Names Way Cooler Than Me
Behind the intriguing names in the world's coolest magazine
My friend Henry recently sent me a thank you gift of a subscription to Konfekt, which calls itself “the magazine for sharp dressing, drinking, dining, travel & design”. Although you could just call it “the coolest magazine in the world”.
Created by the publishers of the Monocle travel guides, Konfekt publishes stories on things like Valencian jewelry and Japanese-Swiss fashion designers and private clubs in Marrakech. It’s a gorgeous look at exotic food I will never eat, expensive hotels I will never stay at, elegant clothing I will never wear, and most of all, amazing names I have never heard before.
Not completely true: Some of the names I’ve heard, but like the food, clothes, and hotels in Konfekt, they seem to exist in a different world than the one I live in, a world that’s more international, more sophisticated, more cultured, and way way cooler than me.
Here, a list of intriguing names and their stories confected from a single issue of Konfekt.
Sachli
You’ve heard of Saatchi & Saatchi, the global advertising agency, or the Saatchi art gallery in London? Well, Sachli is pronounced like that except with an l in the middle — sahch-lee — and is a Turkish girls’ name meaning “long-haired”.
Svante
Sweden has many names in its Top 100 that would be at home in any American nursery: Alice, Ella, Noah, Liam, and Lucas. And then there’s Svante, which comes from Svantepolk, the name of a Slavic lord who settled in Sweden in the 14th century.
Alban
Alban and cousins are not exactly unknown to English speakers (thanks, Dumbledore) but Alban seems like a particular attractive choice for a name that was given to only 16 baby boys in the US last year. A Latin name meaning white or man from Alba, Alban is the name of the first British saint after whom St. Alban’s, a small city northwest of London, is named.
Joao
Anglophones tend to look at a configuration of vowels as in Joao or Saoirse and give up before they even try to say the name. Joao, the Portuguese form of John, is pronounced zho-wow.
Ulrike
Ulrike and its Anglicized form Ulrica were given to exactly zero baby girls in the US last year, while their masculine form Ulrich was used for a dozen baby boys. U is the least common first initial for baby names in the US. Ulrich and variations is German and means “rich and noble heritage”.
Armin
Armin might be a masculine relative of the German Emma, meaning “whole, universal”. It might also be a spelling variation of Arman, a relative of Herman meaning soldier or a Persian or Kazakh name meaning wish or hope, or a respelling of Armen, which means a person from Armenia. In short, an international name with a lot of associations and an on-trend sound.
Bilal
Bilal is an Arabic name for boys with the somewhat unappealing meaning of “moist”. Bilal was a companion of Muhammad’s who was the first person to call Muslims to prayer. Last year in the US, 152 baby boys were named Bilal, the same number as were called Benton and Noble. Pronunciation is bee-lahl.
Adri
Adri might be a gender-neutral short form of Adrian or Adriana et all, or a Hindi or Sanskrit boys’ name meaning stone or mountain.
Wouter
The Dutch form of Walter is pronounced vow-ter, though most Americans would default to wooter or wowter.
Rocio
I was familiar with the name Rocio, pronounced ro-SEE-oh, but not with its history: it’s a girls’ name honoring the Virgin Mary, in her guise as Our Lady of the Dew. The meaning appropriately enough is “dewdrops”.
Benedetta
As Benedict becomes more popular, thanks to Mr. Cumberbatch, this Italian female form of the name meaning “blessed” (as in benediction) may see more use outside of its native land.
Agung
An Indonesian boys’ name meaning “the great”.
Damar
Another Indonesian name, this time gender-neutral, meaning “resin” or “light”.
Torben
Torben is a name that sounds like so many other names popular today it feels familiar, yet it was given to only 30 baby boys in the US last year, the same as Romero and Urban and Mads (see below). Torben is Danish meaning “thunder” or “Thor’s bear”.
Flemming
This surname is the name of a Scottish clan and means “man from Flanders”. It was used for zero babies in the US last year.
Ajaja
A Yoruba praise name for boys, meaning “one who fights and breaks free”.
Mads
This popular Scandinavian short form of Matthew, pronounced mass, was given to 30 baby boys in the US last year.
Eyal
This Hebrew boys’ name meaning “strength” is in the Top 100 in Israel.
Etel
Etel might be a more appealing form — not sure, what do you think? — of Ethel, meaning “noble”.
Giannis
The modern Greek form of John is pronounced yah-nis.
Rui
This Portuguese short form of Rodrigo is pronounced roo-ee.
Nuno
Another Portuguese boys’ name related to Nunez and meaning “grandfather” or “ninth”.
Toma
Toma is one of the handful of names that has different versions for boys and girls. It’s the Romanian and Croatian short form of Thomas. As a girls’ name, it’s related to the Hebrew Tamar, meaning “date palm”.
Vasco
Familiar to school children via the Portuguese explorer Vasco DeGama, who was the first to sail from Europe to Asia, this name indicates someone from Spain’s Basque region.
Tassos and Tassoula
Two Greek short forms, respectively male and female, of Anastasios and Anastasia.
Moritz
Moritz is a German form of Maurice or Morris, modern variations of the Roman Maurus. One of the Top 25 boys’ names in Germany and Austria.
Suba
A Hindi, Muslim, and Tamil girls’ name meaning “morning”.
Nazrene
A Christian name drawn from the city of Nazareth and the Nazrenes, followers of Jesus.
Kamal
Americans will be most familiar with this name currently thanks to its female form Kamala, name of US Vice President Kamala Harris. As a Muslim name, Kamal represents one of 99 qualities of Allah from the Quran. It’s also a Hindi name meaning “lotus flower”.
Kazu
Kazu is a unisex Japanese that may mean “number” or “amount” but also has a lot of other possible meanings. It can be short for Kazuko or Kazuya.
Ligia
The name of one of the sirens of Greek legend, half-bird half-woman.
Emel
This Turkish girls’ name, a relative of Amal, means “desire”.
Victoire
The French Victoria, ranking #30 for girls in France.
Serdar
Turkish spelling of Persian Sardar, meaning “commander”
Vitali
You can probably guess what Vitali means even if you’re not familiar with this form. It’s a Russian and Ukrainian name meaning “life”, which exists in a lot of different spellings and languages.
Dharma
As in Dharma & Greg, Dharma is one of the basic Buddhist principle of cosmic existence and truth.
Rossella
An Italian form of Rossa, meaning “red”.
Mareike
A German form of Mary, pronounced a bit like Mariah with a k in the last syllable.
Charo
The uni-named singer Charo is more familiar in the US than the origins of her name, a Spanish nickname for Rosa or Rosaria or Rosario.
Janaina
A Brazilian name with four syllables — zha-nye-EE-na — used for the Virgin Mary in Brazilian and African-American religions in the Caribbean. In the traditional Yoruba religion, Janaina is the goddess of the Ogun River, pregnancy and motherhood. In Yoruba, Janaina means “mother of fish”.
Moritz is the name of one of my favorite musical characters <3