Giving your kid a name usually associated with different ethnic/cultural/religious background

[Anonymous]

I think it's super weird that a white couple from America named their daughter India.

[Anonymous]

My father, who is Jewish and from Eastern Europe, has a first name that is derived from Arabic and popular in the Muslim world. But the name also was popular among non-Muslims in his birth country, so it wasn't perceived as strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gave my daughter a Turkish name but this is part of the black American tradition of giving unusual and exotic names. There was a girl at my elem school named Covolous (pronounced Kuh-VI-yus) who I just figured out a few years ago was named after a flower.

Same except my name is Persian, and a lot of people probably assume it's just another black name. I think a lot of names are cross-cultural, and some people would be surprised to learn where supposedly "white" names actually began (for example, Roxanna is also a Persian-origin name).

[Anonymous]

I don’t know. We’re Jewish and our son has a name from the Christian Bible – but there is a long tradition of Jews borrowing names from the dominant culture, and the name is very meaningful to us in other ways, so it doesn’t bother me.

I might mentally roll my eyes a bit over a white kid named Kyoko or whatever, but I’d be over it in about five seconds. The whole world borrows names. There are bigger things to worry about.

[Anonymous]

It does seem there are many names that are cross-cultural, but that's also because people made that the case - so if you have the courage, and can hope your child will also have the courage to rock a different ethnic/cultural name, you'll be part of the progress that contributes to more shared names across cultures. I like this idea but in practice it's more challenging.

We were hoping to create a new name based half on each of our heritage (Ethiopian/generic white) but that hasn't proven easy either. We keep finding nice Arab names but that feels weird because we want the child to have more of a connection to its name than 'we liked it'.


Most mixed couples we know choose each of both culture's names for the first and middle names (e.g. Sara Saanvi)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's super weird that a white couple from America named their daughter India.

India Wilkes was a character in Gone With the Wind. It’s a pretty well established American name at this point.

[Anonymous]

The amount of Jewish Ryans are a bit disconcerting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The amount of Jewish Ryans are a bit disconcerting.

We’re not allowed to use non-Jewish names?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m Muslim and yeah I find it weird when non Muslims use Muslim/Arab names and esp w zero idea of the significance of the name.

I agree. The meaning of names is very important, and it's strange to me when someone just picks an Arabic name and doesn't know what it means. I feel like Zain is like that. People think it sounds cool, but don't know or care about the meaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a very uncommon Hebrew name (>5 babies are named it every year) found in the Tanakh that is similar to a different Hebrew word-turned-name becoming very popular with the young white Christian set in the past five years or so. I’ve never met someone with my name. No one has ever assumed I was Jewish because of my name, I don’t think—white people actually tend to assume I’m black, I’ve been told because they think “name they’ve never heard before = black” which is...interesting. I was raised Christian.

Similar story. We are Jewish, not US born, we gave our daughter an uncommon Hebrew name. Turns out it was at one point very popular among AA, when I posted it on DCUM, people also assumed we are black. As long as no one is screaming cultural appropriation, we are good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's super weird that a white couple from America named their daughter India.

Well I know a British couple who named their dd India and he is in Pakistan working from their Embassy. Daughter is staying in England but, that 's more awkward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m Muslim and yeah I find it weird when non Muslims use Muslim/Arab names and esp w zero idea of the significance of the name.

I agree. The meaning of names is very important, and it's strange to me when someone just picks an Arabic name and doesn't know what it means. I feel like Zain is like that. People think it sounds cool, but don't know or care about the meaning.

I’m muslim as well, and noticed that many African Americans tend to pick muslim names, but this is because their ancestors who were brought here were Muslim and forcibly converted. The arab name is a nod to that stolen heritage. In that light, I’m actually quite happy to hear muslim names becoming common place in American culture. There’s a lot of great literature about the first muslims in America, almost all of whom sadly were slaves.

[Anonymous]

I do think it’s weird when people from the dominant culture of white Christian English speakers use names from different ethnic/cultural/religious backgrounds, yes. It doesn’t make me angry or whatever, but it does make me think the parents are a little bit weird.

[Anonymous]

A ton of people use Irish names when they're not Irish. Same for French and also some Italian names. I feel like Latino names are going to become mainstream pretty soon - like Jose, Carlos, etc. I don't know where the line is between what becomes an accepted "American" name and what is still considered "ethnic," but it seems like it changes over time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's super weird that a white couple from America named their daughter India.

India Wilkes is a character in Gone With the Wind.