Slightly(!) preposterous foreign names

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

...this is inspired by my own MN nn.

Inmaculada Concepcion

is a bona fide name here in Spain (although it's rare to find anyone under fifty with it). We've caused a mixture of horror and hilarity among our Spanish friends by telling them we're going to call our daughter IC...

Another good one is:

Purificacion

And you get the male/female combos of:

Jose-Maria
Maria-Jose

(a friend with the latter name insists she's called "Mary Jo")

as you also get

Jean-Marie

in France.

Anyone got any more to add?

I had an a friend in Australia called 'Bank'.

Mathanxiety your last comment is spot on!

To the OP - grow up!

Apologies to anyone who thinks the thread is racist or indeed xenophobic - it's not meant to be either and I don't consider myself to be either.

I appreciate that in different cultures and traditions certain types of name are seen as entirely normal, whereas seen from an anglophone perspective they are more surprising and can raise a smile or two.

Nothing more seriously meant than that, I assure you - but apologies if I've offended anyone, that certainly wasn't the intention.

I'm glad to see at least someone agrees with me that we shouldn't be mocking the naming traditions of other countries otherwise my poor unborn (not even conceived as far as I know) DS is in for a really hard time with Marie as a middle name.

I wouldn't go as far as racist though. Ignorant, yes. Xenophobic, maybe. Racist, no.

This thread is not racist. It is a discussion about foreign names that are normal in their own countries that sound strange for English speakers.

I lived in Germany for many years and there were names that made me laugh. Just as there are names in UK that make me

I am half Spanish. I have a cousin Inmaculada (we call her Inma for short), my Dad has cousins Jose and Jesus and Pilar.

Oh and my middle name is Maria, which is the Spanish form of Mary, which is a very Irish middle name - my mother is of Irish Catholic origin.

I am very offended by the OP.

Keep your parochial opinions to yourself please.

It's not even an anglophone perspective, though -- for example, Irish naming customs are very similar to the general Catholic naming customs of much of Catholic Europe, and Ireland is an English-speaking country in the main.

Out of interest what are US naming traditions? Not so I can mock, just curious. I love finding out about other traditions for naming children.

The thing that has really annoyed me was the term

PREPOSTEROUS

you live in Spain so I assume you should be aware of the catholic traditions and meanings of names.

FYI- preposterous means this: completely contrary to nature, reason, or common sense; absurd; senseless; utterly foolish: a preposterous tale.

Why is Inmaculada preposterous?
Why were you thinking of calling your daughter a PREPOSTEROUS name?

I'm pretty sure the point of MN is not keeping our opinions to ourselves, parochial or otherwise.

racist and xenophobic my arse, go and find some real nastyness to complain about.

Eh? My DH is Turkish and we have had many conversations merrily comparing names that seem outlandish in each other's respective languages. Sorry if anyone is offended, but really, It Is Not A Big Deal.

I pity any child inflicted with my maiden name, or any of the maiden names for at least 3 generations, but I actually think it's a really nice idea.

There are plenty of British people choosing place names for children as well so I don't see why it's something out of the ordinary. Some places just have nice names!

I know ppl with the following names which are all a bit

Tango (as in the drink)
Angel
Queenie
Elfie

Thanks to those who came to my defence - and extra helpings of apologies to those who thought I was being mean-spirited in any way.

I find other cultures fascinating, including their choice of names and I don't mean to denigrate them. Indeed, it was my own Spanish friends' (amused) observations about some of these names that got us talking about it in the first place.

Perhaps I should have titled the thread "slightly preposterous - to Anglo ears, anyway" - or indeed, not used the word preposterous at all.

If nothing else, I guess it made for a lively discussion and it's taught me an important lesson about treading more carefully when it comes to people's sensitivities about such things.

I love Evidence as a name, btw!!

Agreed that it's been an interesting thread, but the use of the word preposterous was perhaps a little tactless, particularly as MN is more international than you may at first think (and you're probably very lucky there isn't an MNer who actually called her DD IC jumping in).

There's two sides to this - one is saying that one finds certain foreign naming traditions, such as highly religious names, Marian inspired names or place names ridiculous (which is culturally insensitive) and the other is names which do just sound weird when said in English such as Zulfucker or Orges which are both entirely appropriate names in their own language because they don't have the double meaning. Laughing at the first is not okay in my book, laughing at the second is understandable as long as you're not laughing at the person with that name or they understand the joke.

And I'll freely admit I'm hyper-sensitive because I get very funny looks for my name on a daily basis because it's not culturally normal (unless you're exceptionally patriotic and/or date back to the Napoleonic era).

IC- I didn't think for one second you meant to be offensive, and after reading the comments this morning I rang my mate Addolorata who wishes to be quoted as saying "I ask myself on a daily basis why the fvck my parents saddled me with such a name".

I find some foreign names are dreadful, I find some British names are dreadful. (there's a whole list of names on the last page of the Times Baby Names thread which I reserve the right to opine are bloody awful)

It's nothing to do with xenophobia, it's to do with personal opinions on names.

My dd's name is currently riding high on another names thread as being twee/childish/a cow's name. Do I look offended? Her middle name (chosen by me) is considered here to be for a 98 yr old nnun, not for a 6 yr old who likes fairies.

I do think the righteous indignation on behalf of others is getting a bit daft tbh.

In the interest of balancing things out I would like to point out that Pippa means wank in certain regions of italy.

There. I've said it.

I have a lovely friend called Pippa here and even after 5 years I can never refrain an inward snigger. Does that make me a racist? or xenophobic? I don't think so. It's just that some things don't translate well

Also, Buch, the two little girls in your dd's class are not both called maria, when you have a double name with Maria in front usually it's the second one that trumps the first- if that makes sense? So people probably think of them as Grazia and Luisa. It is compleltey normal for italian women (and many men) to have Maria as part of their names.

Bucharest
Your friend sounds like a potential MNetter.

Names are such funny things. Even names that seem preposterous at first become simply that person's name once you get to know them. I sniggered childishly when my SIL said that a member of her family called her DD Brooklyn as it reminded me of the Beckhams, but now she is just little Brookie and part of our family too.

I didn't find this thread offensive too, tbh. I think it's impossible to know in great depth the naming traditions of each country.
We are Italian and our son's name is Andrea. Andrea is a boy's name here in Italy, but we were living in the UK then

The thread says a lot more about the people who find these names slightly (!) preposterous than it says about the names themselves. Really, you'd have to be a troglodyte in this day and age to find bona fide names from other parts of Europe strange.