Using a name from another culture / cultural appropriation

[Anonymous]

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

PPs post in American English, so don't sweat it.

[Anonymous]

I'm AA. I know lots of politically active AAs and other people of color who are concerned about real and harmful cultural appropriation. I have never heard anyone include naming a child after a favorite poet of another culture as a form of cultural appropriation.

[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.

And took it to another level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's being a culture vulture aka cultural appropriation.

It's like if i were to name my kid Akira after one of the greatest film makers of all time.

I'm not japanese and no one in my family is.

That said, I think you have more leeway of naming a daughter with a name outside of your culture. Especially if she turns out to be cute, fun, and a free spirit. She can get away with it.

A boy can't.

So the implication is cultural appropriation is always bad? Never homage? Because humans have been doing it since time immemorial. We don't live in silos. One of my good friends growing up was white with a classical Arabic name. His parents named him after someone who helped save his sisters life. How could they!

God Americans worrying about this mindless, mindless stuff. . More leeway? It's called freedom. Name your kid what you want. Unless you name them Hitler or a number or sign, u can do what you want. I'm.am so disgusted wth what's happening in this country - the micromanagement of thought and behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a black woman who responded to that post with "Gorgeous name!!!" and have no problem whatsoever with any male child being given this name.

Isn't this a case though, where only those from the originating culture (Arab/Muslim) have anything meaningful to say?

I mean, what does it matter that it doesn't bother me?

I'm Italian, and almost every year, I've taught African American boys who were named Mario, Marco, Antonio and Lorenzo.

TBH, I never really thought much about it.

[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.

Ishare your sentiment and I'm about as liberal as the day is long. Maybe ease up a little with the broad brush?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

PPs post in American English, so don't sweat it.

Still cultural appropriation, as is just about everything in modern American culture, doesn't change that fact whether it's happening now or if it happened years ago. The only thing that has changed is that we are now selectively outraged about certain things while choosing to gloss over all of the other things appropriated from various cultures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Mythology was appropriated from the Greeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a black woman who responded to that post with "Gorgeous name!!!" and have no problem whatsoever with any male child being given this name.

Isn't this a case though, where only those from the originating culture (Arab/Muslim) have anything meaningful to say?

I mean, what does it matter that it doesn't bother me?

I'm Italian, and almost every year, I've taught African American boys who were named Mario, Marco, Antonio and Lorenzo.

TBH, I never really thought much about it.

Or the Jamals, Maliks, Aaliyahs, and others appropriating from Arab culture, the Aarons, Johns, Josephs, and others appropriating from Hebrew culture, the Roberts appropriating from Germanic culture.... Where o where does it end?

[Anonymous]

This might be totally off topic. This thread reminded me of this article, where yoga classes at a school in Ontario (free yoga classes for disabled people) because of concern about Western appropriation of yoga.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/23/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/?hpid=hp_no-name_morning-mix-story-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My children have one name for each of their direct ethnic origins. They look like they belong to just one ethnicity in particular, so most people probably wonder a bit when they give out the first name they use, which doesn't visibly correspond to their face!

I could not care less. Go right ahead and use a name you love.

My child is 1/2 Indian 1/2 white, and has an Indian first name but looks completely white. When he went to a birthday party with his (white) dad, one of the (Indian) parents asked DH why his son had an Indian name! I guess that won't be the last time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

PPs post in American English, so don't sweat it.

Still cultural appropriation, as is just about everything in modern American culture, doesn't change that fact whether it's happening now or if it happened years ago. The only thing that has changed is that we are now selectively outraged about certain things while choosing to gloss over all of the other things appropriated from various cultures.

It will become cultural appropriation when we effectively switch to Spanish. Until then, no.

[Anonymous]

I don't get it. I was raised that the U.S. is a cultural melting pot, and that that's a good thing. Art, language, music, dance, and food all get better when influenced by other cultures. I can see the point of some cultural appropriation arguments -- for example, the demeaning "noble savage" view of Indians -- when the use is racist and causes real harm to how the target culture is treated, but a name does not belong to a particular culture, and especially if the name is of an admired artist.

I'd find a kid named Geronimo or Pocahontas odd regardless of the parents' background, but that's just because I haven't heard it very often. If I met a child named Running Horse, I might suspect the parents were a little loopy or trying too hard without some sort of Indian connection, but that's only what I think now. I thought the same thing the first time I ran into some of the old man/lady names that are very popular now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This might be totally off topic. This thread reminded me of this article, where yoga classes at a school in Ontario (free yoga classes for disabled people) because of concern about Western appropriation of yoga.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/23/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/?hpid=hp_no-name_morning-mix-story-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

This is just about the craziest thing I've read in a two week period with an unusual amount of crazy.

Yes, let's all just stay rooted in our own little cultural bubbles and reinforce the "otherness" of anyone not exactly like us. What harm could that lead to?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. I was raised that the U.S. is a cultural melting pot, and that that's a good thing. Art, language, music, dance, and food all get better when influenced by other cultures. I can see the point of some cultural appropriation arguments -- for example, the demeaning "noble savage" view of Indians -- when the use is racist and causes real harm to how the target culture is treated, but a name does not belong to a particular culture, and especially if the name is of an admired artist.

I'd find a kid named Geronimo or Pocahontas odd regardless of the parents' background, but that's just because I haven't heard it very often. If I met a child named Running Horse, I might suspect the parents were a little loopy or trying too hard without some sort of Indian connection, but that's only what I think now. I thought the same thing the first time I ran into some of the old man/lady names that are very popular now.

I'm one of the AA moms above who doesn't care who uses what name. I also grew up with the melting pot analogy here in the US but I am glad that we have moved on more to the salad analogy. In a melting pot each individual ingredient is lost and everything becomes the same. In a salad each ingredient comes together to enhance and make the whole better, but each also still retains its individual nature.