opinions on our chosen name: Heavenly Joy

[greenyish]

Just want to run it past a few strangers

But names are either nice or not (in an individual's opinion!) they're not nice for some people. Like Gretel. Horrible name. Doesn't matter if Gretel is German or not, I don't like the name. That's all there is to a view on a name surely?

Not if the question is 'Should I call my child Gretel?' Then it's reasonable enough to say that you can if you want to, but if you don't have any German connections you might get some funny looks.

Funny looks for naming your child a 'foreign' name? Christ on a bike, what kind of narrow-minded xenophobic world do you live in?

I personally think it's bloody awful. To me it would imply a strong religious faith, which I don't think should be imposed on a child. The child should be able to decide on faith or lack of faith when they are older. I'm atheist and if my parents had called me Heavenly I would have changed it by deed poll a long time ago!

Sorry, OP - I'm also not keen.

Lots of other names have a heavenly connection, though. How about Celeste?

Not sure it's quite xenophobia - more a concern about cultural appropriation. What right do I have to give my child a Finnish/Yoruba/Spanish/Mandarin name if I am none of those things?

albert

Cultures don't "own" names!

My DD has an English name. I am not appropriating anything - we are all bilingual.

I despair honestly. This is 2016 ffs.

I agree that it's complicated and I certainly don't think that people should be restricted to names from their own backgrounds. Also, of course, names migrate and change. But there can be something a little crass and insensitive about dipping into another culture about which one knows nothing, taking a name and using it. For example, gentiles using Cohen without understanding that within Judaism there are strict restrictions on its use.

I know a guy called Dimitri Murphy. He has no Greek or Cypriot heritage. I think it's odd.

Oh dear. I quite like it. I work with a lot of Africans with names like Favour, Blessing, Gifty, Prince and Praise. I like them. We do not own names. I do not think it's "cultural appropriation." FWIW DH and I are from very different cultural / ethnic backgrounds and our 3 DCs have names that are technically from another culture. No one's ever raised an eyebrow.

I do think that Heavenly is more on the unusual side and you may possibly have to deal with a few quizzical looks but I think you can get this with any slightly "out there" name. Personally I think it's a lot better that some I've heard.......

squoosh Dmitri is also common in Russia, is he maybe Russian?

Apropos a former post, I didn't actually know until I was in my teens that Angus was a particularly Scottish name. I don't think I'd ever met one but I'd read the name in books and knew of Angus Deaton. I don't think I'd find it too odd if someone told me they'd named their son Angus but they weren't Scottish. On the other hand, if someone told me they were calling their son Dafydd but they weren't Welsh, I might. And if someone called their daughter Hannelore but weren't German I might find that a bit strange, but not if they called her Heidi.

And now I'm rambling.

Fuck's sake.

So now we must name within a deemed culturally appropriate set of monikers?

Naaaah.

The only Heavenly I've ever heard of is Heavenly Finley from Sweet Bird Of Youth.
So I'd assume the parents might be Tennessee Williams fans.

I think it sounds much better without the Joy though (or Joy without Heavenly)

Look, whether you like it or not, people will make assumptions about you based on your appearance/accent. If your name seems completely at odds with those, then it causes comment - you can rail against it but it's still gonna happen. I think the majority of people know this and choose their names accordingly.

I'm half Arab but didn't give DS an Arabic name because it would have been completely incongruous on a pale, ginger, blue-eyed, very 'Home Cainties'-accented child (although admittedly his accent wasn't there at birth)! Names should at the very least be chosen so that the child won't have to deal with predictably high numbers of comments throughout his/her life. I know a few adults with 'interesting' names and they invariably go by a nickname that's less comment-worthy.

albert, Cohen is a bad example, as it's not used in Judaism as a first name at all.

KoalaDownUnder - good point - choosing Cohen as s first name is daft as well as offensive. That said, it's a nice sounding name.

LaContessadiPlump, I know! Swap Arabic and Italian and that's me and DS who looks like he's not got any ancestors born south of Yorkshire.

Am not saying that everyone should pick names from their own culture (whatever that means), but that if you're choosing a name that is outside there's more due diligence to do. E.g. it's always quite funny to me seeing posh Brits go for names like Annunziata or Filomena when in an Italian context they scream peasant. Nothing wrong with the names per se, but there's no way in hell those same people would go for Keith or Tracy. And I do think there's an argument to be made that it's disrespectful to Southern Italians to name your child Annunziata without thinking at all about how it would play in Italy.

Sorry, this is a pet topic for me. It's fascinating. Why do girls' names travel better than boys'? Why have more and more Old Testament names become common currency among gentiles? Is it a sign of antisemitism ebbing? Why is Jesus tickety-boo as a name in Spain but seriously weird in Italy? Why are 'American' names so frowned on on mumsnet?

I LOVE the name Gretel

If you were a man, who was just beginning hospital investigations that might lead to say 18 months of treatment and recovery, would you take the job? Of course you would!

Wrong thread !

Dunno, BikeRunSki. More importantly, did he have an interesting, culturally surprising name?

A Stripper's name

There's some right narrow minded arseholes on this thread. I think heavenly is lovely op. Don't follow the sheep and give your baby some godawful common, white British middle-class name. Name her what you want and im so sorry for your loss flowers. Some people on here can be right twats if you think even a little bit out of the box.

Why don't you introduce yourself to new people as "Heavenly" and see how it works out, neonrainbow.

I grew up with a ridiculous name. It was shit.

Is there any need for the racism and "stripper name" comments? Especially when someone has said it is the name of her stillborn baby you've still got people gleefully espousing how horrible a name it is.

I personally don't like the sound of 'heavenly' - too close to 'heavy' and would no doubt get abbreviated to 'hevs'.

It does sound a bit like a spoof name, or a porn star name.