Bilingual Name Finder: Names That Work in Two Languages

What the finder does and who it is for

The language list contains our 9 Turkic languages and 7 common languages of the diaspora. It is meant for parents who want a name that two sets of grandparents can say and spell, for couples whose mother tongues differ, and for families who expect the child to fill in forms in a second country.

It does not predict how a name will be received, and it does not rate how a name sounds to a speaker of another language. It only reports facts that are in our data and results of rules that are written out below. If you want to hear a name, ask a speaker of the language you are worried about.

How to use it, step by step

1. Choose the first and the second language. At least one of them must be Turkic, and the two must differ. For example, Kazakh and Kyrgyz shows names both languages document, and Kazakh with German shows names with plain spellings.
2. Choose a gender if you want to narrow the list. The finder uses the gender recorded for the Turkic language you chose and treats unisex names as fitting both girls and boys.
3. Press Find names. The page reloads with the result, so it also works without JavaScript and you can bookmark or share the address.
4. Read the chips on each card. They state which rule the name passed or in which languages it is documented. Open the name page for the meaning, sources and every stored spelling.
5. Save names you like with the bookmark and compare up to three of them on the compare page.

How it works, honestly

Two Turkic languages: we look at the language usage rows of every published name. A name is a match when it is documented for both languages, which means a source or our own research records it as used in each. The result is ranked by the number of languages the name is documented in, then by how well its meaning is sourced. For each chosen language the card shows the spellings we store, for example a Cyrillic and a Latin form for Kazakh or an Arabic-script and a Latin form for Uyghur.

A Turkic language and a second language: the name must be documented in the Turkic language, and then these rules are applied to the spelling we store. Rule one, Latin-alphabet languages (German, English, French, Dutch): the Latin spelling uses only the letters A–Z, with no special characters such as ğ, ı, ş, ç, ö, ü, ə or ʻ. Rule two, Russian: a Cyrillic spelling of the name is stored in our database. Rule three, Arabic: an Arabic-script spelling is stored. Chinese (Mandarin) is not rated, because we have no objective rule for it.

Two more chips are added when a name qualifies. The rhythm chip appears when the approximate syllable count, taken from groups of vowels, is two or three. The cluster chip appears when no run of three or more consonant letters occurs in a row, counting letters and not sounds, with y treated as a vowel. These chips only change the order of the list; they never remove a name that passed the script rule.

Cross-language equivalents: a card shows the first origin statement of the entry as it is stored, and links to related names that our entries mark as sharing a root. We list an equivalent only when an entry states it. We do not add names from outside sources, and we do not guess translations.

What the finder cannot do

• It cannot tell you how a name sounds in another language. Plain letters mean the spelling needs no special key, not that every speaker says it the way you do.
• Syllable counts are approximate, because they come from vowel groups in the Latin spelling.
• A name missing from a result may still work well. It may simply not be documented in the second Turkic language yet, or it may carry a special letter in the Latin form we store.
• Registries decide which spellings are allowed on documents. Check the rules of the country where the birth will be registered.

Practical tips for bilingual families

Say the name aloud with relatives from both sides before you decide, and write it the way it will appear on the birth certificate. A name that looks simple on paper can still be shortened or reshaped at school, and it helps to have a ready answer for that.

If one language needs a letter that the other does not have, decide early which spelling is the official one and which is the everyday one. Use the official spelling on every document, so records at the doctor, the insurer and the school match each other.

Questions and answers