A black child with an Eastern European name ?

[Namerci]

Hi! I have been thinking about this a lot , and would like to get some opinions.
My husband is half Latvian half Black British and I am Black. We are expecting a little girl and we both like the names Karlene and Anya, which are latvian/Russian names. But our baby will probably look fully black ( Since she'll only be 25% Latvian). Would you find that odd or shocking if you met a black person with an Eastern European name ?

No! Beautiful names 💓

I thought Latvia was north European, not east

No. Anya is in very common usage and I wouldn’t know where Karlene came from.

Also, people have all sorts of names in the UK.

I think you sister in law needs a hobby.

Well you describe it as 'explain herself' but I see it as an interesting history to her name and her heritage.
If you have no cultural connection to the name I'd say, use it, its lovely.
With the cultural connection, I'd say use it and be proud.

I really wouldn’t worry at all. Things are changing in France - for the best! This was in the news lately: the most given names to babies in 2021 (first graph) and the names that had the fastest rise (second graph). Look how different some are! Definitely not traditional names at all. And in big cities in France, lots of children are from mixed heritage.

Babies’ names 2021

I know a black woman called Carlene and one called Anya 🤷🏾‍♀️

No.

Thanks to all the posters. One more question s'il vous plaît. If you met a black person with a Latvian/Russian first name and surname. Like Anya Dimitrieva ; would be like 'What the hell ?!!"

By the way , this are 3 others names my husband and I like , please tell me if you find them too odd for a 1/4 white child:

Anastasia (Anya for short, I love the name too much haha)
Irina
Nina
Sofija (pronounced Sophia)

If you met a black person with a Latvian/Russian first name and surname. Like Anya Dimitrieva ; would be like 'What the hell ?!!"

No, not at all. I think DC have so many different/unusual names now anyway no one would bat an eyelid over here. However it's rather irrelevant as you say your DD will be brought up in France or even Latvia anyway.

Sorry, maybe I should've added it in the OP. I started thinking about it since my sister-in-law made a comment about it. Something like " A black girl with an Eastern-European name ? Strange".

But your Sil knows your DD has Eastern European heritage from her Dad, why would she say this? It's so strange

The names strike me as being very 'russian' (as in USSR), so I probably would expect someone who looked 'slavic' (Latvia isn't slavic AFAIK), so there might be an initial surprise element, and that would happen a lot in a lifetime, and a lot of 'Are you russian?' type comments, which might get tiresome

Nina is more neutral.

I like both names and the only girl called Anya I know is a lovely black girl.
I love the name Anya 😊

Actually there is a little Natalya in DD's class, and when I was putting names to faces I assumed she would be one of the white ones (she's black). But I have a Nigerian friend called Natasha and that has never struck me at all until now, and the names you mention are pretty mainstream.

They're both gorgeous names.

My nephew is called Dmitri and is mixed heritage but looks black. He's 25 and it's never been an issue for him.

Go for it! Both are beautiful.

There is a beautiful little black girl in my daughters class named Saoirse. Mum is Irish, Dad is Nigerian.