AIBU or is baby name cultural appropriation a thing?

[WideOpenSpaces]

I'm ready to be told I'm being silly BUT am I right in thinking there's a level of.. appropriateness? Inappropriateness? In using names from other cultures.
For example.. would it be strange for an English couple with no discernible links to any other countries or heritage to name their child Priya, Otto, Etienne or Niamh, among many other names.
To be honest I flip backwards and forwards between thinking there are so many lovely names in the world, why shouldn't they be used by whoever likes them, and then that it's just a bit strange if no link!
Happy to discuss, I have no strong feeling either way just intrigued to see what opinions there are.

Don’t blame this on SAHMs.

I doubt it, it’s just not said out loud.

Before anyone screams xenophobia, I have lots of English and Scottish friends but some things need to be handled sensitively. Why do you think flights from Ireland to the UK have their own special area?

What bollocks. The perpetually offended aren't exclusively stay at home mums.
In fact I'd argue if you're faced with finding unknown poo on you daily it gives you a certain down to earth attitude.

My first name is French, my sister's English. We have absolutely no links to either countries, my mum just looked for names she liked and weren't popular as her name was so much used in her generation, girls. would just be called by their surname.

That was 1964 and 1972 in Germany.

Lots of names we use here in the UK for children are taken from other countries, people often don't know it or exist in several countries with a slight different spelling, Stefanie instead of Stephanie for example. It's just how language and cross-border relations evolved.

My name is very unusual and while I got used to it over time, I wouldn't choose a totally out of context one for my child but - DD is now 15 and since a year is called by a different name she chose herself nearly everywhere and plan to make it official when she is an adult. So you never. know what happens in the future with a. name you chose anyway.

The irony is that people from the cultures from which you take the name of would not be in the least bit offended, in fact mostly flattered. It must be a white guilt thing to go on about cultural appropriations. Not sure what the guilt is about but this ridiculousness around getting offended on other people’s behalf is getting silly now.

Ok but you appreciate that the reason this is a common practice is because Chinese people feel more compelled to use Western names to fit in, either because Chinese names are deemed unpronounceable or because, as a PP said, people with foreign names are demonstrably discriminated against in job interviews etc.

A lot of these responses are ignoring the power dynamic involved. Someone asked if Indians could call their children Dave. Many of my uncles who moved here in the seventies did actually take on names like Peter, Johnny etc. It is a bit ridiculous but to me it's sad in the same way that it's sad that my grandparents felt compelled to cut off my dad's pigtails when they moved here.

So it's different in my book from people giving their kids names from historically marginalised communities because they sound nice, especially if those people make no effort to engage with the culture of the meaning of the name beyond that.

Fwiw I think there are probably definitely bigger questions of global injustice to engage with than cultural appropriation, and I generally just let it go. But the "oh sod them and their feelings, it's just a name" responses feel honestly really fucking entitled.

ALSO Hebrew names are biblical and will have significance to all three Abrahamic religions. Ok I'm done.

No it’s not cultural appropriation. Otherwise all British heritage people would need Pict or Celtic names (remember the Angle Saxons weren’t indigenous British).

I'm half Irish. Am I allowed to use them? 🙄

There will never be world peace as long as people keep perpetuating this shit.
You can't steal someone's name. You can't steal someone's cuisine.
Get over yourselves!!

Of course! You have Irish connections. But you knew that and were just being goady, right?

To be fair Dave is a common Gujrarati name

Lol @Simonjt

Friends have called her daughter Amelie, which we find strange. Her mum is obsessed with France and their culture (with no connection to it at all), tries to teach her daughter French and is seemingly determined they will live there one day. When she doesn't have a job and he is pretty poorly paid, far below what they'd need to ever emigrate so it's all a bit weird.

@LadyCampanulaTottington I think you are being unnecessarily offended 🤷🏻‍♀️

No one in their right mind can justify a white, non-Muslim couple naming their child Mohammed. They parents don’t know how many of their child’s cvs will be discounted in future, just because of his first name.

I don’t think it’s necessarily cultural appropriation but if a name is obviously from overseas, the child will be quizzed about their roots through their life.

When you look at most names they come from somewhere else. My dd's both have French names but which are very common in the UK. Our language shares it's roots with most of Europe and it makes sense that words and names have found their way into other countries.

Maybe people should accept that imitation is the highest form of flattery. And yes, GTFOI

I’m not sure whats funny about it?

It’s interesting @CharSiu, I don’t know immediately how to pronounce some Chinese names, although I’m getting better, whereas my children, because they see Chinese names and surnames all the time, seem to have no problem with it. The only one they constantly get wrong is a boy with the surname Qin which they know is “Chin” but because it’s the same (basically) as Quinn, they do mix it up sometimes.
One son has a friend called Ziqui who I referred to as “zee kwee” and he was like 🙄mum, it’s “chi chi”

Not using a name because some people might be racist is pretty stupid.

@sashh Considering the English language has been mugging other languages for their words why would names be different?

So when the Saxons, Vikings, Normans and Romans invaded and conquered England they all spoke English? You need to brush up on your history. Old English and Celtic languages were almost erased. The English language evolved over thousands of years.

@Simonjt well imo it's funny because it kind of demonstrates the point that names don't belong to one culture.

I guess it depends why they picked the name. Live in an area where they hear the name a lot and like it so cool.

Deliberately going out of their way to find a Spanish name or danish name just to be different would be a bit weird with no links but your never going to know why they picked it or their full family tree.

You liking spelling is “appreciation” of the Manx culture.

*isn’t appreciation