Following on the heels of The Globe-Trotting Girls, here are some boys’ names that have derivations from more than one language:
- Amal — “hope” in Arabic and “work” in Hebrew
- Amir — “prince” in Arabic and “treetop” in Hebrew
- Amit — “immeasurable, infinite” in Sanskrit and “friend” in Hebrew
- Andor — “eagle Thor” in Norwegian and a Hungarian form of Andrew (“man”)
- Anan — “fourth born child” in Akan (a West African language) and “cloud” in Hebrew
- Asim — “protector” in Arabic and “boundless, limitless” in Sanskrit
- Barak — “blessing” in Arabic, “lightning” in Hebrew, and now “President” in the United States
- Bo/Beau — the former spelling is a Chinese name meaning “wave” and a Swedish and Danish nickname meaning “to live”; the latter spelling is the French masculine word for “beautiful”
- Chi — “tree branch” in Vietnamese and an Igbo (West African) nickname meaning “god”
- Finn/Fionn — the former spelling is a Scandinavian name meaning “person from Finland”; both spellings are used for the Irish Gaelic name meaning “fair or white”
- Gil — “joy” in Hebrew; a nickname for the Germanic Gilbert (“pledge”); if pronounced HEEL or ZHEEL, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Giles (“young goat”)
- Gus – a Greek diminutive for Constantine (“steadfast”) and an English nickname for Augustus (“great, venerable”)
- Jay — “victory” in Sanskrit and a surname/nickname/birdname in English
- Kader — “fate, destiny” in Turkish and “capable, powerful” in Arabic
- Kai – “sea” in Hawaiian and a German and Scandinavian nickname
- Kamal — “perfection” in Arabic and “lotus” in Sanskrit
- Kamil – “perfect” in Arabic; also the Czech, Slovak, and Polish form of Camillus
- Ken — “healthy, strong” in Japanese and a nickname for the Scottish Kenneth (“handsome”)
- Lev — “lion” in Russian and “heart” in Hebrew
- Melek/Melech — the first spelling means “angel” in Turkish; both spellings mean “king” in Hebrew
- Neo – “gift” in Tswana (a Southern African name) and “new” if derived from Greek
- Omar — “populous, flourishing” in Arabic and “speaker” in Hebrew
- Oz — “strength” in Hebrew and an English nickname (from Oswald or Osborn) meaning “god”
- Ram – “exalted” in Hebrew and “pleasing” in Sanskrit; also the English word for a male sheep, of course
- Riku – “land” in Japanese and a Finnish nickname for Richard (“brave power”)
- Rohan — “ascending” in Sanskrit; also used by Lord of the Rings fans as it means “horse country” in the fictitious language of Sindarin
- Roi/Roy — the former spelling means “my shepherd” in Hebrew and is a short form of Rodrigo in Galician (a language of Spain); the latter spelling is a Scottish Gaelic name meaning “red”; both spellings are sometimes associated with the French word roi meaning “king”
- Ron — “song, joy” in Hebrew and a nickname for the Scottish Ronald (“advice + ruler”)
- Sami — “elevated, sublime” in Arabic and a Hungarian and Finnish nickname for Samuel (“God has heard”)
- Shad — “happy” in Arabic and an English nickname for the biblical Shadrach
- Shay/Shai — the former spelling means either “admirable” or “hawk-like” in Irish Gaelic; both spellings are a Hebrew name meaning “gift”
- Sol — a short form of the Hebrew Solomon (“peace”); also a Spanish and Portuguese name meaning “sun”: Behind the Name lists it as feminine, but I’d love to hear from a native Spanish speaker whether this would work on a boy (much the way nature names like River work on both genders in English)
- Tore – a Scandinavian short form for names containing the element Þórr (“Thor”); also an Italian nickname for Salvatore (“savior”)
- Udo — “peace” in Igbo (a West African language) and “wealth, fortune” in German
Comparing this list to the girls’ list of last week, I immediately notice a couple things. First, the majority of these boys’ names are rather short and many of them were originally nicknames in at least one of the source languages. Unlike the girls’ list, where the majority of the names end in A, it seems harder to pick out a common cross-linguistic pattern for boys’ names. Perhaps because of that, it’s usually in the nicknames where we see overlap.
Second, many of these seem on the whole less usable in English than the girls’ names. Why is it that so many of us will tolerate more foreign-sounding names for our daughters than for our sons? For example, I can imagine plenty of non-Indian/non-Arabic parents loving Lila for a girl, but I’d imagine most of them would never consider Asim for a boy. I’d love to get your opinions on this phenomenon.
