Saracen?

[countryyear]

Just heard of a young baby named this very recently. I’ve never heard of this being used as a name? It must be quite unusual if so. What do people think?

Their nickname would be Rocky, surely

It just means 'Muslim', doesn't it?

Ok. I've had a rethink. It's not terrible - purely taking into account the sound of the name - but it's a very strange choice unless there's a cultural connection and even then I doubt it'd be a term ever used within that heritage? Isn't it a label that was applied by Christians, rather than a name that was accepted/owned by the Arabian nomadic people they were referring to...?

@Youcantflosstomonkeywrench ditto

Hollow my Dad's Muslim and I never realised that Saracen had that meaning! I must ask him what it's interpreted as in Arabic....

You need to google the word.

This is a dreadful name for a child. Dreadful.

I'm just going to have to stop reading and responding to these barmy baby name threads.

Saracen sword.
Actually know a woman,a friend of my mother's, who called her son this about 25 years ago. He changed it as soon as he could.

It doesn't just mean Muslim. It's a derogatory term for Muslims coming from the time of the crusades, derived from a Greek word for thief. So, you know, it would be a bit like calling your baby Wog or Paki. It's really, really not a good choice.

No no no OP.

Call him James and be done with it.

This is what I think of when I hear the name: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracen - and I think Morgan Freeman's character in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was a saracen.

It's not the OP's baby, Fizzy. A child has already been called this.

Saracen, you will go at my first whistle!

To be honest I think it’s dreadful.