Is it pretentious or somehow wrong (foreign names)

Carlotta makes me think of Malory Towers but as a Spanish speaker I would consider it that rather than Italian. Tonnes of names come from other places .
Look at the recent popularity of Clara , Orla , Luca , names can be from anywhere !

I have an unusual name that is mostly found in Italy and Spain and my parents are Irish. I often get asked if I am Italian based on my dark colouring and name. I tell them my parents just liked it, smile and move on. They are perfectly satisfied.

This is in no way a big deal.

It is a bit weird when people choose foreign names that they can't pronounce though - this has happened a bit to people I know in Italy!

I don't particularly like Carlotta but, as far as lapses of taste and judgment in baby naming go, it is hardly a seriously big crime.

I don't see anything wrong with it, after all Francesca is an Italian name but it seems to have caught on in the UK too and people barely register it as being foreign. (I don't really like Carlotta though as it reminds me of Car Lot!)

Friend with the baby is obviously a fan of Saki, and you don't get more genteel English than that (even if his pseudonym is a cultural appropriation )

eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/SchaMeth804.shtml

Can't stop thinking about Alotta Fagina from Austin Powers lowers tone

Those friends are fuck nuggets. Carlotta is a gorgeous name.

I have a Sullivan. If he'd been a girl, he would have been Saoirse. I'm not Irish. I can call my child whatever the fuck I like and I would definitely be having stern words with those "friends" and blaming pregnancy hormones.

Thanks for clarifying re bump blessing, Riviera - I've hardly come to terms with baby showers! And such was my shock that I omitted to agree with others that Carlotta is a lovely name and not so "foreign" that it's odd for non-Italians to choose.

Its a lovely name and she can call her baby whatever she pleases. The friends need to wind their necks in.

I have a "foreign" name and love it. So many people if having a favourite holiday place, conceived abroad will name their child with a local to their holiday name.

OPs friend, carlotta is lovely. Your friends are just horrid. They are so up themselves to think that what they think will seriously change a couples hard and seriously thought about name for their baby.

It's a sweet name and she can always go by Carla if she wants something less out there. There's an old poem that's stayed in my head for some reason, about what an old-fashioned, nice if not posh name it is: 'Carlotta! Nome non fine, ma dolce che come l’essenze
Resusciti le diligenze, lo scialle, la crinoline...'

But the parents would seem to me nuts if they chose a name like "Shizuka" (Japanese) or Ng-Trang (Vietnamese) or Dilnaz (Kazakh) without their being cultural appropriation.

But only because, most of the times, the parents have no idea what they are naming. I've noticed it with chinese names suggested on the internet. They aren't chinese names at all. And they sound ridiculous in English as well.

Not the case here too. Carlotta is lovely in English.

Ugh, the 'cultural appropriation' thing has really bothered me!

I find it so divisive, the belief that because you are from a certain country/culture/race you may only do/eat/dress/name your children in ways someone else feels are traditional/acceptable for someone of that country/culture/race.

Bump blessing??

Malory Towers here too!

But celebration/bump blessing? What is that? Perhaps the other couple were wondering why there was a celebration and pounced on the opportunity to have a dig at the couple (whereas they could, of course, have turned down the invitation if they didn't like the idea of the celebration)? Otherwise I'm a bit stumped why they would have a go at the name.

Carlotta is a lovely name.

However, heed the words of Sanity, I did the same for just that reason.

I'm American so I can call my kids whatever I want to since y'all know we have no history or culture of our own :o

Carlotta is pretty. Your friend's friends are ridiculous.

Hilarious, what a couple of utter bastards.

Carlotta is a lovely name. I knew an Italian women who loved Irish names and called her sons Patrick and Liam. She had never left Italy.

Carlotta's a lovely name. If we were all worried about cultural appropriation all English babies would have to be called Old English names like Cuthbert or Ethelred. There'd be a much smaller pool of names to choose from if we couldn't use those with Hebrew or Greek or Latin origins.

I have an Elena and we're not at all Spanish, Italian or Russian. We just liked the name. All names are just collections of letters and sounds and as PP say they come from all over the place. Look at the rise and rise of Amelie.

Carlotta is lovely (and also made me think of Malory Towers!)

They probably read an article about cultural appropriation and were itching for an occasion to shoehorn it in so they could demonstrate what well informed people they are.

It's probably within their arbitrarily designated list of foreign names it's acceptable to appropriate, OP. Probably because someone else has done it before.