I think these are the most beautiful male names in the world (in that order):
1. Desiderio
2. Babatunde
3. Hermenegildo
4. Parminder
5. And, of course V. S. Naipaul’s name, Vidiadhar Surajprasad, is stunningly beautiful. He had no choice but to become famous with a name like that.
And these are the most beautiful male names in the world (in that order):
1. Clarissa (obviously, or why would I have chosen it for this blog?)
2. Soledad
3. Catalina Miranda (but only when both names come together
4. Евгения (pronounced something like “Yevgenia” with the “g” like in “great” in English)
What do you think? Which are the most beautiful names in the world?
Clarissa's Blog 
Cheyenne……….the name of my daughter.
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OK, finally somebody who will be able to help me. Is the first sound in Cheyenne pronounced like sh in she or like ch in change?
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I’m guessing k as in cayenne pepper.
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It’s shy – anne. My friend is called Cheyenne 🙂
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In addition to my own name, David, I really like the men’s names Vikram, Janusz, and Tyrell.
Female names I like very much are Lori, Gloria, Nalo, Melody, Nnedimma, and Franetta.
I know people with each of these names, either family or friends, so I am not sure whether the fact that I like these names is based in part on how I feel about the people or merely the euphony of the spoken words.
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Yes, I really like Vikram and Janusz.
And Nnedimma, too.
Such beautiful names.
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Gee thank you!
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“Lori” is, indeed, beautiful.
I have noticed, however, that in L.-Am. soap operas the “mala malisima” or the most evil evildoer’s name is always some variation on Laura, Lora, Lorena, Lara, Lola, etc. I guess that is because the name somehow carries intensely sexual connotations.
The most evil evildoer is always female, too.
I love the soap-operas because they give you access to the most profound knowledge about a society.
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Parminder can be used for women as well. This is a Sikh name and in their community it is common practice to have the same first name used for both boys and girls. The last name changes, depending on the sex of the child. In this example, if it’s a boy he’d be Parminder Singh, and if it’s a girl she’d be Parminder Kaur.
I think Zinedine Zidane is the greatest male firstname-lastname combo.
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Yes, one of the well-know English actresses’ name is Parminder:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parminder_Nagra
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I have always loved Pilar and Rolande for female names. I don’t think they work well outside of the languages/cultures to which they belong.
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I never got Soledad. It literally means Loneliness. If you are going to name your kid that you might as well go for Depression.
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I think “solitude” is a great idea and makes for a poetic name. I am guessing that’s what “Soledad” means.
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>> I am guessing that’s what “Soledad” means.
And you’d be wrong. In Spanish “soledad” captures mostly the bad connotations of being alone, much as “loneliness” does in English.
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Who cares what it means? It sounds beautiful.
My name means “a saint” and still I’m managing to live my life quite well.
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Many Spanish names are tragic: Dolores (pain), Angustias (anxiety), etc. It’s a religious thing.
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I am partial to female Slavic (but not Polish) names like Svetlana or Tatyana (I even wrote a funny poem once where the lead was called “Yevgenya” :P). Even Srebrenica, the place where a notorious massacre took place, is a very elegant name.
A male name which I like very much, and which I thought was Hebrew before I learnt it was Turkish, is ‘Yilmaz’. I also like names which tell you immediately that the person is Hungarian, like “Laszlo”.
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Oooh, I love names! Here are my favourites
Boys:
Mirza
Leonard (If I were a boy I would want this to be my name)
Orlando
Darius
Makani
Jonathan
Anatole
Genji
Jian
Alika
Girls:
Noelani
Celeste
Miriam
Claudette
Lanikai
Victoire
Josephine
Rebecca
Juliette
Leila
Setsuko
Naomi
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Alika is a female name in my culture.
I always really loved the name Alina, but then I met two really evil women with such names and it’s now all spoiled for me. 🙂
Where is Lanikai from? I’ve never heard it but it’s lovely.
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It’s Hawaiian, means “Heavenly/Divine Sea”, with “Lani” meaning heaven, and “Kai” meaning sea. It was the name of my dearest childhood friend, and will be the middle name of my first daughter, should I have one.
Her first name would be Zora, which is another favourite name of mine I forgot.
Alika is Hawaiian too, it’s a Hawaiianized form of the name “Alexander”.
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Yes, Zinedine Zidane is absolutely the best. Some people are so lucky.
