Naming Out Of Your Culture

[Purpular]

I've just been wondering what everybody thinks about giving your child a name from a different culture that neither you or you OH is from. I'm not expecting or anything so don't worry about offending me.

For example, would you call your son Mohammed if you were Roman catholic? (Sorry if anybody finds that offensive, I'm just trying to illustrate my point). I quite like Hispanic names but I think it might be odd if I were to name my daughter Marisol or something similar...

 

[mommabee]

Well, I understand. I love different names from diff. cultures, but nothing that would make my child or me&dad feel uncomfortable.
Like, I LOVE the name MAYA, and that is one of the names i am currently thiinking of. I guess it varies from location to location though, because in USA its normal to have Christians named Jewish names, like MAYA. (MAYA means WATER in hebrew and something else in Japanese?, I think...) But yeah. I think its fine unless its so blatant that it seems mocking to other cultures ...

Like, if I named my child a Japanese name, I don't want my Japanese neighbors to take offense or think I'm trying to be Japanese! I think it's all about your life experiences, too. Like if I was raising my caucasian child IN japan...
anyways.. lol

 

[jen1604]

I think its fine.I have no problem with it.I think its probably a natural occurence as our cultures get more and more used to living alongside each other iykwim.
My little sister is called Suki just because my parents loved the name and I'm called Jennifer so we've got a real mixture of origins of our names and it never seemed weird or anything
xxxx

 

[chele]

I wondered about this as I love Spanish and Italian names, and names that are of that origin used in the UK but with the original spelling
like Alessandra, Isobel etc.

But I know my dad will not approve, in a way only he can and DH is not keen either. So that plan has been thrown out of the window.

 

[Fluxuspoem]

I think its absolutely fine to choose a name from another culture, I am greek and my husband is english and we will call our girl Christina Sofia ( Sofia is the original spelling in Greece for wisdom/ same sound as Sophia).

Even if I wasnt greek I would probably consider foreign names as well, just gives you some variety and also some of those names have great history and meaning behind them which makes them even lovelier

x

 

[nov_mum]

Yes, I have difficulty with this one too. There are some really beautiful Maori names but given I am not of Maori culture or descent I wonder if it might come across as offensive. In saying that, my name is Italian and we are not of Italian origin. Traditionally, names in NZ were often of UK origin given our colonial heritage so we can get away with those : )

 

[Fluxuspoem]

Yes, I have difficulty with this one too. There are some really beautiful Maori names but given I am not of Maori culture or descent I wonder if it might come across as offensive. In saying that, my name is Italian and we are not of Italian origin. Traditionally, names in NZ were often of UK origin given our colonial heritage so we can get away with those : )

I wouldnt be offended if someone from another culture chose a greek name even though they had no connection to Greece. I find that trully flattering towards my culture

 

[mommabee]

Yes, I have difficulty with this one too. There are some really beautiful Maori names but given I am not of Maori culture or descent I wonder if it might come across as offensive. In saying that, my name is Italian and we are not of Italian origin. Traditionally, names in NZ were often of UK origin given our colonial heritage so we can get away with those : )

I wouldnt be offended if someone from another culture chose a greek name even though they had no connection to Greece. I find that trully flattering towards my culture

Yes, I s'pose it can be flattering.....
but some meanie might be like, "oh theyre trying to be greek"
lol

i like greek food, so greeks are awesome to me! ! !
I wish i was greek

lol youre luckkyyyyy

 

[Purpular]

I think its fine.I have no problem with it.I think its probably a natural occurence as our culturals get more and more used to living alongside each other iykwim.
My little sister is called Suki just because my parents loved the name and I'm called Jennifer so we've got a real mixture of origins of our names and it never seemed weird or anything
xxxx

Suki? That is quite possibly the sweetest name ever! I absolutely love it.

 

[mommabee]

Suki is adorable!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nic1107]

My husband and I are naming our first son Jin, which could be Korean or Chinese, even though neither of us are either of those. The baby is half-Asian at least, so hopefully he can get away with it! lol We're thinking of Kenji for our second son someday.

If we have a second girl some day, I'm already dead set on giving her the middle name Lettizia, which is Italian. We're not Italian either, but I love the name. *shrug* I don't see anything wrong with choosing a name outside of one's culture, although I would probably smile a bit to see, for example, a little Irish baby named Chiang.

 

[Gunner's Mama]

I think it's fine to name out of a culture. Italian names seem to becoming trendy and I'm sure it doesn't offend Italians. Do you think there is a difference between naming a child a name from another language vs a different religion? Mohammed and Jesus are sacred names in their respective religions. Although I have to say that I would think nothing of naming a baby a Hebrew name eventhough I'm Lutheran.

 

[JennTheMomma]

I think its wonderful, a name is a name, it shouldn't matter where its from. I have 3 friends who named their girls Laila/Layla, which is arabic and they aren't (however, I don't think they know that). We like the name Liev for a boy, which is Russian and we aren't. So many common names are of a different origin but people don't know that and use them.

 

[Rebaby]

I think a nice name is a nice name and there shouldn't be a problem just because it happens to be from a different culture/heritage

If you're picking a name just because you love the way it sounds though, i do think it's important to also check out what the name means in the other culture, just to be sure you know what you're actually naming your child!

I am english and OH is welsh, neither of us is religious however a lot of the names we have on our list originate from the bible, but that's obviously not why we personally like them, we just like them! I think that happens to a lot of people. We do have names with other origins on our list too though, and some quite 'modern' names.

As an aside i think the name marisol is lovely by the way!

 

[RubyRainbows]

I don't think there is anything wrong with that! I think people should name their babies any name they choose! My mom is Italian and gave me a hard time about naming my first son... i loved all Irish names! Gavin, Brandon, Reilly, Logan! I finally decided on a name for my son that really has no cultural ties... Jayden. I have to admit though, the irish names did sound a bit funny with my (very) italian last name!