Rafiki?

[Nottherealslimshady]

For a boy. I love love love it. It means friend in swahili. We've been to Tanzania and it was such an emotional connection to the people and place, and since then I've just really felt that it fits us.

This is what middle names are for OP.

Um, no. Not only will people immediately think of The Lion King, but this is appropriation, first and foremost. To use a random African word when you don't have a cultural connection to the place it originates (and a holiday doesn't count) is everything that is wrong with white people rn.

Sorry, that came out very harsh but this kind of stuff just exasperates me! Best search for another name OP.

Surely this is a joke?

You can’t call your child after the baboon in the Lion King!!!

You’ll be setting him up for a lifetime of bullying.

If you absolutely MUST then have it as a middle name.

I can guarantee you almost every parent and teacher upon hearing poor Rafiki’s name would be wondering “WTAF were the parents thinking?”

Oh yes, and it’s ridiculous to call a child such an obviously African name if your only link to Africa is that you have “been to Tanzania”.

Well I'm really sad at that response but that's why I asked.
I'm not liking the name because of the character in lion king it's more like naming our child after our friends in Tanzania.
It was just an idea, and it would only have been an option if we have two boys.

I like it, but you'd need to work on that backstory a bit...

Apart from the lion king connection I feel it's entering the realms of appropriation.

Maybe call him after your actual friends in Tanzania then?

It’s not even a name is it? It’s a Swahili word.

Would you call him Hakuna Matata or Jambo?

Please OP educate yourself about appropriation.

Meh. I like it. Mostly because I like Raf as a nickname. I guess that usually comes from Raphael? A Hebrew origin name meaning God has healed, common in Mediterranean countries. But heaven forbid you culturally appropriate. Stick with good old Anglo Saxon names. Aethelred?

Interested -
would people feel so strongly against it if OP had lived in Tanzania?

Would using a Sawhili name popular in Tanzania be more or less acceptable?

Sorry love but the pregnancy hormones have gone to your head.
I remember having a conversation with my midwife when I was pg with ds1 and considering the name Nemo, I'll never forget the look on her face when I mentioned that Corker, wtf was I thinking?

*Swahili

Why not go for something like Rafi instead

That way you pay homage to it but avoid the cultural appropriation stuff

I thought it was some kind of craft material.

I went on holiday to travelled to Hawaii once and all going to call my next child Honu ❤️

I really don't like it. It seems like cultural appropriation, and it's the child who will have to grow up and deal with that. I imagine that people would be at best nonplussed to meet a Rafiki not of African descent. Some would wonder why you'd named your child after a baboon, and others would find the name very insensitive.

I have a parent who grew up in an African country, my grandparents lived there most of their lives, I have visited several times and I have many dear friends there. Despite this, I wouldn't call a child of mine Danai or Takura. Issues relating to stealing and appropriating culture, particularly in post colonial countries is a very charged issue. And it would be your child who would have to wear that every day, and have it tied up in his identity.

I think using a random African word is even worse than using an actual name, if it's not used as a name in the original culture. It would be like a non-Irish person naming their child Fuinneog (window) or Ispíní (sausages).

This.

Call you child what you want, but be clear that what you want is offensive, racist and colonialist. So really, it's up to you.

Didn't know it was in the Lion King.

Only time I've ever come across it was the name of a yacht which capsized and all of the crew were lost. It was in the news a lot at the time. But I guess a boat has to be named something 🤷‍♀️

I didn't consider the appropriation angle tbh, one of them has a daughter called happiness and I just thought how beautiful it was that they'd taken a work form our language that's so normal and every day and turned it into an actually lovely name. Although I understand the difference.
I wont use it on the grounds I wouldn't want to offend.
Thanks for you honest opinions

Hmm I think I'd choose another similar sounding name then have Rafiki as his name at home. It's cute, but sounds like a nickname to me

Raphael?
Rafe?
Ralph?

My ds has a friend from the country you mentioned.
His name is Will!!

Forgot about the boat? Cheeky Rafiki wasn't it?

I think it would make a lovely middle name and your family could use it as a nickname for him.

Agree with above. Rafi would be more appropriate.