Farida

[backformore]

Would this be an odd name to give to a girl if the family isn't Arabic-speaking or Muslim? I like the meaning and have some personal affinity with Urdu, but don't want to seem pretentious/appropriative! DH says it's too obviously Middle Eastern to work for us (we're both blonde-haired and blue-eyed, if it makes any difference). I'm wondering if it could work as Farah does, though (think Farrah Fawcett)...??

I think Farida ( pronounced Fareeda ) sounds lovely, and works across cultures. I do know a Farida, and at school her name was always slang-shortened to Freeda by other children.
I would not be surprised and nosy if I met a blonde Farida. Use it if you love it ❤️

@yosoyapplecider

I honestly didn’t know that this was a common/popular Arab/Muslin name...?

I know a Christian (her parents are very Christian, evangelical parents) girl named Aliyah but I assumed that this was... well, a political statement about Jewish immigration to Israel, tbh.

Huh, interesting :)

Freya is similar?

Frieda and Frayda / Fraida (Joy in Yiddish) are similar as well.

@freddieclaryhorshielion
it's a very popular name amongst south Asian Muslims as well as Arab Muslims, being from the UK originally, every Aliyah I know is a Muslim and there's some who are well over 50 years of age so it's been popular for a very long time.

The Persian/Iranian spelling would be Farideh, emphasis on first syllable.

@yosoyapplecider

I 100% believe you. I simply had a very different association / made different assumptions.

I have a Frida and work in lots of Arabic speaking countries. Whenever I tell anyone her name they say 'oh well then, she has an Arabic name! Farida!' So there you go.

I’m a bit of a Faraday fan so it would work for me!

@Mamaka, that's interesting - so Persian places the emphasis on the first syllable, definitely?

Not always. And there’s the speeding up too!

The Persians I know called Farideh are all FA-rideh yes, and are from Tehran. May be pronounced differently in different regions?

Also, my instinctive thoughts about "cultural appropriation" in the context of this thread are that it all sounds a bit, you stick with your sort and we'll stick wth ours, everyone where they should be. I don't get it. Names can cross cultures. It's not offensive to name a child a beautiful name from a different culture than your own, like it is offensive to dress up as a Native American or blackface for Halloween (which is where I usually see cultural appropriation being discussed). And I say this as a person that is part of 3 distinct cultures.

I know a Farida and she is Swedish looking. Its a lovely name and hadnt realised it was a Muslim name ( surely not Muslim only )

Interesting - thanks so much! :)