To think it doesn’t matter that the name is similar to a famous architect

[AAligator]

I’m losing my mind!!

DH and I are expecting our first baby. We need a name that works in Arabic and English.

Our surname is Hadid, we love the name Zara. However DH thinks it is odd that her name would be one letter away from the architect Zaha Hadid.

I think Zara Hadid is a lovely name and that the architect is irrelevant.

thoughts?

I knew who the architect would be as soon as I read the word ‘Arabic’ in your OP, and am very familiar with her work.

However, I think Zara Hadid is a great name.

Sadly Zaha H’s name will not now feature in current news as great new buildings get built and only a niche minority of people over coming years will say ‘oh , one letter away from the architect’, and if they do, it’s hardly a negative association.

I have a friend called Zahra Hadid - I don't think it is very uncommon tbh!

But you can't assume other people's general knowledge is as limited as yours, surely.

Hmm.
George Clarke.
Neave Brown.
Erno Goldfinger - all perfectly reasonable names...

George Clarke has two incredibly common names, so I imagine there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them floating about. If someone suggested naming their son Neave on here, Mn would say everyone would think he was a girl and why not call him Neville or Nevan or Neil and save him a life of saying 'No, not Niamh.'

And I imagine calling your child Erno Goldfinger is more likely to get people smirking about Ian Fleming calling one of his villains after him over some planning row, rather than saying 'Ah, a pioneer of Brutalism!'

I have never heard of her and I don't think the association is a bad thing. we are using it for our DD too due in April 😊

You've got to know about architecture to know that Zaha Hadid is an architect. How many people do? If you like it, go for it. Perhaps she'll become a great architect.

I don't know much about architecture but I've not been living under a rock.
Do people just not know things?

I am a big fan of zaha hadid but I think it’s ok (so long as you don’t mind the connection. I wouldn’t mind). By the time she’s old enough for her peers to know the name zaha hadid will be a historic figure not current.

Own it OP, Zaha Hadid is a fabulous association.

Given 20% of the population is functionally illiterate, yes, lots of people have very limited general knowledge. I saw someone well-known on TV the other day who was unable to ID Shakespeare from the clues "the bard" and "Othello". He had never heard the word bard.

Apologies to OP for the derail but it seems you and your husband have agreed now anyway. Congratulations on your bundle, may she shine as brightly as her near-namesake.

I also think your dh is overestimating the fame of this architect.

I've been around a long time, and am interested in lots of things, and fairly well read, but I don't know the name. I suspect that would be the case with the vast majority of the population.
Even those who made the association, I'm presuming it isn't a bad one ?

Zara is a lovely name.

Load of rubbish. You don't need to know about architecture to know her name, you just have to have a passing interest in news and current affairs which most people with any sort of intelligence do. She was regularly in the news because she was a very well-known and well-regarded architect which is very unusual in an area dominated by men, she won many awards and she designed well- known buildings, her death was all over the news.
I find it strange on this thread that the people who've never heard of her assume that others have as narrow an awareness of the world as they do.

Load of rubbish. You don't need to know about architecture to know her name, you just have to have a passing interest in news and current affairs which most people with any sort of intelligence do.

Well, this thread tells you differently.

I watch the news probably 6 days out of 7 and I talk to people from all sorts of walks of life through different hobbies, but I don't know her name.

Sorry wrong thread, ignore

No, this thread tells me there are lots of people with narrow lives with no interest in the wider world or art or culture.
You may well watch the news but you can't have taken it in or maybe you just watch it in a superficial way and don't read newspapers etc, otherwise you would have heard of her, even if only to hear of her death.

My association is the clothes shop

My DD has exactly the same name as a relatively famous actor/stand up comedian who is 20 years older than her. She thinks it’s great as if anyone googles her name the famous person is all that comes up. Much better than being able to be easily tracked.

Doesn’t matter

I hadn't heard of Zaha Hadid either. Have googled her and the only see this as a positive association if anyone makes that connection. I think although you may get the odd adult making the reference whilst she's a baby (and does that even matter) the main thing is I don't think by the time your DD is an adult it will be an issue for her generation unless someone is in architecture circles.

Love the name, go for it!

Don’t be daft - she’s not going to be a current name in 15 years.

And as this thread tells you, there are a vast number of people who haven’t heard of her now.

Well, it's great if you want to stay under the radar. This is why a character in a Richard Osman novel, when she disappeared and adopted a new identity, chose the name 'Alice Cooper'. Both a plausibly normal British female name, but also totally buried under the 'Godfather of Shock Rock' if Googled.

I do know the architect but it's not exactly the same and it won't matter

I like your name choice

@theduchessofspork , I'm not daft.