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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Saracen?

39 replies

countryyear · 07/05/2018 19:36

Just heard of a young baby named this very recently. I’ve never heard of this being used as a name? It must be quite unusual if so. What do people think?

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talimom500 · 11/05/2018 03:51

To be honest I think it’s dreadful.

NKFell · 08/05/2018 14:06

Saracen, you will go at my first whistle!

Grin
GrannyHaddock · 08/05/2018 12:23

It's not the OP's baby, Fizzy. A child has already been called this.

SilverySurfer · 08/05/2018 12:10

This is what I think of when I hear the name: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracen - and I think Morgan Freeman's character in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was a saracen.

FizzyGreenWater · 08/05/2018 10:57

No no no OP.

Call him James and be done with it.

bridgetreilly · 08/05/2018 08:51

It doesn't just mean Muslim. It's a derogatory term for Muslims coming from the time of the crusades, derived from a Greek word for thief. So, you know, it would be a bit like calling your baby Wog or Paki. It's really, really not a good choice.

vampirethriller · 08/05/2018 08:46

Saracen sword.
Actually know a woman,a friend of my mother's, who called her son this about 25 years ago. He changed it as soon as he could.

GrannyHaddock · 07/05/2018 20:43

I'm just going to have to stop reading and responding to these barmy baby name threads.

AmazingPostVoices · 07/05/2018 20:39

You need to google the word.

This is a dreadful name for a child. Dreadful.

LaContessaDiPlump · 07/05/2018 20:38

Hollow Shock my Dad's Muslim and I never realised that Saracen had that meaning! I must ask him what it's interpreted as in Arabic....

lunar1 · 07/05/2018 20:37

@Youcantflosstomonkeywrench dittoGrin

MountainPeakGeek · 07/05/2018 20:36

Ok. I've had a rethink. It's not terrible - purely taking into account the sound of the name - but it's a very strange choice unless there's a cultural connection and even then I doubt it'd be a term ever used within that heritage? Isn't it a label that was applied by Christians, rather than a name that was accepted/owned by the Arabian nomadic people they were referring to...?

HollowTalk · 07/05/2018 20:23

It just means 'Muslim', doesn't it?

LaContessaDiPlump · 07/05/2018 20:22

Their nickname would be Rocky, surely Grin

MountainPeakGeek · 07/05/2018 20:21

Your thread reminded me of a pub I used to frequent. It was "The Saracen's Head". I realised I'd never bothered to look up the meaning of the pub's name...until now...urgh!

Without the reference to decapitation, it's not a terrible sounding boy's name IMHO.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 07/05/2018 20:14

Thanks OP, one must never assume the sex in matters of baby names.

Ginger1982 · 07/05/2018 20:12

You've probably never heard of it as a given name before because nobody would use it!!

mimibunz · 07/05/2018 19:58

It’s pretty? Confused

Original poster
countryyear · 07/05/2018 19:58

It is a boy, yes. I thought here would be a good place to ask I’d never heard of it as a given name before.

OP posts:
ChardonnaysPrettySister · 07/05/2018 19:54

Hold on, OP hasn't confirmed it's for a boy.

Saracen for girl can be quite the name.
Or for a bastard cat.

hartha · 07/05/2018 19:53

There's a rugby team near here called the saracens and I also thought it was an old Western European term for a group of Muslims who weren't Arabs? Could be wrong on that one though! It would be an unusual name in these parts anyway!

AdaColeman · 07/05/2018 19:50

Not as cool as Barbarian!

bridgetreilly · 07/05/2018 19:50

No, no, no. Way too many complicated connotations.

Plopster · 07/05/2018 19:49

Tis a pub near me Grin

glitterbiscuits · 07/05/2018 19:47

Saracens Head is a place.

Good name for a brand of condoms.