Now it’s the boy’s turn to romance their names.
We recently posted a list of 100 girls’ names in translation, where we took some rather prosaic appellations like Helen, Henrietta and Hedwig, and gave them some international flair via their translations into other languages. Well, several of you asked us to do the same for the boys, and so here they are. Of course there are countless other versions and variations—maybe you’ll find the honor replacement you’ve been looking for!
Adair — Edgar in Scottish
Alasdair — Scottish form of Alexander
Alessandro — Alexander in Italian
Alwyn — Welsh variation of Alvin
Anders — Scandinavian version of Andrew
Arman – Russian for Herman
Artair — Arthur in Scottish (AHR-shtuhr)
Aureli — Polish for Aurelius (ow-REH-lee)
Axel –Danish version of Absalom
Basilio – Basil in Spanish
Bernez — Breton for Bernard (BAYR-nes)
Briac — Brian in Breton (BREE-ayk)
Ciro – Cyrus in Italian
Corrado – Conrad in Italian
Cristobal –- Christopher in Spanish, also Crisoforo
Danilo—the Slavic form of Daniel
Daveth — Cornish variation of David
Devi — David in Breton (DAY-vee)
Diego – Spanish version of James
Doolish—Manx variation of Douglas
Eamon – Edmund in Irish (AY-mon)
Eero—Eric in Finnish
Eetu – Finnish form of Edward
Etienne – Stephen in French
Elihu — Elijah in Hebrew
Elio – Italian form of Elijah
Eliseo — Elisha in Spanish and Italian
Emrys —Welsh version of Ambrose (EM-rees)
Esteban – Stephen in Spanish
Etan — Ethan in Hebrew
Ettore — Italian version of Hector
Federico –Frederick in Italian and Spanish
Felipe – Spanish cognate of Phillip
Gabor — Gabriel in Hungarian
Gautier – Walter in French
Giotto — Italian forGodfrey
Giuliano – Julian in Italian
Gwilym—Welsh for William
Hamish—James in Scottish
Haroun—Armenian form of Aaron
Huw—Hugh in Welsh
Iain –Scottish version of John (EE-ayn)
Ilya —Elijah in Russian
Jaako — Finnish variation of Jacob
Jacca – Jack in Cornish
Jago – Cornish for Jacob (JAHG-o)
Jakez – Jack in Breton (ZHAH-kays)
Jarl –Scandinavian form of Earl (yarl)
Javier — Xavier in Spanish, Portuguese (ha-bee-AIR)
Jazon –Polish form of Jason (YAH-zon)
Jeno — Eugene in Hungarian (YEH-no)
Jens — John in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish
Joost –Dutch nickname for Joseph (YOHP)
Jori — George in Provencal
Jowan — John in Cornish (JOO-an or JO-an)
Jozua – Dutch version of Joshua
Juri — George in Estonian (YOO-ree)
Keoni –Hawaiian form of John (KEH-O-nee)
Lars — Laurence in Scandinavian
Lazzaro –Italian form of Lazarus (laz-ZAH-ro)
Lorenzo —Laurence in Italian and Spanish
Luca –Italian form of Luke
Lucan –Irish for Lucius
Luciano – Lucian in Italian, Spanish
Macsen/Maxen – Maximus in Welsh
Mateo — Matthew in Spanish, Matteo in Italian
Mikko — Finnish form of Michael
Niall — Neil in Irish (NEE-al)
Nils — Swedish for Nicholas
Odon — Edmund in Hungarian
Olivier — French version of Oliver
Orazio — Horace in Italian
Orlando — Italian cognate of Roland
Paavo — Paul in Finnish
Padrig — Patrick in Welsh (PAHD-rig); Padraig in Irish (PAH-dreek)
Paolo — Italian version of Paul; in Spanish it’s Pablo
Pavel — Russian version of Paul
Pawly — Paul in Cornish
Piero — Peter in Italian, also Pietro
Piet — Peter (Pete) in Dutch
Raoul — French version of Ralph (ra-OOL); Raul in Spanish
Redmond — Raymond in Irish
Savvel – Russian form of Saul (SAH-vel)
Seamus — Irish form of James (SHAY-mus)
Siarl– – Charles in Welsh ((SHARL)
Simu—Romanian form of Simon
Taavi—David in Finnish
Tadeo—Thaddeus in Spanish, Taddeo in Italian (ta-DAY-o)
Teodoro—Spanish and Portuguese version of Theodore
Toma—Thomas in Romanian
Ugo—Italian for Hugo (OO-go)
Uilleam—Scottish variant of William (OOL-yum)
Vanya—Russian pet form of Ivan
Vasili – Basil in Russian
Willem—William in Dutch
Wilmot—Manx version of William
Xoan—John in Galician (zo-an)
Yaakov –Hebrew for Jacob
Zacheo—Portuguese version of Zacharias/Zachary (_zash-EH-_o)
