South Asian parents - would you give your baby a non-South Asian name?

[Anonymous]

Our first daughter has a classic and beautiful South Asian hindu name and our last name is a common-ish Indian name. I'm stuck on what to name our second daughter. I love the names Mira, Leela, Amara, and Aanya but worry that they are super common now.

So we're thinking outside the box (I've always loved the name Elodie). Just wondering if other South Asian parents considered or decided on non-South Asian names for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our first daughter has a classic and beautiful South Asian hindu name and our last name is a common-ish Indian name. I'm stuck on what to name our second daughter. I love the names Mira, Leela, Amara, and Aanya but worry that they are super common now.

So we're thinking outside the box (I've always loved the name Elodie). Just wondering if other South Asian parents considered or decided on non-South Asian names for their kids.

You can, but I'd wonder if my second daughter would wonder why she didn't get an Indian name when her older sister did.

[Anonymous]

No problem with that at all!

My name is not a traditional Indian name (but also not uncommon as an Indian nickname) and my older sister’s was traditional. No one batted an eye.

My younger cousins have kids with ‘American’ names too. You do you mama!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our first daughter has a classic and beautiful South Asian hindu name and our last name is a common-ish Indian name. I'm stuck on what to name our second daughter. I love the names Mira, Leela, Amara, and Aanya but worry that they are super common now.

So we're thinking outside the box (I've always loved the name Elodie). Just wondering if other South Asian parents considered or decided on non-South Asian names for their kids.

You can, but I'd wonder if my second daughter would wonder why she didn't get an Indian name when her older sister did.

OP here - this makes sense and I hadn't thought about that. Thanks for your perspective!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No problem with that at all!

My name is not a traditional Indian name (but also not uncommon as an Indian nickname) and my older sister’s was traditional. No one batted an eye.

My younger cousins have kids with ‘American’ names too. You do you mama!

OP here - good to know. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

My kids have American first names and Indian last names and it's fine.

In fact, where we live, there are a lot of people of West Indian origin, and that's completely normal and just the way it is in their culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have American first names and Indian last names and it's fine.

In fact, where we live, there are a lot of people of West Indian origin, and that's completely normal and just the way it is in their culture.

Interesting - thank you!

[Anonymous]

You could always do names common in both cultures like Monica or Ami

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our first daughter has a classic and beautiful South Asian hindu name and our last name is a common-ish Indian name. I'm stuck on what to name our second daughter. I love the names Mira, Leela, Amara, and Aanya but worry that they are super common now.

So we're thinking outside the box (I've always loved the name Elodie). Just wondering if other South Asian parents considered or decided on non-South Asian names for their kids.

Anya is common in a lot of cultures/languages. Spelling varies of course, but that's up to you.

[Anonymous]

I think it's fine to give them Indian names, but just simple ones that are easy to pronounce. I work in tech with a lot of Indians, and some of their names are difficult to pronounce if you just see the name without someone sounding it for you.

And I say this as another Asian person. I had an Asian first name that was not the easiest to figure out if you were not from my culture. So many people, including other Asian cultures, would butcher it. I grew up in the US, live here, will probably die here, so I changed my first name to a western name to make my life easier. My kids have western first names, and my ethnic sounding middle names.

[Anonymous]

Jhumpa Lahiri has this amazing book called Namesake- check it out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our first daughter has a classic and beautiful South Asian hindu name and our last name is a common-ish Indian name. I'm stuck on what to name our second daughter. I love the names Mira, Leela, Amara, and Aanya but worry that they are super common now.

So we're thinking outside the box (I've always loved the name Elodie). Just wondering if other South Asian parents considered or decided on non-South Asian names for their kids.

You can, but I'd wonder if my second daughter would wonder why she didn't get an Indian name when her older sister did.

This was also my first thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's fine to give them Indian names, but just simple ones that are easy to pronounce. I work in tech with a lot of Indians, and some of their names are difficult to pronounce if you just see the name without someone sounding it for you.

And I say this as another Asian person. I had an Asian first name that was not the easiest to figure out if you were not from my culture. So many people, including other Asian cultures, would butcher it. I grew up in the US, live here, will probably die here, so I changed my first name to a western name to make my life easier. My kids have western first names, and my ethnic sounding middle names.

Are you South Asian? Changing names to be more western is pretty uncommon among South Asians here. I don't really care if someone can tell how to say my name just from seeing it - they will know once I tell them. I gave my kids ethnic names that aren't obvious but aren't super hard either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our first daughter has a classic and beautiful South Asian hindu name and our last name is a common-ish Indian name. I'm stuck on what to name our second daughter. I love the names Mira, Leela, Amara, and Aanya but worry that they are super common now.

So we're thinking outside the box (I've always loved the name Elodie). Just wondering if other South Asian parents considered or decided on non-South Asian names for their kids.

My teen is named Mira. FWIW, half the people manage to butcher it anyway.

See if you can find a name that isn’t uncommon in either culture. That’s probably your best bet for something culturally relevant but won’t be butchered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's fine to give them Indian names, but just simple ones that are easy to pronounce. I work in tech with a lot of Indians, and some of their names are difficult to pronounce if you just see the name without someone sounding it for you.

And I say this as another Asian person. I had an Asian first name that was not the easiest to figure out if you were not from my culture. So many people, including other Asian cultures, would butcher it. I grew up in the US, live here, will probably die here, so I changed my first name to a western name to make my life easier. My kids have western first names, and my ethnic sounding middle names.

Lovely, you change your heritage to make it easier for people who don’t matter to pronounce your name. But they can pronounce Tchaikovsky just fine. I’ll keep my South Indian name and hold my head up high