Do you think you have to have a connection to a country in order to choose a name from it?

[branflake81]

I am half Welsh half English. DP is half English half Indian so in theory we have a lot of possible cultural connections for names.

However one of the names I really like is Turkish - somewhere neither of us has any connection to.

Do you think that it matters?

I just had a look through those baby websites claiming to list Turkish names and their meanings, and may I just say do not trust them as they are only about half correct. And they have copied a lot from each other, and thus spread the mistakes.

Like this one that claims 'Onur' is a girl's name and says 'Tulip' is a girl's name that means 'a flower' . Lale is a girl's name that means 'tulip', which is not a word in Turkish at all. And wth is 'Kerzi'???

I have a Turkish name but am not Turkish. However, my mother lived in Turkey for most of the 60s and we have had a house there all my life. I love my name and it gets lots of comments BUT everyone asks where I am from/why do I have a Turkish name etc. It can get rather boring after a while. Professionally and now personally I go by my English first name.

I mean my English middle name.

bran - It's not even a 'made up name in Turkey'. You will not find a single person (girl or boy) named "Cari" in present day Turkey or any of its previous incarnations from the Huns who descended from Altai Mountains to the Ottoman Empire times.

Here and here are Turkish girls' names starting with 'C', from Turkish websites. Please note that 'Cari' isn't anywhere to be seen.

My best guess is that one English language made it up, misunderstood or copied it wrong. And the rest copied it from there.

Really, a good example why people should stick to names they know.

agree theses websites are mostly rubbish. I know from experience after seeking confirmation from friends (persian boy name for DS and chinese girl name for DD).

After all, if you have zero cultural connection, what does it matter if you love the SOUND of it?
That's how we usually pick "local" baby names.

English language website

Cari would be pronouned Jarreeee in Turkish. If you like the sound of Cari why not go for the traditional Carrie?

... and save your DD a lifetime of "I'm Carrie, but spelled 'Cari'".

too common? is that what you fear?

Cote - as you seem to know what you are talking about when it comes to Turkish names can I ask whether you have ever heard of the name Idil? We want to give our DD a Turkish middle name and I have a vauge memory of a girl I once met in Izmir being called Idil. Any ideas?

I think you have to have a cultural connection - meaning of the name, pronunciation etc.

Friend of mine given a 'French' name by her well-intentioned parents - nobody French she's ever met has heard of it. 'Twas in fact a made-up French-sounding name.

I don't think it matters.

I was going to use a Welsh name for DS1 if he had been a girl, and one of my favourite names atm is French.

artichokes - Idil is a nice name, and not very common either (especially in UK, I bet )

It's not a word used in everyday language, so I looked it up. Apparently it means 'a poem or short writing about love & nature'.

If you don't mind me intruding in your name selection process, here are a few other girl names I think work well for Anglophones:

with meanings from everyday language:
Derin (profound)
Deniz (sea)

more obscure meanings:
Selin
Seren
Irem (garden of eden)

Would you like to hear more?

Peronally, yes I do. I find it odd when people's children have very unusual names i.e with strong Italian connections but they have NO Italian connection WHATSOEVER but then that it just me.

Each to their own I guess

I think present day UK is singular in this respect that so many people are not only willing but dying to give their babies foreign names.

It's also starting in France, where 'Steeve' (sic), 'Jenifer' (sic) etc are in use. I also know three 'Sofia's born in the last two years and four 'Luca's. A French friend in just named her son 'Sloane', which she pronounces with 3 syllables ('Suh-low-on'). When she told me this, my eyeballs ached from the effort to just nod and smile.

My personal opinion on this (which I am aware nobody asked ) is that it is a symptom of the loss of national identity in Europe through the European Union a la American 'melting pot'. As groups of people move around in large numbers, different names are first heard, then become acceptable and even usual.

Sorry that came out quite negative. Parents are perhaps not 'dying' to give foreign names to their babies, but most do seem to feel that it is a Very Good Thing to give unusual, different, exotic, etc names to their kids, which tend to be foreign.

Thanks Cote.

I like Irem alot. Do give me other ideas if you have them.

I have a lovely Turkish friend called Arzu which I think is pretty, I think it means Desire though and I am not sure about that as a meaning (funnily enough her surname is Deniz which you propose as a first name). I have a Turkish "grandma" (not actual relative) called Leman and I would like to use that name but DH just keeps muttering about Lemons. I also like Meltem (does that mean Honey? I keep forgetting).

Meltem means 'breeze'. Pretty name.

I'm not so keen on Leman - it's an old woman's name. I don't know any babies named 'Leman' in the last two decades.

I just looked over a list of girls' names and here are the ones I can suggest - nice meanings, easy on Anglosaxon ears, easy to pronounce. I'm guessing you will know how to pronounce them. If in doubt, let me know.

Ayla (light around stars)
Alev (flame)
Buse (kiss)
Eda (elegance - close enough translation)
Ece (queen)
Ezgi (melody)
Hayal (waking dream)
Izim (my path/the trail I left behind - sorry, I'm really bad at translating)
Lal (shiny & dark red color)
Lale (tulip)
Maral (female deer)
Mey (wine - not the usual word for 'wine' but a word sometimes used in poems)
Naz (not sure if there is a word for this in English - a very feminine behaviour, where we want our admirers to keep asking us out and we keep saying 'no', hoping they will keep asking. Better ask your mum for explanation. Pretty name, though)
Nehir (river)
Oya (elaborate needlework)
Peri (fairy)
Seda (pleasant sound)
Sema (sky)

cool names!

My baby book says

"Cari, Carie (Welsh)forms of Carey, Kari.
Caria, Cariah

Seren (from cotedazur's turkish list) means star in Welsh

Myy DD is called Niamh and I have no connection to Ireland whatsoever, I just loved the name so I'd say no, it doesn't matter!

Muggglewump, do you find anybody having problems with pronouncing Niamh's name when they see it spelt? My niece is Aisling and quite a few have problems with it!