Names you hate!

I'm a bit bemused by some posts talking about a couple of names being pronounced differently in French and English.
I think Charlotte is as much German (or even pan-European) as it is French.... and is pronounced in French pretty much as it is in English.

And how is Elodie pronounced differently in French? It's Elle-Oh-Dee in both Eng and Fr as far as i'm aware (not sure of the Scouse pronunciation but it's probably lovely)
As for the priginal post, well, as a rule I dislike men's names , or any surnames, (Dylan, Elliott, Taylor, Cameron, Leigh, James) being given to girls. It's not cute and it's certainly not clever.
And the underlying message it seems to be sending is that girls' names are somehow not quite good enough for ' our DD, let's give her a better one -- I know, let's call her.... Howard. '
And it's always one way, isn't it? Boys are never called Elodie.

Jax. See other thread...

Tis true haze

I have seen some absolute shockers on a baby group I was on, on Facebook (I know, I know). I stayed for a while because I found it perversely fascinating, the unique spellings etc.

Marriee alas everyone thinks spelling names is open for discussion hence N'talia and the like

Following on from the Welsh discussion...

It really irritates me when people chose a welsh name but use the wrong ending (why? Because they think it looks prettier or something?)

Wyn= a male ending
Wen= a female ending.

Non Welsh person using Myfanwy - great! It's flattering that you like it.
Calling your daughter Bronwyn -just wrong. It's Bronwen.

The names of two bullying bitches at school, Shani & Dion.

Harrison
Mason
Demi-Lee
Courtney
Alfie
Julian

I don't hate all surname names. I think some are quite nice but I just can't get away with Mason or Harrison.
Julian/Justin both a bit drippy. The beautiful Timberlake being an exception.
Ooh Timothy too. Maybe that's an open all hours thing?
Interesting how different we are.

How interesting Twenty! I've only known German male ones.

Anyway,more to the point, I really dislike Harriet, Jeremy, Samantha, Jane, Ruth and Chloe. The first three I just dislike the sound. The last three are all names of people who have been horrible to me!

Never mind, it would be incredibly dull if we all had the same name!

W8

Accents change the pronunciation of names. Or at least how you hear it being said. Even in Wales there is quite a lot of variance, particularly between the North and South. The Rhiannon comment in brackets in that post was tongue in cheek!

I know two French Florians. Both are female.

I think perhaps it is different if your culture is one which has been historically oppressed and indeed mocked. I am not particularly patriotic, it doesn't offend me that people call their daughters Bryn, it irritates me. In a "what a culturally ignorant drip" sort of way. The two feelings are not one and the same.

What do you feel about pronunciation, Alis? To your earlier point, I'd say 'Rhiannon' wrong (or Anglicised anyway). Would you just think I was a dick or would it feel like a slight to your culture or language that I hadn't bothered to learn or preserve the original pronunciation?

Honestly if i met a French guy call Audrey i might think it weird, i might hope he has a nickname before he visits the UK, but i wouldn't be offended. Maybe i'm not patriotic enough. It's a NAME. If his mother wishes to saddle him with a girls name the dude has bogger issues than the anger of random English people

*edit - I'm not claiming Luca is Welsh name, it was meant to be an example of a name which is being adopted for girls, ignoring culture of origin.

I'm not saying you can't use names from any culture other than your own.

Rather, acknowledge that culture and don't call your daughters Dylan, Bryn, Luca and so on. Rhiannon, Seren, Haf etc for your daughters, go for it.

I'm sure a French person would would piss themselves laughing if I called a son Charlotte.

Alis

But no one would think you were disrespectful to the French if you's picked Charlotte? Curious what name you did pick

W8

You love the name Myfanwy?!

That's the Welsh equivalent of...of...Ethel or Mildred!

I'd never met an English Elodie until about 3 years ago. Suddenly they're everywhere. But usually not in Francophone or Francophile households.

haze

I've just seen you asked me question, wasn't deliberately ignoring you.

What I mean is - plucking any name you fancy from a culture not your own and using it in a way not done in that culture is a bit galling for people from that culture.

Example - Florian. I think that's a lovely name, could just as easily be a girls name as a boys name. However it is historically a boys name (from the Latin Florianus) very much so in the countries where it is most commonly used (Germany, Poland, France). A German would have every right to be if I called a daughter Florian.

I thought Elodie was Greek by origin. What a weird thread btw.

Haze I have always adored the name Myfanwy but there is no Welsh in our family anywhere. Maybe I should have gone ahead and used it anyway, but it would have felt a bit meaningless, and possibly disrespectful to the Welsh.

Not sure Timo should be acceptable anywhere!

Timo acceptable as long as you have Scandinavian heritage