I’d also love to hear your favorites and least favorites. As for me, I’m completely charmed by the possibilities of Gil and Lev. Ken, Jay, and Roy are easy-going English standards that could be given new lift by their multi-lingual capabilities. I find Rohan and Andor quite handsome, and Neo fascinates me, but I worry that after The Matrix it wouldn’t be taken seriously.
So, are there any of these that you would use — and why does this list seem less usable than the girls’ list?
[...] perfectly at home in a variety of countries. Today I will cover the girls’ names; look for a post on boys’ names to follow [...]
Oz, Ken, Sol, Rohan & Gus are my favorites up there. Ken, for obvious reasons but Sol in particular greatly appeals, whether as a standalone or as a nn for Solomon. Could be because of the crazy Sol in “Doomsday” which s rapidly turning into one of my favorite flicks.
Rohan appeals on several levels. I know a dozen Indians of so and Rohan is common amongst them as row-AN And of course, we’re both huge LOTR geeks where Rohan is a place name. I prefer it as row-AN, myself over ro-HAN but I like it still either way I look at it. Gus has forever been my favorite mouse in Cinderella and I like his chubby warmth.
Oz is just the coolest sound, ever, so that’s why that one appeals. (The related Coz is equally cool for me.) Nevermind it brings up images of the Emerald city for me too. 
Nice job, Emmy Jo!
These posts are fascinating – loved the girls one too. For me, the best name there is Lev – I love it pronounced the Russian way (probably why there is the Liev variant a la Liev Shreiber, although that doesn’t really capture it either)… but even said Lev, it’s a cool name.
There are a lot of other goodies – Sol and Gus are great and I have a little 3 year old Finn that I know that is just an adorable boy, so it is also a favorite.
Being a linguistics type, this kind of fun is right up my alley – thanks so much for the great posts!
I have a huge love for Anne of Green Gables and have adored the name Gil/Gilbert ever since I first picked up the book. I was hoping that if we had a boy he might be a Gilbert.
Only problem is Gilbert is little and sweet where as Edward is so suave compared to him. My hubby is big on matching styles which makes it that much harder to convince him.
Finn is also a darling little name. I know 2 – both of them around 3 or 2 and just the most gorgeous little boys you have *ever* met.
I think Edward and Gilbert sound great together. Sure, Gilbert is little and sweet on a young boy, but it’s very handsome on a grown man. Plus, the repeated “er” sounds in the last syllables of each name subtly connect them.
And I love the idea of Eddie and Gil.
Omar and Kai seem like “easy to wear” names. They’re short and easy to pronounce. Gus can be Every Man or Every Boy. Several languages have a name or two that is easily shortened to Gus: Agustin, Gustaf, Gustav, Gustave, Gustavo, Gustaw.
As for Sol, I polled two other native Spanish speakers; the three of us agree – like Luna it’s for girls only when used in a Spanish setting.
Great job putting together both your Multicultural posts!
Thanks, Christina, for your input on Sol. It does surprise me that Sol feels just as feminine as Luna. Luna is a feminine noun in Spanish, and in many cultures the moon is personified as female. Sol is a masculine noun in Spanish, though, and it’s often personified as male — in fact, Sol was the name of the Roman sun god. That made me think it might be able to cross over — but I guess not!
There is a soccer player (male) in England called Sol Campbell. I believe that Sol is a nickname though, and not his given name. But, admittedly, the name was common for girls (Maria Sol, not Marisol) in Argentina, where I spent a few months…
Is Rohan pronounced as ro-han or is the h silent?
I think I like it, but I’m not sure. I’m also undecided about Neo.
The boys’ selections are certainly interesting, and quite different in style from the girls’. It seems like most cultures choose names for their girls that sound beautiful or sweet, often ending in -a to make them sound feminine. Boys’ names, on the other hand, differ greatly and they don’t seem to have particular “rules” to follow.
Kai and Ken seem to tickle my fancy from this list, and Gil as a nickname for Gilbert would certainly be charming as well!
Also, in answer to Stephie-Jayne’s question, I believe Rohan is pronounced as “Ro-han.” There are about 4 boys in my grade named Rohan, actually.
This was interesting. I liked these,
Andor
Bo
Finn/Fionn
Gus
Kai
Lev
Neo
Rohan
Roi
Shai
Sol is masculine – El Sol
Great list. Just fyi, Melek is a girls name in Turkish.
this is an old entry, but I am from Argentina and know boys named ‘Sol’, I love it and would use it but my girl is ‘Luna’
Andor is a country in the Wheel of Times fantasy series, so I can’t really see it as a name…