Beautiful first names from around the world (not an advertising thread)

Dear users, dear authors,
We have a lot of moms, new moms, expectant mothers, proud parents, grandmas, grandpas, etc., here.
Choosing a name is always a bit of a challenge. You need ideas.
I’m starting this thread so you can list your favorite names for children or share ideas with other users and authors.
Have fun, and all the best to the kids, parents, and grandparents

Is the meaning of a name actually important to you, or is it just the sound or spelling?

Philippe and Oliver

Our Johanna (the eldest) would have been a Philippe, and Carlotta (the youngest) was an Oliver until the 30th week of pregnancy :) There was no girls' alternative for Friedrich, and no boys' alternative for Franka.

It’s nice to know the meaning of names, but it was only of secondary importance.
It was always important to us that you could tell right away whether the name belonged to a boy or a girl, so the child wouldn’t constantly have to explain how to pronounce or spell it (though with Franka and Carlotta, there is sometimes the addition “with a k” or “only with a C”).
And even if someone says, “Not my taste,” the child should never have to be ashamed of their name.

And they should go well with the surname.

Mir war es wichtig, dass wenn der Name gerufen wird, nicht gleich fünf Kinder angelaufen kommen. Und ich dachte, jeder weiß doch, wie man den Namen schreibt. Aber auch bei meinen Kindern (Franziska und Patrick) wurden wir trotzdem immer gefragt: Franziska mit C? und meinen Patrick haben ganz viele "Pätrick" gerufen. 

Arthur, das ist der Name unseres Sohnes. Kann man wenig kürzen oder verunstaltet. Und bislang gibt es gerade mal 2 in seiner Schule. Für diese Wahl bin ich meinem Mann sehr dankbar

I named my daughter Tiziana. I wanted a name that wasn’t too common and sounded beautiful.

I first came across this name in my teenage years and thought it was wonderful. When I found out it was going to be a girl, the name was decided—even though many people tried to talk me out of it. 

And the name couldn’t have been more fitting, because my daughter was born with really beautiful red hair, and there’s a shade of red—Tizian red—named after the famous Italian painter Tiziano. So it was the perfect choice, and she’s proud of her name and this little backstory about the painter. 

Choosing names for our two boys wasn’t easy at all (there are so many more beautiful girls’ names)... My husband associated a lot of names with specific people, so many of my suggestions were ruled out...
On top of that, the name shouldn’t be easy to mangle, had to go well with our last name (meaning it couldn’t be monosyllabic, since our last name consists of only one syllable), couldn’t be too exotic, and had to be internationally recognized or have international variants, since we have relatives abroad.
Now we have a Niklas (Niki) and a Julian (Juli)—the names aren’t exactly rare, but we’re happy with them, and so are the boys.

My midwife had given us a tip during the childbirth class that a name should suit a child and then later an adult—some names might seem cute and pretty on a child, but for an adult, they might end up being just...

da gibt es viele ... meine Favs

Melina
Laura
Leilani
Elias
Fabienne

My grandson’s name is Noam-Zia (the “Z” is pronounced like an “S”)
Noam – delight, joy, cheerfulness
Zia – light, radiance
Both the sound and the meaning were important to us.
Most of the time, though, he’s just called Noam or NoZi.

My little boy’s name is Peter Marius, which means “the rock from the sea.”

I’ve always really liked Peter, and my husband picked the middle name. And he’s such a little rascal—Peter fits him perfectly.

My little girl’s name is Katharina; for my husband, no other girl’s name was even an option. I would have liked to have named her Hanna. Now her full name is Katharina Johanna.

Both of my children are very happy with their names. And not every other child around them has the same name.

@Inna
NoZi—I think that’s really cute. It’s a very beautiful name in general.

Guten morgen Pe-ka,
ich brauch mal wieder eine Übersetzung, was ist ein Strizi?
:-)

Nomen est Omen.....

Anika:  die Anmutige ... das entspricht ihrer Art sehr

Brigitte:  die Erhabene, eine Göttin des Lichtes... sie war und ist schon immer ein Sonnenschein

Iris:  spricht für sich oder? 

Maria: die Widerspenstige, Unbezähmbare... eindeutig in ihren Namen rein gewachsen, sie sollte eigentlich eine Anna werden, nur als ich sie das erste mal sah, wusste ich das ist eine Maria.

Sarah-Janine: die Fürstin, Herrscherin - Janine kommt von Johannes: hat Gnade erwiesen.... sie hat schon etwas bestimmendes und beherrschendes, verzeiht aber sehr schnell

Roman: der Römer

Nicola-David: das Volk Siegt - David: Liebling... er wird leider immer wieder als "Frau Nicola" aufgerufen, was immer wieder für Erheiterung sorgt, da er mit seiner Größe und Statur wirklich nichts weibliches hat

Jonathan-Alexander: Geschenk Gottes - der Verteidiger... tja er war wirklich ein "Überraschungspaket", ein unerwartetes Geschenk :-)

Meine Kinder sind in ihren Namen rein gewachsen ;-)

@Arni,

ein Strizi ist ein Lausbub der es faustdick hinter den Ohren hat

Raphael :-) Mein kleiner Erzengel ♥

Ich finde überhaupt italienische Namen sehr schön ...
Und sie dürfen weder zu abgehoben noch zu alltäglich sein.
In seiner Altersklasse gibt es jedenfalls nicht viele mit diesem Namen.

Danke, die Übersetzung beschreibt meinen Sohn ganz genau.
Nur böse kann ihm keiner lange sein, denn er ist auch ein Charmeur der alle um den Finger wickelt.

@Pe-Ka,
That's a real little rascal :-)

@Schneckenkind,

My grandson is called Michael - he was an extremely premature baby, weighing just one kilo, and when my daughter called and said she really didn't know what to call him, I said Michael: after the archangel who gives strength ... the little one coped with everything very well - I really think names shape us