Do I tell her?

I don't think it's that bad, it is just salty water (like honey is just honey) and will likely be shortened to Sal as she gets older. Young children will have no idea it has a meaning other than their friends name. Apparently it might mean salt marshes or a salt works in French, so she must know the salty connection. You could point it out, but she may well be aware.

@Bloozie , Saline is pronounced SAY-line in the UK.

@Goldwren1923 , Saline is salin/saline in French, salina in Spanish. Check facts before calling people ignorant.

@Hedgehogbrown , you have no idea if the pp was white or English.

@03cg73 , is the name actually written as 'Saline'? Might it be written as Selín or Selain in Spanish? Selín is celery in Spanish. Selain is except.

Tell her she must google word 'saline' - a row of bottles for sale come up - it is salt and sterilised water and the word means 'salty'. It's a fact no need for tact!!

With their heritages, they will be calling her Sal-een. I don't see the issue other than potentially a bit of bullying at school. Her French speaking parent surely will already know what it means in his own language? There are plenty of very odd names around these days!

I would, though, jokingly ask if they're going to call her Salty as a nickname, just in case they don't realise.

Here in the midlands, saline is pronounced “say-leen” and means “salt solution” usually used as a medical wash… I would tell her!

Ask her if she would like to hear your opinion on the name or whether it would make her salty...

The French word for saline (salty) is saline.

So no, I wouldn't tell her.

(I also pronounce saline as Say-Line, not Say-Leen. Do I say it wrong?)

Sorry this sounds a bit patronising. You think a French speaker doesn’t know what a word Saline means?? It comes from Latin FYI and means salty in French AND in Spanish

just because for English speakers who don’t know Latin it is only associated with saline solution (which originally is salty solution) doesn’t mean she’s ignorant

maybe you are though

I'd also tell her, as she intends to bring her DD up in the UK. As a sterile salty water product I'd think Sayline, as a name I automatically read it as Sayleen. But still, if she wouldn't call her child a version of Calpol in France, she might not want to call her Sterile Salty Water either. It's easier to replace a blanket than to change baby's name after they're registered.

I can't imagine her being angry enough to sever the friendship either, seems ridiculous. If I were living abroad and wanted to give my baby a name that wasn't quite quite, I'd hope that my friends would tell me! It's hardly a deadly insult, is it?

But that’s how you pronounce ‘Céline’.

I would ask her about the meaning. I don’t think of would wash but I wouldn’t want a baby called “salty”. Maybe explain what salty means when applied to people.

Just explain what it means in English and leave it there. If she still goes ahead she can’t say nobody told her.

Wow. Do people really never forgive a friend for delicately bringing up a (valid) concern about a baby’s name? Or is this mumsnet central “livid, crying and shaking” kind of response

So do I and I’m southern.

However, if I saw Saline as a name, especially if I knew the parents were French/Spanish, I’d guess it was pronounced Sa-leen. As in Salina. Or little Sal. Or cross between Sally and Janine.

Also she lives in London so the kid wouldn't have the piss ripped out of her, because it is very multicultural and being bullied for an unusual name seems very provincial and old fashioned to me

My DD goes to school in London and has an absolutely standard British name. Think Elizabeth. Some of the boys in her A level class were teasing her last week. “Were you named after the Queen?” And calling her “Your Majesty”. Lighthearted and all very silly and not what you’d describe as “bullying”. Just silliness. But it gets a bit tiresome after about 5 minutes! And yes, you can believe that if she were called Calpol or Savlon she’d get that sort of thing far more often!

In Latin saline means salt or salty hence a saline wash etc for wound treatment. For many people, the first mental image is an IV bag, not a baby. Kids can be unkind, and “saline solution,” “saltwater,” or “salty” are easy targets. Even if adults find it pretty, children often latch onto literal meanings.

Personally I would drop it into the conversation that you think the idea of uniting cultures is good, but unfortunately Saline has other connotations in the UK and she could be lining her child up for years of ribbing. Particularly as the girl gets older as saline breast implants are widely known, the association can feel awkward.

Then leave it there, its their decision.

Whoops, that's me pronouncing it wrong for years then! I'm in the South though.

Selene is a good suggestion for her OP?

I would say something I would say Saline is a surgical / antiseptic rinsing aid.

There are literally hundreds of beautiful Latin names from Ava to Octavia

Selena, the moon goddess, is a very similar and very beautiful name.

Also she lives in London so the kid wouldn't have the piss ripped out of her, because it is very multicultural and being bullied for an unusual name seems very provincial and old fashioned to me

It always confuses me where people on these boards live as I meet people with all sorts of names daily including foreign ones!

It tricky, ihad a similar situation when a friend (from china) called her newborn daughter Chlamydia

My mate went with gonorrhoea

Saline is the same word in French. But I think the Doliprane suggestion to explain why the name isn’t a good idea is excellent. If she wants a name starting with S, Solène would be so much nicer.

Wow! Racist much??

Id tell her but in a do you in English thats a specific term for X. As thats just a fact. But if ahe decided she was still happy with her choice id keep all my opinions to myself.

Hilarious!

What did she change the name to? Syphilis? Like the flower. 😃 Or the song: The girl from Treponema?