Arabic names for white child

[Violetrose7]

Me and my partner are both white British, the baby girl names we love the most include Amira, Amaya and Safiya, all of which are of Arabic origin. I also love Zara but he isn’t keen.

has anyone got any other suggestions similar to these names and also does anyone think it would be an issue using an Arabic name when we have no connection to the culture? We just love the names!

You are right that names are coming from all over the world.

Some of them have a specific known origin, but are already "appropriated" and the general public doesn't see them as a marker of specific culture.

The names you mentioned are not yet included in the big pot of "just a name, no ties" in UK context. Sooner or later they will be, as more parents decide to use them irrespective of the origin.
You are now deciding whether you want to be part of normalising the name, or whether you don't want to have to explain you have no Arabic connection.

I'd say Sara and Zara are in the well adopted category of names, no specific meaning.

people call their kids all sorts these days. call her what you want! arabic or not. I don't think people will care or even ask. unless it is completely off the wall!

I think Zara (which will just make people think of the clothes shop!) and Safiya are fine, Amira and Amaya would be a bit odd.

Aaliyah seems to be a name I encounter a lot, even in girls who don’t appear to have any Arab heritage. I also know a couple of Scheherazades (strictly, this is a Persian name but the ones I know aren’t Persian or Arab).

Miriam (Maryam) or Mina might be another option, perhaps?

err nope

Niyya/Nia is Arabic/Welsh slightly different meanings.
Sami/Sammy is Arabic/English

Most of the Old testament names have an Arabic equivalent so that's worth looking at.

My three kids are all white looking but have Arabic heritage so have Arabic names.
If you do like Arabic names make sure you like the meaning too as most of not all Arabic speaker while know what the name means. For me I love the Amira but couldn't cope naming a girl Princess in English so wouldn't do it in Arabic. I also love the name Sultana but both it's royal title and having to explain it's not a raisin.

Farah

That’s quite unusual, or is the other parent white?

Amira and Amaya is used a lot now. You can use any name you wish and don’t need to explain yourself to a single person. This her name end of. Talk about pandering. A name is a name. I have a French name. So what. It’s only an issue if it gets made an issue.
and I work in labour suite I hear every name under the sun, call your child whatever name you love. Every single name under the sun is going to have an origin.

There are Arabic names that are commonly used by white people and I think I would stick with those

Like Zara and Layla

you could do Sara or Hannah (hana)

or names that sound similar to some of the ones you like

arya
aria
avery
Ariana
saffron
Scarlett

I have a name from another culture, it’s embarrassing to explain all the time.

Or perhaps they just liked the name?

Maryam, Amal, Marwa, Aziza or Yara

Life is Aisha ❤️

But honestly, i'd go for the more popular Arabic names that have filtered into englishness, like maya?

WTH. How does this even happen?

Use the name you like. I’ve known south Asians called Elizabeth and Barbara, lots of different cultures have anglicised names.
So many names are cross cultural like Zara, Sophia, Layla, Hannah.

We use loads of names in the UK that have hebrew, greek, german, french, scandinavian origins - I don't think it's cultural appropriation, more appreciation.

Loads of names like Zara, Yasmin, Leila, Salma, Aesha are used by white people.

Personally I think Amira, Amaya and Safia wouldn't raise any eyebrows.

Go for Amira which means Queen. It’s a beautiful name. My parents gave me a russian name. I am far from being russian 😊

Like I say it’s quite unusual in my experience. I haven’t met anyone southern Asian who doesn’t have a traditional name.

I know an Asian couple who called their child Rose. Not unusual at all. People are increasingly choosing names simply because they like them.

Exactly!!!!! It’s nice the op is being considerate but honeslty the replies here are mental! If we had to think about everyone name and who the hell they may offend in the world no one would tell anyone their names! Let’s all just be called names of our place of birth only haha how ridiculous

Like I said in my experience

Amira is also a Hebrew name, and Amaya/Amaia is used in several languages but my main association with it is Spanish language. Safiya is the only one of your 3 choices that I think would be likely to cause confusion or surprise, mainly because the more familiar (to English speakers or Europeans in general) Sophia and Sofia are similar and very common at the moment.

One general rule of thumb for cultural appropriation: if you're (1) claiming or accepting credit for something created by another culture, (2) enjoying/popularising something that has been denied to people in the originating culture, (3) making a profit from someone else's culture (especially when they themselves cannot), or (4) "borrowing"/ appropriating something that has cultural or religious significance you don't understand or which is normally shared with outsiders, stop to reconsider. However, you can fall short of actual harmful cultural appropriation and still create a situation where you feel uncomfortable, so if that's the case with any of these names after you've really thought them through, then I'd not use them.

No it isn’t. Sara/Sarah is pretty much the most universal female name in history. Claiming it belongs to any one country is ridiculous, and I’m very curious why Egypt is the one you decided to plump for over any other Middle Eastern country.

I don’t think the replies are necessarily mental, would you call a white boy born to white parents Mohammed? or a girl Shaniqua? It’s very unlikely that you would.
Do you see my point?
my son is mixed and his name is appropriate, it took a lot of deliberation.

British Asian families living in Britain choosing English/British names for their kids makes sense - they are British. That’s a direct cultural connection.

A white British family living in Britain with no cultural or family ties to any country where Arabic is spoken choosing an Arabic name is not the same thing. People are going to be confused by the choice.

Amaya is also a Spanish name right? I think it's beautiful and was between that and Leila for my DD and we are white British