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?

at Jeezy

And Tara and Florence

Athena is the Goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology-mythological names are widely used in Greece. I think that Antalya is a beautiful name-go for it!

Glad I didn't name my DD after where she was conceived.She would be called Couch :o

I think it sounds a very pretty name, as long as it's not the equivalent of Scunthorpe or something in Turkish! Strange that I saw this thread today as I was just thinking about a girl I knew years ago who was called America. She was Italian/South African so an unusual choice but it came in very handy when she went for her Visa interview to go to the USA!

Ireland isn't a name. Eireann is the Irish for Ireland, Éirinn in the dative case form, leading to the anglicised Erin which is more an American-Irish girls name than anything else. But that doesn't mean Ireland is automatically a girls name. Colleen is a girls name which translates as girl, but you wouldn't call your baby Girl.

But my point was that lots of people use place names as names, it generally sounds odd when you are very familiar with the place, and less so when its far away or more exotic.

Thank you for all the feedback.

Place names can be tacky I agree. That is why I hesitate.

One saving grace is that the name Talya or Talia IS a Turkish girl's name. That would also be the shortening or nickname of Antalya. So in that sense it may not sound bizarre to Turkish ears.

I thought Athaliah was beautiful, it has been added to our baby name list!

Any Turkish people on Mumsnet today that can offer an opinion? Our family like it but are far too kind to say otherwise!

Re: sleb who called their kid Ireland:

Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger called their daughter Ireland. Not nice Erin or lovely Eirrin, but the actual name Ireland. Awful- the translations are much nicer!

I think it's pretty, I have a DS Phoenix, even though he was conceived in Bali! and would love Sydney, Asia or London for a girl (and I live in London!).
Go for it.

Athaliah, Thaliah, and Thali are all common Romany names.

No miracletime he's never even been! He likes the history and thought it had a nice ring to it

I think if it were me I'd change it slightly to something like Natalya, to get the sense/echo/euphonics of the place but without the risk of naming a daughter after the Turkish equivalent of Slough or Grimsby.