Planet Earth has over 8 billion inhabitants who speak over 7,000 languages. It probably should be expected that there will be some overlaps when it comes to translation. However while some translations are perfectly innocent, other one are maybe not so much.
In the past, we’ve gone over:
- 10 gestures that are innocent in the U.S. but offensive in other countries
- English words that can get you in trouble in other languages
Besides regular words, there are some name is English that have some VERY different (and sometimes not so nice) meanings in other languages. See if your name is listed, and if its translation is innocent or more adult:
Ana
In Japanese, Ana mean “hole.”
Ariana
Following Ana above, Ariana translates in Japan to “ant hole.”
Ava
In Portuguese, “ah, vá”, pronounced almost the same, is a way of expressing sarcasm.
Becky
In the Philippines, “Becky” means young gay man (it’s not intended to be an insult in any way. It’s more of an affectionate term).
Bill
In the Netherlands, bil means butt cheeks.
Bobby
Bobby sounds similar to the Indonesian “babi,” which means “pig.”
Braden
Braden means “to roast” in Dutch.
Cal
“Cal” sounds similar to the Russian word for “feces,” кал. The same word is Bulgarian for “mud.”
Cameron
In Spanish, “camarón” is a shrimp.
Cara/Kara
In Arabic, the word “khara” translates to “s**t.”
Chloe
Granted, not exactly the same, but “Chloe” sounds similar to “Klo,” the German word for “toilet”
Coco
In Brazil, the word “Coco” means “to poop.” (an the Disney film Coco was changed to Viva in that country for that very reason)
Dick
As if the connotation in English wasn’t bad enough, the word “dick” (spelled “dik”) in Dutch means “fat.”
Dom
In Dutch, the word “dom” means “stupid”. But in Kurdish, it means “continuity.”
Donna
In Portuguese, Donna means a woman who owns something (the equivalent of a Mrs.)
Emma
In Portuguese, an emma is a flightless bird, similar to an ostrich (emu, maybe?)
Fanny
People have been using “fanny packs” for decades and the Brits always laughed. If you know someone who’s named Fanny (ummm…my grandmother’s name was Fannie), heads up that it’s a slang for a woman’s genitalia in the UK.
Gary
“Gary”sounds like the Japanese “geri,” which is their word for diarrhea.
Gil
“Gil” in Polish? It means “snot.”
Kennedy
The Celtic meaning of the name “Kennedy” is “deformed head.”
Kiki
Kiki means “vagina” in Tagalog. It also means “crisis” in Japanese.
Kyla
Kyla is a a derogatory word for “Jew” in Amharic.
Laura
Laura sounds like the Hindi word ‘loda’ which apparently means penis.
Lisa
Lisa in Greek sounds a lot like the word for rabies. It is spelled λύσσα.
Lou
The spelling is different but the pronunciation is the same. “Loo” in the UK means “toilet.”
Luca/Luka
Spelling set aside, it means “somebody’s a-hole” in Hungarian
Lucifer
New Zealand speaks the sanem language
Luke
In Russian, Luke (Люк) means “manhole”
Mallory
In german, “mallory” means “war counselor.” But in French, it means “unfortunate.”
Manda
The name “Manda” sounds similar to the Russian word манда, which is a very vulgar term for a woman’s genitals.
Mara
In Hebrew, Mara means bitter.
Matt
In Hebrew, “matt” means “dead.”
Mark
In Norwegian, the word “mark” means worm.
Miranda
In Lojban, Miranda means “I give up.”
Misty
The English word “mist” means “manure” in German, which makes having the name “Misty” pretty unfortunately, if you’re in Germany.
Mona
Italian is the official language of Italy, however there are several dialects throughout the country. In some of those dialects, the word “Mona” is used to refer to a woman’s genitals or is an insult that’s similar to ‘stupid’. In Spanish, it’s used to mean a female monkey.
Nick
Nick sounds identical to the French word ‘nique’ which means “to f**k”. It’s got a similar meaning in Arabic, as “Nik.”
Patsy
The word “patsy” means “homosexual” in Australia.
Peter
In French, “Péter” means to fart. And if you try to get away with a nickname, like “Pete,” well, in Argentina, that’s the slang word they use for “fellatio.” And in Russia, “pidr” is a deroatory term for a gay man.
Pippa
The name is used more in the UK than the US. But in Italian, it can refer to masturbation or mean “hand job.” In Swedish, it’s a crude term for sex. And in Greek, the word πίπα, which is pronounced similarly to “Pippa,” is slang for “blow job.”
Rana
Rana is frog in Spanish.
Randy
The name Randy sounds like रंडी (randee) in Hindi, which means “prostitute”. It’s also used as a word for horny in the UK.
Ralph
In Australia, “ralph” means “to vomit.”
Rhonda
Rhona sounds like “ronda” in Hungarian, which means ugly.
Roy
In Russian, Roy (Рой) means “swarm”
Ruth
Ruth sounds like “rút” in Hungarian, which also means ugly.
Sal
“Sal” sounds like the French word “sale,” which means “dirty.”
Sara/Sarah
‘Sarah’ is a homonym for the Serbian word for poop.
Savannah
Savannah sounds like sábana which means sheet or blanket in Spanish
Scott
In Russian, Scott (Скот(т)) can mean “cattle”, “livestock” or sometimes “a-hole”. It also means “shot” in Swedish.
Siri
Although Apple kind of “took over” the name Siri, it actually is a girl’s name in its own right. However it also sounds very much like “shiri,” which, in Japanese, means “@$$.”
Tessa
Tessa, sounds like the Danish “tisse,” which means “to urinate.”
Tod/Todd
“Tod” is the German word for “death.”
Vaughn
In Russia, the word “von” means “stench.”
Willy
In the UK, “willy” is a slang term for “penis.”
Zachary
“Zachary” translates into Fulfude as “penis.”
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