Using a name from another culture / cultural appropriation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about an American Indian name? Say, if I named my son Geronimo or Pochahantas or Tisquantum? Ok, now what if I got a bulldog and named him Sitting Bull?

Once -- true story -- I met a black pug who went by Marty, and whose actual name was Martin Luther King.

I'm just trying to understand where the line is here, I honestly don't have an answer or an agenda. I do sense, though, that an Asian atheist naming her daughter "Grace" is going to be received differently than a white woman naming her son Geronimo.

I guess I don't really see the issue with Marty the dog either. Maybe they really liked MLK and they wanted to honor him? I thought about my dog's name as long as I thought about my first born's name so it's definitely a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's never use math. Or listen to jazz. Or read "One Thousand and One Nights." Or send another person to the moon. Or stage a production of "La Traviata." Or eat sushi. Or dance the polka. Or bake spanikopita. Or watch "Downton Abby." Or celebrate the Mass. Or use Latin medical terms.

Because that would be cultural appropriation.

This.

This. We are beyond ridiculous with "cultural appropriation"

+1. is this still an open, relatively tolerant country? are we now walking on egg shells to the point that even when we chose our kids' names BECAUSE FOR ANY REASON WE LIKE THEM we need to make sure we are not offending anybody by "appropriating" their supposed culture?

Can I ready Khalil Gibran or see a movie by Akira Kurosawa even though I am white? do I need permission from Arabs or Japanese people? Am I offending them? To me this is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

White people who do stuff like this run the risk of being viewed as posers. Or they are trying to make themselves look "interesting." But cultural appropriation. Wtf? We are a multicultural society that worships the almighty dollar, right? We can admire things in other folks' cultures without stealing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about an American Indian name? Say, if I named my son Geronimo or Pochahantas or Tisquantum? Ok, now what if I got a bulldog and named him Sitting Bull?

Once -- true story -- I met a black pug who went by Marty, and whose actual name was Martin Luther King.

I'm just trying to understand where the line is here, I honestly don't have an answer or an agenda. I do sense, though, that an Asian atheist naming her daughter "Grace" is going to be received differently than a white woman naming her son Geronimo.

Unless the white woman lives in Portland.

[Anonymous]

Hey. Unless your ancestors were from England, you'd all better stop posting in English. That's cultural appropriation.

[Anonymous]

Sigh. I remember when 30 years ago, if a kid had an unusual name like this, people assumed his parents were well-read.

I guess the British kid in my son's class named after a Russian poet has just gone too far.

[Anonymous]

OP, relax. It's really none of your business.
If this is your biggest problem, you are truly blessed.
Please get some sleep.

[Anonymous]

Aidan, Declan, Liam....happens to Irish culture all the time...it should be considered a compliment.

[Anonymous]

Farrah Fawcett's parents = bad people.

[Anonymous]

Yes cultural appropriation is bad. So just to satisfy the liberal morons, you'll have to stop eating chinese food unless you're chinese. No spaghetti for you unless you're italian.

[Anonymous]

Well... There is a trend among small town, red state Christians to name their kids Cohen. Some seem to have no knowledge of the name's origins. It may not exactly be offensive but it comes across as ignorant to me.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/05/05/the-big-baby-naming-battle.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes cultural appropriation is bad. So just to satisfy the liberal morons, you'll have to stop eating chinese food unless you're chinese. No spaghetti for you unless you're italian.

The italians appropriated the noodles from the Chinese.

[Anonymous]

People seriously need to dial it back on the "cultural appropriation" whining.

Unless there is some legitimate insult or mocking directed toward the culture, let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes cultural appropriation is bad. So just to satisfy the liberal morons, you'll have to stop eating chinese food unless you're chinese. No spaghetti for you unless you're italian.

The italians appropriated the noodles from the Chinese.

thats actually a myth.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on how common in the U.S. the name is. Naming your child after Khalil Gibran without even a hint of cultural connection strikes me as highly unusual. Naming a child after Alexander Pushkin will not get any attention in these parts.