International Baby Names: Fresh takes on classics

by Linda Rosenkrantz

International baby names can go a long way towards reinvigorating classic English versions. They can often add freshness, energy, romanticism, quirkiness, individuality and surprise to a name that has gone somewhat colorless after centuries of widespread use.

I was reminded of this by a terrific thread on our forums, one that was started recently by Berry ‘msbuntain’.  What follows are some of the great examples contributed by Berries on that thread, as well as some of my own favorite substitutes. (Not that we don’t love classics too!).

We’d really like to hear about the names that you like an international version of better than the standard English language one, so let us know in the comments!

International Baby Names: fresh girl variations

Anouk—Dutch and French for Anne/Anna

Cinzia—Italian for Cynthia

Constanza—Italian for Constance

Edwige—French for Hedwig

Eithne (_eth-na)—_Irish for Edna

Fiorenza—Italian for Florence

Gianetta—Italian for Janet

Guinevere—Welsh for Jennifer

Inez—Spanish for Agnes

Jacinta—Spanish for Hyacinth

Marit—Swedish and Norwegian for Margaret

Moira—Irish for Mary

Noemi—Italian and Spanish for Naomi

Patrizia—Italian for Patricia

Sinéad—Irish for Janet

Siobhan—Irish for Joan

Sorcha—Irish for Sarah

Varvara—Russian and Greek for Barbara

Vittoria—Italian for Victoria

Zuzanna—Slavic for Susanna

International Baby Names: fresh boy variations

Alasdair—Scottish for Alexander

Anders—Scandinavian for Andrew

Armando—Spanish for Herman

Axel—Scandinavian for Absalom

Arrigo—Italian for Henry

Clovis—French for Louis

Corrado—Italian for Conrad

Donal— Irish for Donald

Eamon—Irish for Edmund

Eero—Finnish for Eric

Enzo—Italian for Henry

Ewan—Scottish for John (via Eoghan)

Hamish—Scottish for Jacob

Haroun—Arabic for Aaron

Inigo—Basque for Ignatius

Jaffrez—Breton for Jeffrey

Lars—Scandinavian for Lawrence

Lorcan—Irish for Laurence

Matteo—Italian for Matthew

Niall—Irish for Neal

Orlando—Italian for Roland

Owain–Welsh for Eugene

Paolo—Italian for Paul

Piet—Dutch for Peter

Redmond—Irish for Raymond

Tavish—Scottish for Thomas

Umberto—Italian for Humbert

Vasily—Russian for Basil

Zalman—Yiddish for Solomon

Linda Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Nameberry, and co-author with Pamela Redmond Satran of the ten baby naming books acknowledged to have revolutionized American baby naming. In addition to contributing stories on trends and celebrity naming, she guides the editorial content and manages the Nameberry Twitter and Facebook accounts. You can follow her personally at (https://www.instagram.com/lalindro/), Twitter and Facebook. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed New York Review Books Classics novel Talk and a number of other books._