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.

When I worked in an Antenatal Clinic, I was most amused to find that the lovely lady I'd been chatting to on the phone when answering her queries (higher risk birth, so consultant led) had given birth to a lovely little Caligula.

Genuinely. His own medical records confirmed it when I took her notes round for a Paeds appointment some time later.

I always wondered whether if there was a redhaired little brother later on named Vitellius.

Well, maybe nobody white had heard of it, or cared to ask.

So they should have asked about something they’d never heard about?

Well, maybe nobody white had heard of it, or cared to ask.

Well, that was my point. The phrase didn't exist, and nobody talked about it, but it was the same thing.

It was very common around 25 years ago for nice, middle class English white kids to grow dreads and busk with a didgerido

As taken the piss out of on the Inbetweeners.

Though not entirely sure how common. Maybe for the gap year rah's.

@MitziK- that’s quite a lot of info to give about is former patient

Thanks FootieFan. I can use my eyes, and judging on context, my current location, the child’s parents and their ethnicity, I felt fairly safe in gauging that he was not Jewish. Plus, if you read my post, a Jewish child isn’t likely to have the given name ‘Cohen’ anyway.

My daughter has a French name
If her brothers had been girls they too would have had French names
For no other reason except I love French names
I’m doomed!

@TheClaws ok. But seeing as your the world judge on what name is and isn’t ok to name your kid, thought I’d give you a reminder that you can sometimes no easier guess someone’s religion or race than you can their shoe size.

😂 Well, you weren’t there, FootieFan, and I feel quite secure in my decision. I’ll remind you: location - Outback Australia. Does this give you a hint as to the ethnicity of the child? If not, this was a full-blood Aboriginal boy. Statistically very unlikely to be Jewish, and even if so, even more unlikely to be named Cohen. Thanks for the insults but, not needed.

BTW, it’s ”you’re” as in ”you are” for future reference.

@theclaws also Aussie & don’t need to remind you that aboriginal people are incredibly marginalised & racism in our country is so strong that I would argue they can call their kids whatever they bloody like. They are hardly glamourising aspects of other oppressed cultures by using a name. You would be hard pressed to win an argument with an aboriginal person regarding cultural appropriation!

Aussies - does anyone remember when Harry Connick Jr came to town & was on Hey Hey It’s Saturday & there was that skit someone did with the black face ? Remember how angry he got & schooled everyone on the show about cultural appropriation ? That was back in the 90s...? Really awkward TV moment right there...the cultural cringe was strong for that one.

Also I recently got dreadocks & have heard of some people saying this is cultural appropriation but There is a small African community in my area & can confirm am smiled at with dreadlocks so it must only be white people who say that. People with dreads & African people don’t care. I would say braids are more cultural appropriation, like cornrows etc. I don’t like when see white girls doing that look personally.

prawnsword FFS. I know. You did remind me. Rather unnecessarily.

@theclaws you mean the Harry Connick jr episode ? Sorry I didn’t mean to sound patronising

prawnsword the racism. Very aware of that! All good

BTW, it’s ”you’re” as in ”you are” for future reference.

These things always look so catty.

Why do people make one post and then disappear?

Isla, a Scottish name is very popular in the U.K. generally. I doubt that everyone who uses it is Scottish.

Why do people make one post and then disappear

Goady
Trolls
Journalists

I always assume research.

But they aren’t as irritating as people who don’t read the thread.

*BTW, it’s ”you’re” as in ”you are” for future reference.

These things always look so catty.*

I felt it rather ironic that someone who didn’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re” was attempting to school me about names and religion - if you didn’t understand the link.

Research, Bertrand or maybe bets on Reddit. “How late in a looooong thread can someone new come and repeat an irrelevant comment?”
Op if it is research into attitudes to CA, see here
metro.co.uk/2019/09/13/ikea-removes-jerk-chicken-rice-peas-dish-menu-backlash-10738698/

The car crash when IKEA managed to fuck up Rice and Peas. (Did they not have ANYONE in their catering team who knew???)

“What really gets on people’s nerves is when companies make money from Caribbean culture without consulting anyone Caribbean in the process – which appears to be what has happened with this latest IKEA controversy”

Mind you, IKEA is perhaps the ultimate in CA. It’s a Dutch co, founded by a Dutch nazi who identified that Swedish branding would sell better, so appropriated Sweden as a brand

Ikea's rice and peas makes me want to go there for mac'n'cheese. A raincoat, admittedly in need of a good clean, for the price of a meal?
Wasn't the jerk chicken just ignorance not CA?

Well, that was my point. The phrase didn't exist, and nobody talked about it, but it was the same thing.

Yes it bloody well did exist and anyone who cared to ASK about didgeridoos and dreads before casually deciding to just take them knew it.

Dutch1e
Not defending any position here BUT...
According to Wikipedia this phrase only started to be used (first in academic circles) in the 1980s.
The phrase did not exist when I was growing up.
Please don't apply the mores of today onto the past

“Wasn't the jerk chicken just ignorance not CA?”

Ignorance, certainly.

But making money out of it, or intending to, without employing anyone who had the knowledge or the expertise to sell a Caribbean dish, presumably hoping to attract an inclusive market, would also look like an ethics gap of some kind. It arises cynicism even if you don’t subscribe to the whole politics of CA.

Anyway, it was a massive own goal, thereby demonstrating the dangers of using names, recipes etc when you don’t understand.