Do I tell her?

[03cg73]

i have a slight situation with a friend of mine and the name she has chosen for her little girl

my friend is French, living in London where this child will grow up. She’s 39 and this is a very much longer for baby

shes been saying since the start that she wanted a Latin name. Her partner is Spanish and they thought the Latin influence would connect them. All lovely. Very excited for them. Until this afternoon when she sent me a picture of a baby blanket she’s had personalised to reveal the name to me and the name they have chosen is Saline.

I’ve checked and it genuinely is a Latin girls name. I asked the pronunciation thinking it could be said like Celine or something. But no. Pronunciation is Saline. Like the wound wash

normally I’d just keep my mouth shut but years ago a friend of SIL (again, English was not this persons first language) named her baby Chanel, thought it looked better spelled with 2 N’s and ended up naming her poor kid Channel. No one said anything, and when it came out months later she was annoyed that no native English speakers had pointed this out at the time and has since removed the extra N

so do I tell my friend she is naming her daughter after a surgical wash? Or keep my mouth shut and hope the the kid doesn’t grow up getting the piss ripped out of her? friend absolutely loves the name and has been gushing about how perfect it is 😬

Plenty of people in the UK say say-leen drip (I’m in NE England and hear it plenty). Either way the spelling is going to be an issue because of both pronunciation issues and connotations. Gently checking she understands the meaning of a chosen name within the context of the country they live in isn’t patronising. Knowing a word means “salty” in Latin languages is very different to knowing it’s an incredibly common medical product.

Ah so it isn't pronounced like the English pronunciation of salt water at all (say-line).

Say-leen sounds much prettier. In that case I would not mention it at all.

No that would be just adding salt to the wound!

She has google its on her. Its not just mouthwash though sea water is a saline solution so you both are missing something!

Just checked and it means the same in French!

in Latin it definitely won't be pronounced as saline. however, English people will read and pronounce it that way. I'd say something too

Just because a name isn't English or a non English speaker gives their child a legitimate name in their culture that sounds 'funny' or 'silly' or 'like a word in your country' to you means absolutely nothing and is actually pretty racist to even think like that.

That's not true. It isn't racist to think that a name sounds like a word in a different language.
Why would thinking that Peter sounds like "fart" be racist? Which race is affected?

Dikshit?! 😅It makes Saline pale into insignificance!

It’s none of your business if someone wants to give a non British name including - gasp! - an Indian one

To be fair, Chlamidya and Diarrhoea also sound pretty and pleasant to the ear - if you don't know what they actually mean!

In fact, I'd also avoid using Daria for that very purpose!!

oh yeah tell a French person what it means in her own language
smh

What’s wrong with Daria?

I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying that I would not want my child to have a name that everybody would laugh at in the culture in which they were being brought up.

Establish yourself in Italy and then freely call your new DD Pippa, if you like - so that every time she meets somebody new in her own home country, she is effectively introducing herself to everybody as "Hello, I'm blow job". She might even find that her own name is censored on her school/work intranet as obscene and all of her emails are instantly blocked. I'm just saying that most parents would care enough about their children not to do that.

Just like, if I had moved from a country with a different language, I wouldn't insist on them only speaking my own native language and not learning the language of what is now their country. Wonderful if they can become fluent in both; but they do need to be able to communicate freely in their home country.

I don't know why you specifically picked up on the Indian example rather than any of the European ones - we're obviously talking about language here, not race or skin colour, if that was where your mind was going.

It's fine in itself, but it sounds rather close to diarrhoea, especially depending on the accent.

I think it's normally pronounced as DAH-ree-uh, but it's not the best-known name; so if people aren't familiar with it, they're likely to guess that it might rhyme with the far more common Maria.

Don't be a drip. Tell her.

I would. I do remember a friend of mine telling me that my daughter's nickname meant something rude in a different language, and I was annoyed, but that was quite an obscure language that no one I know speaks here (my friend doesn't speak it either but apparently always googles proposed names and nicknames to check they don't mean anything rude anywhere!). I think it's different if she's going to be growing up here.

Not sure if there's a SOLUTION lol

I have a cousin named Celine but pronounced Saline. I never noticed until just now that it sounds the same as a salt water solution!

Yes, you need to say something.

It's not just a wound wash - it's a nasal spray. It's what goes in IV fluids. Every adult this child meets will immediately think nasal spray.

Saline is salt water. It's not TOO bad but wouldn't be my choice.. However!..
As a nurse the one name which always makes me cringe is Melena!

Yes this, or perhaps Selene!

Yes, I would say something. In a polite way. If this had happened to me, I would actually be a bit annoyed if people had kept quiet. I actually think Celine is a beautiful French name but it’s okay to tell her “Hey, look by the way, the spelling that you’ve chosen would mean wound wash over here. It’s a gorgeous name - have you considered spelling it Céline?”

Depending on the accent, the name Torfàe (not 100% sure on the spelling) can sound like Toffee to the British ear. One of the French/Swiss girls doing an exchange visit to my school. She ended up with the nickname 'Bon-bon' instead which she quite liked 😁
Obviously she didn't have to live in the UK very long, so best to help a child who lives here permanently from teasing. That kid with that triple barreled first name mentioned in about 2010 in England was a bit much tbh. Parents should not impose bizarre titles or give label the kid might be picked on for.

Non English native here. I would have appreciated being told. When my eldest son was born we excitedly told my mother in law our choosen name. I was very proud of it, it was a strong biblical name and I thought she'd like it. Her response? 'No no - you cant call the baby that, they will pick on him at school. You better choose a different one'. 😅
She is not from the uk either but different country/culture to me. I am glad she told me, in her culture that name might have resulted in name calling. My son was more likely to have peers from her culture than mine here in the UK. She had raised 6 kids here in the UK, she clearly knew her stuff.

I changed his name straight away to our second choice and her response was 'Yea - me like that one, that one much better'. She was right.

Moral of the story, tell her, so she knows. They might still go with it as their cultural reference might outweigh the UK association. Which is all good. But at least its an informed choice.

Only prob is that the pronunciation of salt solution, saline in spoken english is different to the name.
Is every1 going to be mispronouncing this little 1’s name all her life?
Surely the parents-to-be, have other names they like? I had lists & didn’t make up my mind which names to use until I’d met the little person f2f & got to properly know them.

.

Ffs🤣. I have had a rubbish day and this thread made me laugh.