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Baby names

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If you're not a white Brit - what names in your culture make you go "holy C**p what were they thinking!"?

103 replies

lambbone · 15/04/2014 16:06

I am a white Brit, so I get all the threads on here which basically go "you can't call your DD Magenta Pixie what if she wants to be a High Court judge"

I work in a massive school which is only about 1/4 white Brit so there is a terrific array of names - none of which convey any message to me other than being the child's name.

Perhaps it is only us class obsessed Brits who read messages into name choice?

So - are there names in your culture make people go Hmm Or Shock

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muminthecity · 27/04/2014 21:16

Blessing is quite a common name round here (south London.) I have 2 friends with the name (one male, one female) and there are 3 children at the school I work in called Blessing.

I also have friends called Precious, Pretty and Comfort (not related, and not even all from the same continent!)

Montsti · 27/04/2014 20:38

I have met lots of beautifully-named Zimbabweans:

Beauty
Beautiful
Precious
Blessing
Kissmore

And my personal favourites:

Pencil
Potassium

aylesburyduck · 27/04/2014 19:58

I used to work with a lady called Comfort, she was originally Nigerian. She was lovely, such a great warm person. Wish we were still in touch tbh.

One of the local bank managers was called Smiley Wiseman - I would have loved to have met him!

BioSuisse · 27/04/2014 13:32

DD1 was born in Berlin. We had only been there 4 months when we arrived. The day she was born we named her Eva, because i had always liked the name. By the end of the day she had had a name change to what her name is now. One too many Hmm faces from nurses and one very direct "Hitlers wife was Eva" from a non German Dr prompted us to opt for plan b. Looking back i now think what a muppet i was.

HazleNutt · 27/04/2014 10:23

In my culture, everything is spelled phonetically and therefore we also have our own versions of many internationally common names. Catherine would be Katrin, Caroline is Kärolin and so on.

Names that 'would never be a high court judge' would be the ones where the foreign spelling and local one is mixed, extra points if you can add a mexican soap opera inspired name/phonetically spelled foreign name, or use an 'interesting' way to spell. Lugrecia-Cärolyn or Frensis-Kventin would raise some eyebrows.

TheGhostOfBarryFairbrother · 27/04/2014 10:05

I once came across a lovely little girl called Disney... she was such a delight but she did have to introduce herself a couple of times before people believed her!

In Breton culture, we still use lots of 'old' celtic names like Gwendoline (I know so many Gwendolines!), Wilfried, Gwenaëlle, Erwan, Glawdys etc. In French they're quite common (especially in Bretagne and surrounding areas).

manicinsomniac · 27/04/2014 01:54

wasn't the question asking about non-British names that are seen as poor choices within that non-British culture rather than names from one culture that don't translate well into another?

I was once stopped by a Brazilian friend from referring to one of our Brazilian colleagues as Ana-Lucia (I was pronouncing it Loo-zee-a) Apparently that is a name in Brazil but it is a 'favela name' and I would shaming Ana-Lucia by pronouncing it that way. The 'naice' way to say it in Portuguese is, according to him, Loo-shya.

If we're talking about cross cultural names I've come across a few Brazilians called Lais (pronounced very similar to Lice but with two syllables - kind of like ly-ees) and Brazilians found my friend Ali's name hilarious as 'ali' means 'there' in Portuguese. But far worse was the friend whose daughter is called Coco. Our Brazilian friends were in hysterics - depending on the stress of the word coco means either a coconut (CO-co) or a poo (co-coh I think)

NinjaLeprechaun · 26/04/2014 23:57

One I was reminded of recently; a popular trend in the US is for girls named Neveah. It's Heaven spelled backwards. That one makes me a bit Hmm

lillamyy1 · 24/04/2014 22:21

When I was training to teach English as a foreign language, there was a Congolese boy called Teddy Happy in my class. Brilliant name!

areyoutheregoditsmemargaret · 24/04/2014 17:48

I know a South African guy called Whatmore, he was the eighth and his dad wasn't amused!

AdoraBell · 24/04/2014 15:56

Redundant I understand Nichola is also masculine in Italy, had an interesting phone convo at work once with a Señor Nicola waiting for the bossGrin.

Love the nickname ZuesGrin

Stokey · 24/04/2014 15:32

I liked Casper for a boy until Spanish FIL pointed out kaspa meant dandruff in Spain

RedundantEggspat · 24/04/2014 15:18

Andrea or Simone for girls confuses a lot of Italians as they are boys' names here.

pebblyshit · 24/04/2014 15:16

Immaculate conception means that Mary was in a state of grace since her conception. It doesn't mean St Ann was a virgin.

OnTheBottomWithAWomansWeekly · 24/04/2014 15:04

Gobnait O'Lunasaigh anyone? Grin from my favourite Christmas 'song'!

"Dear Nuala, Thank you for the lovely partridge in a pear tree..."

Maol Iosa - literally means Bald Jesus - but the bald part was to show a tonsure like a monk so the meaning is Servant of Jesus. Only met one and he called himself Mal.

upupupandaway · 24/04/2014 14:49
blueberryboybait · 24/04/2014 12:46

I am mid 30's and my middle names are Assumpta Maria - guess my parent's nationality?

NigellasDealer · 24/04/2014 12:39

my doctor for childbirth was called.....
God'swill

NinjaLeprechaun · 24/04/2014 12:31

I went to school with a girl named Lichen (pronounced 'Lyken'). Yes, her parents were hippies. Although, actually it really suited her - I believe she was part tree elf.

A boy whose middle name is literally Danger - I love that one. An American Aisling, pronounced as spelled. Which makes me want to slap her parents a bit.

My daughter has a Mexican-American friend named Jesus, but everybody calls him Zeus. Which may well be the best nickname conversion ever.

thegreylady · 22/04/2014 09:03

Japanese surname Fukerada makes me smile I'm afraid. He was the only boy not shouted at by the PE master at the boys' school where I did a supply week.

Umlauf · 22/04/2014 08:42

I live in Spain and DSs name gets raised eyebrows a lot because they haven't got the whole "grandad name" trend that we do. His name is Albert.

I know a 20yo concepcion.

Also lots of odd Basque names, Laia (pron liar), Gorka for a boy...

coralanne · 22/04/2014 08:27

Blessing, Honor, Hope, Miracle. All children from a large Samoan family.
There's two more but I can't remember their names.

All absolutely gorgeous children.

GreatAuntDinah · 22/04/2014 07:57

I know Dylan is Welsh but if you're French and calling your kid that it's because you're a fan of Beverley Hills 90210 not Dylan Thomas.

DaleyBum · 20/04/2014 01:09

I knew an African man called Blessing. Thought it was lovely :)

Aventurine · 20/04/2014 00:53

Peculiar and Darlington are cute names. Grin