To not understand how this is cultural appropriation?

[NewUsername18382828]

Namechanged for this.
DH and I decided to give DD (who is now 6) a name which is originally from another country. Neither of us have relatives or any connection there, we just liked the name. There is an English variant of the name but we didn't like the sound of it as much so went with the one we liked most. Didn't think it would be a problem, a name is a name.

Well anyway, a mum of a girl in DD's class at school was born in that country. She heard me call DD at the gates and started talking to me about her name. She was asking what our ties were to the country, and so on. When I said there weren't any and we just liked the name, she muttered something about cultural appropriation and left with her child. Fast forward another couple of weeks and I've just been informed by another parent that she's been badmouthing us, saying we shouldn't use a foreign name when we have no ties to the country, it's cultural appropriation.

AIBU to have no clue how this is cultural appropriation? I always thought a name was just a name.

Warn the school!! 😂😂😂 I've heard it all now!

Yeah, Erin for the vast majority of Irish people is packet soup.

Erin makes me thing of Derry Girls and the gorgeous way they pronounce it. ‘Ehhhrn!’

I love the way the Duke of Wellington is woven into the discussion in this thread. Like it is the most natural thing in the world to discuss him.

cultural appropriation another waste of space trndy phrase. If we're supposed to be multi cultural and inclusive why does this nonsense even exist? No-one with any intelligence questions the use of Siobhan, Ingrid, Mia as names yet they all have their routes outside these shores.
By picking up on minor things the more important thngs get ignored, people are so fed up of this industry. It was the same in the 70s with feminism, by getting knickers in knots about any word using 'man' , manhole covers for example, the movement was mocked.

Whoops, they have their roots of course, not routes!

@PooWillyBumBum

Am imagining a blonde woman somewhere in deepest middle England tucking little Kwame Machupa into bed.*
*
😂😂😂

Totally ridiculous

Unless we know the name and the significance we simply CAN'T judge if the OP was BU.

However, we can judge that an adult shouldn't be going around school criticising a 6 year old's name.

I knew a British Asian girl called Sharon, is that a Hebrew name?

They are English people who came along and pushed the natives into shit poor conditions. You know, a bit like the Anglo Indians did in India!

So you don't consider Graham Norton Irish, then? He's an Irish Protestant with lineage going back to England about three hundred years ago.

I've got an English surname but all of us with it (it's an unusual one) are Scots and have been since the name appeared in Scotland in the fifteenth century. Should we all consider ourselves English now, given that the English pushed most people around?

has the OP come back at all?

A name is a name - she's a bit batshit!

Unless it is Balonz. Then you cheeky sod you!

Before naming a child I think people should do a bit of research on their favourite names, that could be quite an eye opener.

I still think the woman who has been gossiping is out of order though.

If it’s Balonz then how fucking dare she?

Balonz is a Sussex name

Don't be intimidated by this shite. Borrow a bit of cultural appropriation from the Anglo Saxon and tell her to fuck off.

I was going to express the same view more long-windedly, Titus. You get the prize!

@doadeer

You are very articulate and explain a hugely complex and contentious area very well!

If you have a pet, give it a name from the same culture and shout that out loud and clear too.

I am NOT calling our hamster, Goebbels!

I remember an amazing thread where the OP’s sister had married someone who was Anglo-Hungarian I believe, and the OP was getting stressed at people giving her funny looks when she was taking her nieces and nephews out for a McDonalds and a play on the park. I believe the names were something like Boglarka and Zoltar or something like that which just totally didn’t work in small town England. A big mix of people defending the use of names that are culturally important at all costs, but to me a working example of using sensitivity when naming a child in another culture ! (Does anyone remember that thread? I wonder where little boggy is now ?)

Idris is certainly a WELSH name. I thought the other two were as well.

THIS ^

@TwoMany, there’s really no comparison between the major landowners of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy in its heyday and a small town late 20thc Protestant whose dad was a Guinness rep.

"Boglarka and Zoltar or something like that which just totally didn’t work in small town England" the little-England poke fun at the foreigners mentality on this thread ('something like that') is so gross. If one of the parents is Anglo-Hungarian then why shouldn't the children have Hungarian names? And English people calling their children Irish names without any actual ties to Ireland is very very weird - the English colonised and oppressed the Irish (until very recently in Northern Ireland) so it's not acceptable to use Irish names for English children unless there's an actual reason for it other than just thinking it sounds nice.

@motherogod you have to read the thread rally. It was super interesting. Wish I could find it. I don’t have that attitude at all, I was raised in a pretty multi cultural way with friends from multiple heritages at primary and secondary. You do have to admit that there are certain names you have to consider as being unsuitable for living in a particular area. Just as I wouldn’t move to rural Spain and name my child ‘Jade’ and complain when people called her ‘Hade’. You have to use a bit of common sense in my opinion

I actually think of Erin as an American name. I’ve never met an Irish Erin. All Americans and Aussies.

Rather like Bronwyn. The only ones I’ve ever met have been Australian. (I shall await the hoard of irate Welsh Bronwyns.)
As an aside Bronwyn is a name I live but wouldn’t choose because I have no welsh family.

Am imagining a blonde woman somewhere in deepest middle England tucking little Kwame Machupa into bed.