Why do so many people object to...

I think it gets a bit weird if, in order to pronounce the name correctly, you have to put on a foreign accent.

e.g. say your parents come over all French and decide to call you Jean-Baptiste.

To say Jean-Baptiste properly, as it is intended, you have to basically say it in a French accent. Just sounds odd if you're not French, cant speak French, and rarely even go there.

It's like an English family (with a v English surname) I know who called their son Vincent, but insist on the French pronounciation (van-sont). I bet anything that when he gets to school, he just lets himself get called Vincent to avoid having to correct everybody.

However, if you chose (eg) Amelie, it's perfectly possible to say Amelie in an English accent so it sounds fine.

Everyone's motivation for naming their child is different. I heard of a family in Uganda (through a Ugandan friend) who named their children after different parts of a bike, because a bicycle was the most useful and beneficial thing they had.

Daisy, I'm sorry but I am laughing a bit at 'and it seems you want to'

You sound terribly affronted at our attempts to justify other people's name choices.

I chose my childrens names because i liked them & for no other reason.

Doesn't mean you should. But it means you could, if you felt like it, and all other considerations were equal to you.

Someone somewhere will be called Soleil. Does that mean that you, living in Plymouth, should call your child Soleil? (Obviously I don't know where you live but just as an example).

I don't think that that works at all. That all names belong to the world and all are fair game. Personally I dont' agree.

Yes, you can, and why not? My own DCs have family names that are 'real' names by any standard you might choose, but there's no accounting for the taste of others and why should there be?

You can justify anything being a name really can't you and it seems you want to.

If someone bears a word as a name, then it is a name. It is that person's name.

Most names originated as nouns, adverbs or adjectives or various combinations of the three, and most of the names used in the west, including non-English speaking countries, came from somewhere else originally. Look at a name like Margaret, for instance. Or Isambard. Why not Soleil?

Comtessa that sounds really interesting. I agree it is a question of balance.

It is an interesting one. My sister's children both have Indian first names as her DH is British of Indian heritage and therefore they all have an Indian surname. She wanted the first names to match the surname. (My family is white British - bit of Scots mixed in)

Another couple I know, she is British Sri Lankan, he is white British, they've decided on Sri Lankan first names to combine with English surnames to reflect both cultures.

My DH is of Danish heritage (LONG time ago!) but still has the differently spelt surname, we've chosen names which are easily spelt and pronounced in English, but have Scandinavian associations. Any of the above examples might be seen as trying too hard, but equally it's just applying careful thought to our children's names.

I think also what usually inspires the comedy value in certain naming situations is not the name itself but the aspirational intention of the parents. ie a family with no literary knowledge calling a child something very obscure from a book they had never read, thinking it meant something else.

Anything is a name. Anything people want to use. We should respect that at least publicly, while possibly some of us are sniggering behind our hands.

A child is usually very special to its parent therefore the name that parent chooses will usually be one they like, and consider appropriate.

I think in parts of Africa names are extremely inventive, graphic and demonstrative. I like that.

I don't think that is correct Skyrg - I believe Wendy originated in England - most people thinking Barrie made it up although there may have been instances of it being used as a boys name earlier on. I have to disagree about it originating in America.

Why is Soleil laughable for a child? Because it isn't a name. I can only imagine that someone would call a child Soleil to try to show originality and imagination. There are many occasions to be creative in the raising of your children. The naming of those children is not one of them. If you name a child Soleil you are naming them for you not for them and do you think they will thank you for calling them Soleil or some other equally ludicrous name?

Why would you feel the need to express yourself creatively through your choice of baby name? It really doesn't show you as being unique and interesting. I think a lot of people will agree that it is incredibly naff.

Wendy didn't just 'become popular' after J.M Barrie 'used it' He made it up completely.

Calling an English child Soleil is ridiculous. It just is. It is laughable.

I have a white British friend whose older sister has a Japanese name. When her mum was pregnant with her, apparently she dreamed the name and thought it sounded nice so decided to use it. She found out later that it was actually a name in Japanese culture.

My mum's Irish and my dad's Scottish and yet my sister has a Swahili name. It was because my mum saw a film during her pregnancy about women empowering themselves in South Africa and the woman it was about had this name. She wanted my sister to grow up with this kind of ambition and strength and so it seemed appropriate. To me it seems far nicer to have a name that means something to you than just any name that dozens of other kids at school will also have.

I don't see aproblem giving a name of another culture is you like it. I think it is a good idea to find out the origins of the name but I don't know why people would object.

Many common names now are from another country anyway but have become so popular people don't think of them as foreign any more.

This is a really interesting question...I have often tried to work out why it might be a problem to use a name from another culture etc.

I suppose the risk is of being/sounding pretentious, but I'm not sure how you would quantify that.

one of my kids has an old fashioned, unusual name which I used partly because it was unusual these days, and I didn't want him to have a 'usual' name, which probably does make me pretentious...the other one has a name you only hear much in the older generations but it is very common. This too is probably a bit pretentious.

I agree about the origins of a name being important, to an extent, and the associations you might have with it - therefore naming a child after someone in a film, or a book, or a family member or someone IRL you have always admired is something I approve of. It makes you feel like the name is 'theirs' and increases your sense that they belong to you and you alone, and that they are marked out by having this name. It puts your baby on a pedestal, for you and perhaps your family, which is how it should be.

I think that sense of belonging is really vital. The idea that your baby is unique and special. not just one of many other babies born in the same area at the same time. But other people might put their child on that same pedestal by using a very popular name.

It depends on your values and what you want to see in your baby which is why naming a child is such a random thing and so variable with tastes and ideals.

I saw Ds's name as a sort of spidery thing...it was the solidity of the 'old' name, but there were roots, like a spider's legs, stretching out in all directions tying it to family and friends and teachers I loved and actors I loved...it wasn't just 'him' in isolation. It was what became, in my mind, a Good Name. So I gave it to him.

I would have struggled to just pick something out of a name book without any real connection to anything.

marialuisa - Can you please tell me the name that you refer to? I would love to know.