Choosing names from other cultures

I know several Alexanders and Helens who have no Greek roots whatsoever, I am

Disagree all you want but choosing a name from a completely alien culture looks very odd. Especially when parents can't even spell and/or pronounce the name and try to get others to spell/pronounce it like they do.

It's one thing when there is an affinity of some sort with that culture, but the random choosing of names from baby name websites "Oh it names xx in Swahili" is just weird.

I disagree. I don't think you need to be from a certain culture or have a connection to it to use a particular name, especially Celtic names. The uk is such a melting pot of cultures that there's very few truely English names. New spellings may be annoying or seem like ignorance, but as language is not static spelling are bound to be adapted and changed. Look at text talk

I'm with you, OP.

Baby names websites are not helping, with their half-baked and sometimes even completely wrong names.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it per se given that many of the most popular names in the UK are not "British" at all in origin.

It is a bugbear of mine when people use names from other cultures and them pronounce/spell them incorrectly though.

I had a bit of trouble when a friend named their baby something French, well it was a boys' name given to a female baby...though maybe it is useable for either gender, I'm not sure...but it made me kind of uncomfortable.

Same with calling a child after a country you have never been to and have no connections with.

I mean, they are lovely names, lovely people etc but I need a connection to use a name. It has to mean something, even if I've no actual relation to the country or thing or whatever - it has to mean something significant to me.

Like, calling a child after a composer you love, or a place you have been to and love, or the first person you ever fell in love with - that sort of thing.

Well, Being of Irish desent too... I do find it funny when people with no Gaelic connection attempt to give their child an Irish name with the Gaelic spelling.

I do not have a problem per say with people from other cultures using names from other cultures, just as long as they 1. spell it right, 2. know the meaning and 3. actually have a reason connection for calling their baby that particular name.

My friend who is african just called his baby Cael. spelt right, knows the meaning and his partner is Jamaican but with a very Irish surname!

I really do get irritated when i see what you referred to as "mangled" for instance Siobhan, I hate seeing (mainly Americanised) version's like Shivaun or however it is they are deciding to spell it nowdays! lol