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.

Ps both my kids have bible (Old Testament) names, how does that work, they are not Jewish

Just curious... All those dismissing cultural appropriation or saying it's a load of rubbish - are you white?

In this case I think the name is important and I don't think the OP's daughter is Louise or Diana.

I also don't think the OP will be back to tell us!

Ds is Greek - Greek then technically!

Q: "For example Megan - origin margaret - Greek
David - Hebrew
John - Hebrew
Alice - originally Germanic, then used in France then Britain
Lynda - German
William - Norman French
Lucy - Latin"

Can you list how many Greeks call their DD 'Megan'?

I 'get' the apostolic names. They are part of our culture as Christians.

Is 'Alice' big in Germany?

Is Lynda huge there?

....and so forth.

My name has 'a Greek origin'. Think something like Persephone. No one in modern Greece has my name!

@picklemepopcorn

You have to be a wee bit careful about cultural appropriation. Some things influence mainstream culture without any appropriation being involved. My white DSs picked up the lilt and speaking patterns of the other children in their black majority school, and got called out for it. They were surrounded by those voices, and their voices were influenced.

That's such a shame that they got 'called out.' If she was mixing with them, it's understandable.

This reminds me of a man (around 35,) who was teaching a computer course I went on once. He was white too, but had been living in Jamaica since he was 8. (Born in the UK, moved to Jamaica aged 8 with his parents, and then moved back to he UK aged 33.)

Understandably his accent was 100% Jamaican, and he had such a hard time, because people thought he was 'taking the piss' out of the accent, and was being racist. He had to constantly explain that he has spent most of his life in the West Indies.

Sometimes people are NOT being racist.

Judging by the responses on here Op I wouldn't worry about her badmouthing you as they probably think she's an idiot like we all do.

Stucknoue please tell me if their names are on here! old testament names

I had great uncles and aunts called things like Jebediah and Hephzibah! (Devon, if that makes any difference!).

Western women in some parts of the Middle East are required to wear an abaya. Legally required. Is that cultural appropriation?

Many Arabic teenagers like to wear jeans. Is that cultural appropriation?

The Australian Aboriginals have a flag which dates back to 1971 and is now an important symbol of their culture. Prior to colonisation, the concept of flags did not exist. Is it cultural appropriation to have adopted a flag as a symbol?

There are more Indian takeaways in the UK than Traditional British fish and chip shops. Should we stop eating Indian food because it is cultural appropriation?

Pizza - you do realise that pizza outside of Italy is nothing like real Italian pizza? Non-Italians have totally bastardised it. But we have all eaten it’s delicious now when you hear the word, you think of non-Italian style pizza.

Are these examples of culture appropriation or cultures blending into one another?

Speaking of blending, if someone immigrates to a new country and gets a passport and speaks the language and wears the clothes and eats the food - is that cultural appreciation or cultural appropriation? If they have children and raise them with a name from the new country, is it integration or appreciation? What if they continue to use the names and languages of the old country - is that appropriation because of they now have a different passport?

Does it make a difference if it is a Pakistani moving to the U.K. or a white Briton moving time a Pakistan. If I substitute Japan for Pakistan (economically very different countries with very different relationships to the UK), does it make a difference to your initial reaction?

I like what Etinox said:
Unless something is othering, fetishising, insensitive or exploitative, or just incorrect in which case it should be challenged on those grounds it [cultural appropriation is] a meaningless concept.

doadeer
I'm white and think there's a point where names are used enough for nobody to bat an eye. Eg David/Louise
English is shaped by multiple languages and I'd expect that to be reflected in the names from those languages.

But someone taking a traditional Kenyan name or Islamic name with zero links to the culture would strike me as unusual, and to be honest a bit weird.

I think it's useful to be aware that names don't just 'pretty' or for that matter sound 'ugly'. They have particular historical and cultural signficance. (That's why the name 'Adolf' has rather dropped out of use.)

I'm from a Jewish - though not observant - background. Though Ruth is an Old Testament name, I wouldn't assume a Ruth was Jewish. But if someone with no connection with Judaism called their child Shulamit - just because they'd encountered the name on holiday - but knew nothing about its Hebrew meaning, I would think it was a) naff and b) ignorant and c) cultural appropriation. I'd also feel sorry for the child. Because although they had a lovely name, their parents couldn't give them the context and the community that goes with the name.

I think Juliet Capulet got it right in the Balcony Scene.

@MistyCloud that’s a good point misty cloud, I wonder why it doesn’t work the other way around, as in black/Asian people have English accents from what ever area they are from. Like a black gentleman with an Irish accent.

What a bloody ridiculous thing to say. Cultural appropriation my arse.

What difference does it make doadeer?

If a white British person gives their child a white german name, is that cultural appropriation?

If a black Jamaican gives their child a French name, is that cultural appropriation?

It's a name. You like the sound of it, you give it to your child.

Do you recall a TV programme a few years ago where minority white boys were getting in a rage because their (white) sisters were 'taking the veil' in emulation of their female Muslim friends, and classmates?

I think in the end, parents at school will not respect her as much because of this. It sounds snob tbh, a bit like parents who think that some names are ‘chav’ or ‘common’. So many beautiful names used in English are of foreign origin, Caspar, Charlotte, Claire, Josephine, Florence, Albert, Amelie, Rio, Isla, Diego, etc. Personally, I don’t think it is strictly speaking cultural appropriation, as this applies to adopting a cultural aspect of a group, a tradition, unless you have chosen a sacred name, which I suppose is possible.

I don’t believe that ‘cultural appropriation’ is a concept that stands up to any scrutiny.

Sharing across cultures is part of human experience, has been done for millennia and is not wrong.

Using other cultural practices to make racist points is wrong because it’s racist. Racism is wrong, don't do it.

I feel very sure that what you’re doing Is the former not the latter. Crack on and ignore the imbeciles telling you otherwise.

CA is a load of toss. Cultures evolve as a result of taking on bits of others.

@goose1964 natasha? :)

Traditional British fish and chips

Fried fish in batter brought to London by Russian jews.

Chips are French frites of a Peruvian tuber.

What utter bollocks lol 😂

Some people just look for things to get upset by. If I was you I’d make sure I kept shouting “hi and bye (child’s name)” when they come out of school, loudly, Every.Single.Day

I don't there is any exact science on this sort of thing, but I ask myself if the child spend their whole lives saying "oh no, my family isn't from XXX my mum just liked the name", and perhaps that is where the line is.

For example Louis is very normal to be used in the UK, however Jean-Baptiste I think would raise questions as to whether the family were French.

It seems unlikely that the OP’s daughter is called Diana, Ruth or Chloe. Maybe it’s a good idea to stop and think about how this might be potentially an issue where sensitivity is called for? We honestly can’t say unless we know what the name is.

What difference does it make doadeer?
It makes a difference if it's a white person taking a name that's typically been viewed negatively because of its association with particular races.

I do think sometimes cultural appropriation becomes a catch all term for any mixing of cultures that people don't like, but do think that it's a bit weird for someone to call their white British child Muhammad for example.