Have I limited DD's future with an unusual name?

[whatsinaname5]

DD9 is called Raya. Her elder brothers both have traditional, biblical names and that was the plan for her, but DF died just before she was born and she ended up with a "tribute" name, which I also thought was lovely. Hormones.

She likes her name and no issues at school apart from the millions of other names ending with "aya" and "iya", but I have had a sense of dread that she'll be denied job opportunities or friendships because she's being as a chav - or at least someone of a lower class. What if everyone hiring is a Millie or a Hugo and they see Raya on her CV.

Of course there's not much we can do now apart from steer her to use her traditional middle name??

YABU - she's fine! No problem!
YANBU - uh oh ....

Nothing wrong with it! A tad unusual, but absolutely no problem. It's a nice name!

“Limiting”? In what sense? It’s a middle aged middle class lady’s name where I come from. Bit chavvy if part of a hyphenated name eg Molly-Rae, but quite classy by itself.

I don't know anyone middle aged with this name.

I see Rae as being equivalent to Molly-Rae or Anything-Rae.

I think it will go the same way as being named Jade in the 80s/90s. Apologies to anyone named Jade, which I actually think is quite a nice name on its own, but does have certain connotations about social class.

I think fine and similar to Freya. I would be very surprised if someone didn’t give Raya a job because of her name.

Rae has been around in Scotland as a name for a long time.

It’s a perfectly fine name. I do a lot of recruitment and for a start it’s all anonymised at the start but names don’t make any difference to me. We are a diverse multi cultural employer and don’t discriminate against peoples names. I wouldn’t waste anymore time worrying about this

Nothing wrong with it. It's a proper name, with a conventional spelling. I can't think of anything negative.

When I consider what I think they are, they are usually a combination of classist and racist markers. Names of things/places (e.g. Chardonnay, Florida, Chelsea). Unconventionally spelled (e.g. Jorja, Tracee). African-American influence (e.g. Trayvon, Shaniqua). Double-barrelled (e.g. Molly-May, John-Paul).

Africans and Caribbean people over here both kick each other's names, from experience. Class is a big factor. Also personal taste, which may or may not be rooted in classism or racism. I think everyone has opinions on names, it's just not polite to let it be known. Names are irrelevant when you get to know someone anyway.

Sounds like a lovely sophisticated Arabic type name to me. I don’t think it’ll limit her at all

It's a lovely name!

I LOVE the name Raya

Gorgeous

It's a lovely name. Don't worry!

Not a chavvy name at all. It's beautiful.

I think it's a lovely name.

And I have an unusual name myself; it hasn't held me back.

YABU I don't think you need worry at all. It's a lovely name and has no bad connotations as far as I know. I'm a professional in fintech and the name would fit in no problem and I don't think it would get a second glance.

I haven't heard it before but I think its nice.

I've heard a lot worse and seen a lot worse here on MN too.

I know a Raya! She's a distinguished academic and author.

What a BEAUTIFUL way to honor her father! I think it's so much more meaningful than some generic or cutesy name. She'll be so proud to carry her daddy's name when she's older (if she isn't already). PLUS it's one of Disney's new princesses----Raya and the Last Dragon. I would have no problem hiring her. You did a MAGNIFICENT job, Mum!!!

Raya is lovely but what is a chavvy name?

I suppose names like Katherine, Margot and Sebastian are the opposite of chavvy.

I called my beautiful daughter Raya. I love the name still. It is an old name and yes its not a traditional name but it is a unique name and thats why I love it. I cant imagine how difficult things must be for yourself but I hope all the messages you see at least give you some comfort. My Raya is the constant Ray 'a' sunshine in my life and im sure your daughter is to

Well, my name is completely idiotic (Tiffany?! Ugh) and it hasn’t stopped me from having a pretty great career — what did stop for many years what not having a college degree. As long as she goes to uni, she’ll be fine. Or she can just wait til she’s 40 like me and change her name midway…😉🥰🥰🥰 Much love, you’ve done NOTHING wrong. Incidentally, Raya was the name of one of my favorite characters to play in my time as an actress. Great name!!! Very beautiful, and classy, if you ask me.

Definitely overthinking this op! What do you think of all the names that are from different cultures?

I know of very successful people who work in finance and have very odd names.

At our office identifying details like names are not shown for this very reason. People are chosen on the merit of their experience/qualifications. So names, ages, posh schools all hidden. It’s to help diversity mainly.