Is it ok to name your child after a place?

[miracletime]

Our DD will have one Turkish parent and one Dutch. Decided to go with a Turkish name for our DD but something that will work well in England where she will be brought up. The name we like is Antalya.

Obviously Antalya is a place in Turkey and isn't actually a Turkish girls name, but we really like it as a name. We've met one English girl with the same name but some years ago.

Any Turkish people out there who think it would sound silly in Turkey? Ie: Like a British persons naming their child 'London'?

Any others that think it sounds silly given it's a popular holiday destination?

I quite like it. Seems the Beckhams think it's cool to do it too.

Bit of a bugger if you live in Ramsbottom or Scunthorpe...

Well my MIL is Spanish so we called our DS's

Magaluf

Barcelona

Full English Breakfast with Chips

Actually I like the name Antalya...it's no different in a way to Paris, India and all those sort of names

I like it.

Laughing at some of the responses! My fear is that it might be a name that sounds awful in a few years. Will it stand the test of time?

Example of this would be the girls name Chelsea.

Well there's nothing you can do about that really.

Even the most common of names started off as unusual at one time.

How bad mannered of me. Apologise in advance to anyone named Chelsea. When I was about 10 years old it was actually my favourite name!

I think it's lovely.

It definitely depends on the town name, so couldn't give a blanket answer for all town names. Some would make lovely names, some awful names. Antalya is a lovely name though, and I don't think it sounds weird or silly at all. Given some of the crazy names you hear nowadays, I think there will be an awful lot of adults by the time your DD is grown up that will be far worse off in the name stakes than she will!

Works for me as a Brit, but you need to ask her Turkish GPs (and aunts/uncles) what they reckon. Ask them to be brutally honest.

When I was pregnant DH was insistent on Antalya for a girls name we had a boy but I was open to the idea

Lovely to hear all the 'likes'.

Did your DH know someone with the name Myheadmyworld?

Sound advice PrematurelyAirconditioned, I will do so.

I am named after the Irish farm my mother grew up on. Yes, really. I have an unusual name, but it's not outlandish. It does sound weird to the people who live near the farm though to have a person called it too.

I also found it strange when I heard people say " I had a walk over Crusty this morning"!

FWIW, I think Antalya sounds great.

as long as it is not the name of the place said baby was conceived...that is just too ack.

ahhh my DD would be called Portamyrina....

Better than Peckham I suppose.

I like it. Surely it's only like Florence anyway (as an example)?

How about Bognor?

You name your child what you want.

I like it!

My Turkish FIL would think it was silly. But if you like it you should do it.

(I have done the same thing with my dd - named her after a place in my parents' country of origin - they don't like it but I don't care!)

There are so many beautiful Turkish names that are straightforward for British people to pronounce. I wouldn't choose it.

I like it sounds pretty and it means something to you guys which is nice.

sorry, i think it's naff and like you're trying really hard to be sophisticated and not quite managing it.

It's a pretty name.

My surname is "Manchester" (obviously not my parents choice) and I've had to endure years of people saying things like "So...City or United??" HAHAHAHAHAAAA Also people always seems to look at me quizzically when I tell them as if they want me to spell it so I'm forever saying "You know, spelled like the city". I'm not sure how else you could spell Manchester really.

So that's the only possible problem, but I guess it's more unusual so I doubt you'd have the same issue unless you spend a lot of time in Turkey.