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!

I've a Russian name and my sister has a French name. Never had any issues. We are neither French or Russian.

With the ancient Egyptian god Ra, his name means prince, and the female equivalent means princess. It's in the Bible, of course, and is therefore Hebrew, but there is a theory that Sarai (later Sarah) was Egyptian.
The second reason I said it's Egyptian is that I worked with Arab students at a university in Dubai and was told more than once that Sara is an Egyptian name.

Just coming here to say that some arab people are white, with blond hair… and blue eyes… look up berber

"No, it's more about a dominant culture feeling it's okay to pick and choose what they like from a culture they've colonised or demonised."

I beg your pardon? The average Brit hasn't colonised or demonised anyone..and neither have their ancestors for that matter.
What you're doing there is implicating an entire ethnic group with transgressions they had no complicity in, merely because they share the same ethnicity as the people who were complicit.

"It's really shit to hear how your religion, language, way of life is irrelevant, old-fashioned and sometimes offensive, but then have your religious symbols used without meaning"

And just about all of the things you've described here are regularly employed against White Brits too (with the previous xenophobic assumptions above being used to excuse it).

Noah, Elizabeth, Elijah, Mary, James, Isaac, Isaiah, Jude, Simon, John, Rebekah, Thomas, Moses, Jonah etc are all directly connected to religion and I don't think anyone minds whether they're used more generally.

I think it's better that people feel free to just use the names they like.

What I have learned from this thread is that children’s hospitals guess religious beliefs based on names, that you probably shouldn’t choose Mohammed if you’re not Muslim/arabic, and that any name you care to mention probably has roots in a culture other than English.

Hopefully this has helped the OP clarify her thoughts on names.

@SpudsAndCarrots , there are a lot of Muslim names. A name that is obviously Arabic would make me think that there was some connection with an arab or Muslim country.
I wouldn't assume that they were practicing Muslims or that they weren't.

@Violetrose7 Just out of interest would you say the same if a child was called Sara, Zara, or Layla all of which are arabic?
Sara is from Sarah (Hebrew), Zarais of Persian origin, and Layla is from Arabic.
They're also mainstream names.

Amira, Amaya and Safiya are a bit like you really like Amelia, Maya and Sophia but want to be different.

Not all Muslim people have brown skin. White British people can also be Muslim.

I don't think that using an Arabic name on a white child would raise many eyebrows if you live in a multi-cultural area. I used to teach in such an area, where Anaya, Soraya, Layla, etc. were the names of both Muslim and non-Muslim children.

It must be a bit more unusual if you live in an all-white area. I once had a young woman introduce herself as, "I'm Amira, and I'm from around here, but my parents just really liked the name".

It wouldn't bother me, personally, as so many popular names in the UK have origins abroad anyway.

Would you be comfortable if some people erroneously assumed your DC was Muslim?

If that’s not an issue for you then I don’t really see a problem but it’s not something I would feel comfortable about and would avoid such names for that reason.

some of these replies are insane.

name your baby whatever YOU like, nobody in real life will bat an eyelid

Btw my Dc have Arabic rooted names as I’m Arab but my husband is white so 2 of my DC are light skinned and white appearing to the untrained eye.

This. I am of Asian and Eastern European heritage and have an Italian name. Britain is so multicultural it’s absolutely fine. All the names OP suggests are beautiful.

I was born in the 1970s with a south Asian parent and have an Italian name just because they liked it and more importantly because they were immigrants they chose a Europe name as part of them assimilating into English culture.

Oh I forgot. My daughter has a French name. We went French. It is a name we liked.

I actually don’t like Amelia or Maya

@Hobbitfeet32 , Of course.

A friend is from an Arabic-speaking muslim country. The DC are Muslim and live in that country. They have western names. I think it's a bit strange.

@Violetrose7 , neither do I, but your names are similar in sound to them.
Amaya would be saying 'Amaya not Maya', Amira 'Amira not Amelia' and Safiya will be saying 'Safiya not Sofia' a lot.

I meant that you should steer clear of names that are extremely important to a religion if you’re not part of it, like my example of Mohammad. Jesus would be another one.

@SwedeAtTheFinnishLine those names are mainstream. I don't understand the current trend for biblical names, but it happened.

There's a difference between parents using Daniel for their baby to using Danyial instead because it isn't as common.

i feel like that’s a strange assumption to make. It’s certainly not the first thing that I think of when someone tells me their name.

but if somebody did assume that she was Muslim it wouldn’t bother me. We’d just say she isn’t and get on with our day.

Thats what I mean, I can't think of any name other than variants of Muhammad where I would assume they were Muslim.

I know many Indians who are called Mary or Joseph. Because they are Christian.

@SpudsAndCarrots , I can think of dozens.

Love Zara!

Saffron
Amelia
Maya
Miley
Samira
Serena

These all sounds acceptable to me for a western kid. I think it's fine to adopt them globally. I know it is technically cultural appropriation but seriously, worse things have happened.

But be sure that she won't be explaining it too much.

'Your name's Aretha?'

''Yes, I think my parents were expecting someone black"

~Postcards form the Edge