Why do so many people object to...

[Skyrg]

giving children names from an ethnic origin which they don't belong to? Genuinely curious here, I've never seen a problem with it, since we're gradually becoming a more and more connected world.
Plus, many names we consider English now have other origins, often French. Is that not considered an issue?

Sorry if this has been posted before, couldn't see it, and have noticed this one coming up a lot in the 'rules' thread and on others.

If someone bears a word as a name, then it is a name. It is that person's name.

Most names originated as nouns, adverbs or adjectives or various combinations of the three, and most of the names used in the west, including non-English speaking countries, came from somewhere else originally. Look at a name like Margaret, for instance. Or Isambard. Why not Soleil?

You can justify anything being a name really can't you and it seems you want to.

Yes, you can, and why not? My own DCs have family names that are 'real' names by any standard you might choose, but there's no accounting for the taste of others and why should there be?

I agree with the several people who've said that whatever you name a child becomes a name.

Daisy, we're talking about names with an alternative ethnic origin to the child... they ARE names. You don't make them a name, they already are names, just not necessarily common where you live.

Someone somewhere will be called Soleil. Does that mean that you, living in Plymouth, should call your child Soleil? (Obviously I don't know where you live but just as an example).

I don't think that that works at all. That all names belong to the world and all are fair game. Personally I dont' agree.

Did you see what I posted earlier?
'Interestingly, I just found a site which claimed it's not much used as a first name in France, and is mainly used as such in English speaking countries. So technically more acceptable in England than France.'

So, if enough English people use it, is that allowed? :)

Also, why don't names belong to the world? The next generation will be the most connected generation ever. Surely these other countries and names will have meanings to them?

Doesn't mean you should. But it means you could, if you felt like it, and all other considerations were equal to you.

I chose my childrens names because i liked them & for no other reason.

Daisy, I'm sorry but I am laughing a bit at 'and it seems you want to'

You sound terribly affronted at our attempts to justify other people's name choices.

Everyone's motivation for naming their child is different. I heard of a family in Uganda (through a Ugandan friend) who named their children after different parts of a bike, because a bicycle was the most useful and beneficial thing they had.

I think it gets a bit weird if, in order to pronounce the name correctly, you have to put on a foreign accent.

e.g. say your parents come over all French and decide to call you Jean-Baptiste.

To say Jean-Baptiste properly, as it is intended, you have to basically say it in a French accent. Just sounds odd if you're not French, cant speak French, and rarely even go there.

It's like an English family (with a v English surname) I know who called their son Vincent, but insist on the French pronounciation (van-sont). I bet anything that when he gets to school, he just lets himself get called Vincent to avoid having to correct everybody.

However, if you chose (eg) Amelie, it's perfectly possible to say Amelie in an English accent so it sounds fine.