Is it pretentious or somehow wrong (foreign names)

[RivieraKid]

Backstory,

A good friend of mine has recently found out she's having a girl. She had a celebration/bump blessing thing this weekend and said that as she's a huge fan of everything Italian and visited while she was pregnant she wants to give her baby an Italian name (Carlotta). This has caused a surprisingly big issue with a couple who are mutual friends; they say it's pretentious and somehow inappropriate because neither she or her husband have a family/heritage connection to Italy. The wife even said it was cultural appropriation (isn't that something you can only do to oppressed peoples?)

Has anyone here given their baby a foreign name and been given stick for it, or decided against it for this reason? I just don't see that it's any of their business what she names her daughter.

Thanks for clarifying re bump blessing, Riviera - I've hardly come to terms with baby showers! And such was my shock that I omitted to agree with others that Carlotta is a lovely name and not so "foreign" that it's odd for non-Italians to choose.

Those friends are fuck nuggets. Carlotta is a gorgeous name.

I have a Sullivan. If he'd been a girl, he would have been Saoirse. I'm not Irish. I can call my child whatever the fuck I like and I would definitely be having stern words with those "friends" and blaming pregnancy hormones.

Can't stop thinking about Alotta Fagina from Austin Powers lowers tone

Friend with the baby is obviously a fan of Saki, and you don't get more genteel English than that (even if his pseudonym is a cultural appropriation )

eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/SchaMeth804.shtml

I don't see anything wrong with it, after all Francesca is an Italian name but it seems to have caught on in the UK too and people barely register it as being foreign. (I don't really like Carlotta though as it reminds me of Car Lot!)

I don't particularly like Carlotta but, as far as lapses of taste and judgment in baby naming go, it is hardly a seriously big crime.

It is a bit weird when people choose foreign names that they can't pronounce though - this has happened a bit to people I know in Italy!

I have an unusual name that is mostly found in Italy and Spain and my parents are Irish. I often get asked if I am Italian based on my dark colouring and name. I tell them my parents just liked it, smile and move on. They are perfectly satisfied.

This is in no way a big deal.

Carlotta makes me think of Malory Towers but as a Spanish speaker I would consider it that rather than Italian. Tonnes of names come from other places .
Look at the recent popularity of Clara , Orla , Luca , names can be from anywhere !