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Desiderio? Hermenegildo? you’ve got a weird taste for names! those two are completely out of date… even if I do think Desiderio is beautiful.
I never thought of names…
I like…
Dimas
Harkaitz
Ohian
Carlos / Charles
Gaizka
for boys
and
Enara
Arantxa
愛子 (Aiko)
Elizabeth (and all the likes: Isabel, Lisbeth… but specially Elizabeth)
Itxaro (Better than Izaro, even if the second spelling is more common)
for girls.
My name is around there, try and guess ;P
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“Desiderio? Hermenegildo? you’ve got a weird taste for names! those two are completely out of date”
– Precisely. 🙂 I love the unusual.
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You have Romantic taste for names.
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🙂 🙂
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If you want to ruin your kid for life try this one. “Daddy, what does Cheyenne mean?”, “Honey, I think its Native American for dog face”, “DADDY………” “Just kidding honey”. 😉
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Female:
Ann (I like how it sounds in English, but not in Russian)
Diana (the chaste hunting goddess)
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Estelle
Ulah
Conrad
Guido
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If the purpose of this is to pick names for a kid, remember he has to go through life with it. If what you think is beautiful is unusual, then you could be indulging yourself at the expense of your kid who could be scarred by it. Personally, I’d stick to common names that sound okay with the last name. If he wants an unusual name, it’s his decision when he comes of age.
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I knew that somebody would arrive at this very erroneous conclusion. 🙂 Of course, I’m not an idiot who’d give the name of Babatunde to a kid with a very Slavic last name. What am I, a freak?
I just thought it would be a fun topic.
In terms of names for a kid, I’d be severely limited to Slavic names.
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You could branch out a little and give the kid a Persian or Arabic first name to go with the Slavic surname, only most people would end up mistakenly assuming that your child is Bosnian. 😉
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An Arabic name on a partly Jewish kid will make for a huge identity conflict. 🙂
I know that everybody is really wondering right now, so: I’m not pregnant and I’m not even trying yet. I’ve found a fantastic breast-feeding chair, though. 🙂 🙂
This isn’t about you, nominatissima. I just have several relatives and colleagues who read the blog and I don’t want them to shower me with phone calls of the “How come I’m finding out something this major from your blog?” variety. 🙂 🙂
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Actually I know some people who’ve done that kind of combination, and it does sound a bit weird, but if you do it ,it doesn’t make you a freak. As for Slavic names, didn’t the Russian emperors have names that were the same or similar to English names–Peter, Alexander, Nicholas? Don’t know about Igor though. It’ll work for some kids, but not others.
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“Actually I know some people who’ve done that kind of combination, and it does sound a bit weird, but if you do it ,it doesn’t make you a freak.”
– No, I am totally on your side in terms of the suggestion that one should give a non-exotic name to a kid and then let them choose in adulthood. This is an eminently reasonable suggestion.
“As for Slavic names, didn’t the Russian emperors have names that were the same or similar to English names–Peter, Alexander, Nicholas”
– Yes, but I hate them all. Both the emperors and the names. 🙂 The problem we are having is that one of the spouses is a Russian and the other one is a Ukrainian who will never be able to forgive the Russian colonization of the Ukrainian people.
I don’t want to unburden my post-colonial issues on innocent blog readers. 🙂 I’m just saying that this shit is tough. Maybe one day I will even write about it. 🙂
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Slavic? Do you mean Russian?
In Israel first Russian name can hurt chances of finding a job, as in US. Why give Russian name? If you plan to live in US, US name is the best *for a kid*. I love Russian names, but understand that I’ll have to give an Israeli one, for kid’s sake. In Israel it’s better to have “a normal” first name, even if last one is unusual and many change last names too (you can change every 7 years to any last/first name you wish). I stand out for worse because of not changing 1st name and I heard from more than 1 born in Israel person that Russian names invite feelings of aggression, so … You can, as many in Israel chose, to give a translation into English of a Russian name. I like more international names, like Maya (which is very popular in Israel) or for boys David is used both in Israel & US, though I don’t like it.
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“Slavic? Do you mean Russian?”
– Yes. If I have a kid, this will be a half-Russian kid, which I have to keep in mind.
