A cautionary name tale...

[Clary]

I met some people today with small children (hope she isn't a MN-er) and wanted to share this cautionary tale.

Greeted oldest child - what's yr name? I'm Alex, he says. Very nice.

What's yr sister called?
Mum: Oh, this is Minka.

Me: Eh? Sorry what did you say her name was?

Mum: Minka.

Me: Oh that's nice, how unusual, errm what a pretty skirt!

It was Minka, I checked later, not Minca or Mincker or Mincer or Minger. {sorry}

But really, I just wanted to say that that is that child's destiny for the rest of her life, to repeat her name to everyone she tells it to.

So when you name your lovely baby, pick something less commonly used if you want (yes I did) but please pick something that people actually recognise as a name!

we said mink/minky/minker is Fife too, np. You are a fife

In truth, the truth hurts.

Minka is an Eastern European name.

Minka is also the name of a cat in a Judy Blume book.

That's where I stole it from when I named my cat 17 years ago!

minka is a character in a little known opera

cant remember the name of it im afraid

maybe they are Polish or one of the parents is Polish? I don't think when any of us name our babies we worry about what the odd person is going to think tbh - my dc have unusual names and so will my dc3 (just got to pick it now!) The world would be a very boring place if we all named our babies plain old English names (not that there's anything wrong with plain old English names if they are your cup of tea) but some of our dc are mixed heritage or not of English heritage and we want something to reflect that. I know you didn't mean it in a bad way, starting this post but it does come across as quite narrow minded if you read it back, especially compared to your reaction to Alex, which is obviously more acceptable to some people.

FUCK ME! You people really won't be happy until everyone in the country is called Dave. Fuck off.

I think Minka's very pretty. Might even add it to my list...

People always go when the hear DD's name so I figure my second child needs an equally obscure moniker (actually DD's name is a perfectly respectable Spanish name but ignorent, narrow-minded unwordly Brits just don't get it)

Look, I don?t care what names you choose for your children. Pick Pete and Dave, pick Paigan-Tai and Caije if you like (genuine names from local paper).

FWIW my children have less common names too.

It?s just that it would bug me if every time I introduced them people said ehh? What?

I hardly ever do that with kids? names (have come across many many thanks, I do get out now and then) but I did this time and it just struck me as a warning note for those who are going to pick very very uncommon names.

Right, said me bit, I?m off now.

I know a Minkie - I did think a bit when I first met, but now I think it suits her - grown woman btw.

I actually had a very good friend when I was little called Mineke (pronounced almost like Minka). She was Dutch and I gather that in the Netherlands Ineke and Tineke are also popular names.

Nice name. (Hi Hatrick

I wouldn't care at all.

There are plenty of unusual names, especially in areas where there's a good diversity of different cultures. I love hearing the different names and I find you get used to taking it in your stride.

Do you think people from other countires ought to be forced to call all their kids Chloe and Jack etc too just so the indigenous people can pronounce them?

However, I must say, where I grew up in Aberdeen 'minker' was the word school children used to taunt others about being poor with holey, old clothes etc.

So presumably Minka isn't in Aberdeen.

Ha ha - but you wouldn't call a kid Ned north of the border either but round where I live (south west London) it is kind of trendy

oh god. dont know if it's been said before in this thread, but it's sicilian slang for ladies' bits...

Funnily enough was listening to a play on Radio 4 earlier this evening and there was a Polish character called Minka.

ut minka is dead easy to pronounce and intuitive to spell and sounds like a name si i dont see how it would raise an eyebrow

exactly, zippi...I think that is why people have reacted the way they have...if it was a near unpronouncable name, well...people might have not quite jumped on OP the way they did...but what is difficult about Minka...it's even a phonectic name...which should, even in the UK, be idiot proof, really, lol....

Borg......

I think the point was not so much that the name was unpronouncable or hard to understand but that it sounded a bit rude.

i prefer minka to fanny tbh

I agree with MMJ. Not very cosmopolitan, or multi-cultural to freak out as soon as you hear a non anglo-saxon name. There are quite alot of names around the world that have a totally different connotation in English than they do in their original culture. We can choose to be juvenile about it and snigger like schoolgirls (verging on MMJ's Big Brother point) or we can be openminded and give people the benefit of the doubt. I have lived in lots of different countries and you can rest assured that some very standard English names sound almost "rude" in other languages - names that I am sure that some MNers have themselves or have given their dc's and think of "normal".

well i have never heard of any of these slang uses of minka mentioned on the thread