila, Carmen, Natalia, Alondra, Claudia, Linda, Isabel.
Ivan, Javier, Xavier (my son's middle name!), Angel, Antonio, Hector, Emanuel, Mauricio, Orlando, Diego.
Hispanic kids on my son's soccer teams :)
Diego, Xavier, Joel, Enzo, Muiez, Lionel, Ronaldo
I like our neighbor's names - Ximena is the daughter and the mom is Perla.
On our other side there is Sebastian (!) and Noah.
Catalina is very pretty, though.
I have no idea how to pronounce Micaela... so it might not be as easy in English as you think. Catalina is a nice choice, though!
Sorry - no boy ideas.
If you don't want the name to be butchered - I think Catalina is the safest bet because for Micaela is it "Mycaela" (Long "i") or Micaela (short "i"). I've heard it pronounced both ways.
http://www.babynameguide.com/categoryspanish.asp?strGende...
http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishlanguageculture/a/boyn...
I like Anton, Antonio, Benjamin, Carlos, Dante, Diego, Esteban, Felix and so many more on this link. I like both of the girls names you picked.
For a boy, I like Alessandro, Rafael, Cristian, Gabriel, Danilo.
Catalina is way cute! Our girls have spanish names but my son does not since we couldn't agree on a first name-I liked antonio marquez carlito
Wow, lots of nice names being thrown out there!
Of the names mentioned (for a boy), I like Xavier, Cristian, Emilio, Emmanuel, and Renaldo...
Just my $ .02!
How about Adrian for a boy?
Like all the boy names....but don't anyone Catalina.....I really like the boy name Santiago.
I taught 5 years in classrooms where all students spoke Spanish at home. Below are a few of their names, that I think were said well by English speaker and Spanish speakers:
BOYS:
Israel, Keivan (Kay-Vaughn), Salatiel, Juventino, Eric, Dimas, Oscar, Edward, Edgar, Omar, Francisco, Antonio .... wow I can't believe I've forgotten so many names! I know there are LOTS more but I can't find them in my brain. Will add to this short list if I think of others. I love your Enzo name. It's a character's name in the book "The Art of Racing in the Rain" and I kind of want to name my future son Enzo (after reading the book).
GIRLS:
Marisol, Tania, Jasmine, Karina, Lana, Alma, Yasmina, Vanessa, Valeria, Paloma, Patricia, Analy (Ah-Nah-Lee), Maribel. Oh wait you said you have your girl name figured out. Well just in case ....
@Yarmatey's answer: I agree that even as a spanish speaker myself (not native though), I pronounced Micalea differently than how you just wrote it for us.
@MamaDuck's answer: I like Matias, granted do you say "Mat-TAY-as" or "Mat-TIE-as"?
Isabel, Isadora, Sofia, Anabel,Soledad, Marisol for girls.
Adriano, Mariano, Andres,Francisco, Domingo, Gabriel for boys.
My fave are Andres and Isabel. Congrats!
I've always loved the name Gabriel.
And Perla is so pretty.
When I was a little girl, I knew someone named Paloma. It means dove.
You have lots of great suggestions.
Good luck!!
I like Sophia, Rachel, perla, monica, i have a cousin named lorena thats pretty cute also!
For boys i love christopher, Joshua, Joseph, Efrain
Oooh, I love Enzo. I also love Miguel, Gabriel, Emmanuel, and Alessandro! Good luck choosing.
My thoughts on a few boy's names: Daniel, Christian, Gabriel, Mario, Miguel
Vincenzo, Domenico, Valerio, Antonio, Carlo, Mario
While I don't have any suggestions per se, my husband was named after his Uncle, Richard (Ricardo....they're Puerto Rican) and so was his cousin who is 2 years older. One is "Ricky" and one is "Richard". His cousin Ricky also goes by Emilio (which I really like). So, as it turns out, I did have a suggestion after all!
Have you considered maybe a name that has significance. My husband and I considered the name Marisol (For sun and sea - we are huge beach people) although we didn't lock that one in so I never considered the spelling (my apologies if it is incorrect).
Who cares if there are others with the same name. They should be flattered and you all will be happy!
Congrats on #2!
If you're looking for something that is pronounced more or less the same in both languages, I wouldn't go with Micaela. Here, it will never be pronounced the way you said. It will almost always be Muh-kay-luh (like, McKayla). Catalina is a nice choice. Maya is a name that is popular in many cultures and always pronounced the same way.