“In Israel first Russian name can hurt chances of finding a job, as in US. ”
– But he or she will have a very obviously Slavic last name anyways. Can you imagine anything sillier than “Jeffrey Petrov” or “Melissa Ivanova”? Or should we change our last names, too? Become Jones and Smith? 🙂 🙂
“You can, as many in Israel chose, to give a translation into English of a Russian name. I like more international names, like Maya (which is very popular in Israel) or for boys David is used both in Israel & US, though I don’t like it.”
– A Russian kid called David?
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//- A Russian kid called David?
Without connection to David, I am sure there are international 1st names, which won’t attract negative attention in US and sound fine enough with Russian last name too. For girls, it’s Maya or Diana, which are popular in Israel too. For boys, I can’t think of right now, but would surely find with time.
In Israel it’s often that you see Israeli first name + not Israeli last name in children of immigrants. Many later change last names too. Somehow in not 1st generation of immigrants you don’t see not Israeli names (1st or last) any longer. Imo, if you’re truly going to live in a country, better not to stand out too much. Especially not make kids stand out too much.
My brother changed his Russian name into Israeli one himself, because he arrived small and didn’t want to stand out. (He changed in his childhood himself, we didn’t even think of it then, had bigger problems). I left my very Russian 1st name with Jewish last name (and it sounds great, imo) despite my mother’s advice so far because I immigrated at later age, love it and its’ Hebrew eq. sounds disgusting to my ear. Why make born in US child go through what my brother went? Most, almost all, and I’ve seen a lot, children in Israel change Russian 1st name very fast. When I only arrived at school, the 1st day, the school advisor (is the translation correct? – she advises problem students, new immigrants, etc) offered me to change 1st name and I even did for a while, but then changed back. So far.
For your child, choose an international name, instead of shooting him/her in the foot with 1st name. Needlessly, since again beautiful international names do exist.
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For a girl, I always wanted Clarissa. But now this will be stupid because it will sound like naming a kid after a blog. Maybe Klara is a good alternative. It’s a family name, too.
Funny: Americans consider N.’s name to be female. So when he has packages delivered, I always have to sign for them because postal workers don’t believe that the package can be destined at a male. Some companies seem to think we are a lesbian couple because they address mail to us as Mrs. Clarissa and Mrs. N. 🙂 🙂
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That’s an interesting clue.Of course out of courtesy to living pseudonymous authors I won’t share my best guess.
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There was a a film and a TV series about a female serial killer with this name.
I think we both know what we are talking about, so there is no need to mention the actual name. 🙂
Thank you for this circumspection.
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I’ve always thought parts of the brain would make good names.
Male:
Thalamus
Hippocampus
Lobe
Pons
Female:
Medulla
Oblongata
Amygdala
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After the revolution, people gave names like Industrialization and Electrifications to their kids.
But I wouldn’t mind switching my name to Oblongata. 🙂
Pons is a name in Spain, actually.
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Reminds me of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, when the wife of said Yankee named their child “Hello Central”, after a telephone operator.
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Pons? is it? maybe in Catalunya? I never heard of it-
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Lisa, while not AFAIK a Russian name, means fox in Russian, and is one of my favorite names.
My own name, Lorraine (and I’m one of those self-named critters, if you must know) is the name of the ancestral homeland (Alsace-Lorraine) of 1/16 of my family tree. Yeah, I’ve caught the genealogy bug (more on that below)
Dorcas (Hebrew for gazelle) always struck me as an adorkable name. Another Biblical name I dig is Sapphira (even though she was one of the bad guys, see Acts 4).
Worst.Name.Ever. is the married name of my great great great great great great great great great grandmother.
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Really??
People, help, is that how the name is pronounced? I really need to know.
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Nah I was pulling your leg. It’s the sh phoneme. Of that I’m pretty sure. It’s, among other things, a city in Wyoming. Speaking of which, one character in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was Wyoming Knott, or Wy Knott for short.
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This is a little late. But I can’t resist such a fun post! So some female names that I love: Evelina (of course!), Evangeline, Diana, Sophia, Yvonne, Veronica, Genevieve, Isabella, Annette, Roxanna.
I find boys names harder for some reason but some I like are: Alexander, Anthony, Nikolai, Vladymir, Lance, Colin. I also love the name Galahad but realize that it’s ridiculous. 😉
And as Lori said, Cheyenne is indeed pronounced with a “sh.” I believe it refers to an American Indian tribe (what the city is WY was named after I am assuming…)
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