Azizan

Persian names that work in English, and what they mean

Persian names that are easy in English include Ava, Shirin, Laleh, Yasmin, Mina, Roya and Bahar for girls, Arash, Darius, Cyrus, Kian, Navid, Arman and Payam for boys, and Roshan, Mehr and Omid for either. They have no kh or gh sounds, they are spelled the way they sound, and most of them sound the same from a grandparent in Tehran and a teacher in Toronto. Below are 30 names with the Persian script, a common English spelling, a short meaning and where the name comes from: the Shahnameh, old Persian kings, nature, or everyday words like hope and light. Some old names have no known meaning, and we say so instead of guessing. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian children's stories page by page. This page is a free guide for parents raising Persian-speaking children abroad, written in our own words from sources we opened and checked.

Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.

Persian names for girls

These are names English speakers can read off a class list and say right the first time. Most are nature words: flowers, stars, spring.

Two notes. Roya is a Persian name of Arabic origin, which is common: many names Iranians think of as Persian came from Arabic centuries ago. And with Yasmin, families abroad often pick this spelling because English speakers already know it.

Persian names for boys

Many boys' names come from the Shahnameh, the book of kings, and from the old kings of Persia. Some of these names are so old that nobody knows what they first meant. For those we tell you who carried the name instead.

Darius and Cyrus are the only names here with a separate English form. Many families use the Persian form at home and the English one at school, or pick one for both. A child named after a Shahnameh hero can hear that hero's story too: see Shahnameh for kids, or the stories of Arash the archer, Kaveh the blacksmith and Jamshid and the first Nowruz.

Persian names for both girls and boys

A few Persian names are plain words with no girl or boy meaning in them. In Iran Roshan and Omid are given mostly to boys, but as plain words any of them can be given to a girl.

In practice some of these lean one way in one family or one city and the other way somewhere else. If it matters to you, ask the grandparents what they would expect.

How to choose a name that works in both languages

A name for a child growing up abroad has to work in two places: in the classroom, and on the phone with grandma. Four checks help.

• Easy to say. English has no kh (خ) and no gh (غ, ق). Names with those sounds get changed at school, and the child may start saying them the English way too. Names like Laleh, Navid or Kian come out the same in both languages.
• Easy to spell. Pick one Latin spelling and keep it on every form. Niloufar or Nilufar, Yasmin or Yasaman: either is fine, as long as it is the same everywhere.
• Nothing awkward in English. Say the name out loud in an English accent and listen. Shadi (شادی) means joy in Persian, but in English it sounds like "shady". That does not rule it out, but it is worth knowing before the first day of school.
• The grandparents can say it. A Persian name usually passes this check easily. It matters more if you mix: a Persian first name with an English middle name, or the other way round. The child will hear this name most often from the people who love them, so it helps if they can all say it.

Grandparents often take part in the naming, and a name is a good first thing for them to say on video. A grandmother can record herself on Azizan reading a story, and start by saying the child's name in her own voice before the first page.

For the warm names families use at home, like azizam and joonam, see Persian terms of endearment for kids.

Related guides

• Shahnameh for kids: Persian epic stories
• Persian terms of endearment for kids
• Persian stories by age

Questions

What are Persian names that are easy to say in English?

Names without kh or gh sounds, spelled the way they sound. For girls: Ava, Shirin, Laleh, Yasmin, Nasrin, Mina, Roya, Bahar. For boys: Arash, Darius, Cyrus, Kian, Navid, Arman, Payam. For either: Roshan, Mehr, Omid.

What are Persian names from the Shahnameh?

Arash the archer, Kaveh the blacksmith, Jamshid the king of the first Nowruz, the prince Siavash, Sohrab and his mother Tahmineh, and Kian, from the Kayanian kings. Shirin also appears in the Shahnameh, though her best-known story is the later poem Khosrow and Shirin.

What do the names Darius and Cyrus mean?

Darius comes from the Old Persian Darayavaush, usually translated as holding on to the good. The meaning of Cyrus, Kourosh in Persian, is debated: one reading is young, another is one who outdoes the enemy, and some scholars think the name may not be Persian at all.

Is Yasmin a Persian name?

Yes. Yasaman and Yasmin are Persian for jasmine, and the English word jasmine comes from the Persian one. Arabic and Hebrew have the name too, borrowed from Persian.

Are there Persian names for both boys and girls?

Yes. Roshan (bright), Mehr (kindness, also the sun) and Omid (hope) can be given to either, though in Iran Roshan and Omid are more often boys' names. They are plain Persian words, so neither meaning belongs to one gender.

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Updated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard

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