Reply to s/o Names you like but rarely hear

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Bridget is a classic name I dont hear too much. Mildred is my favorite "old person name" that I think should come back. Millie is adorable in my mind.  Im done with all versions of Eleanor and Stella. Those old people names are DONE. [/quote]

haha! The name Bridget is always interesting to me. Bridget is/was the stereotypical working/low class name in Ireland...it was THE name for Irish domestic maids/servants/the "help" so much so that for a really long time, many women would actually change their names to avoid that stereotype. I'm never sure if Irish American "never been to Ireland but my last name is Sullivan or O'Reilly!!!" crowd doesn't know this or doesn't care. [/quote]

We know and don't care.  Irish American naming conventions are distinct from Irish naming conventions, and this kind of class-nervousness doesn't mesh well with the large contingent of Irish Americans that take pride in the fact that we overcame discrimination.

That said, I have all the side-eye in the world for Irish Americans who've never been to Ireland buying into current bandwagon trend of naming their kids Aelish or Saorsie or Aoife. [b] If someone had to teach you how to pronounce it after the age of 15, it's not your culture[/b].[/quote]

So what? Cultures don't own names. [/quote]

So, it's cultural appropriation.  So, I side-eye people who appropriate culture that is not their own.  So, you get defensive about that.  So, you post a nonsensical question about "ownership."

That's what.[/quote]

NP here.  Hold the phone, so someone who's 100% Irish, though multiple generations American, is engaging in cultural appropriation if they name their daughter Aelish?  Even if they have an Irish last name?  And this is because they're now "American", not Irish?  Then what names ARE American and acceptable under this reasoning?  [/quote]

If you didn't know how to pronounce the name growing up, it's not your culture.  You're trying to put out that you have a connection to Ireland that is not there.  There are Irish Americans that are still very closely connected to this culture -- they have living Irish people in their families, or they travel back and forth and keep close with relatives in Ireland.  But those names aren't exotic to those people, they're just names.  So again, if you didn't hear these names growing up, if you had to be taught how to pronounce them when you were thumbing through baby name books: then you are part of the diaspora, you are Irish American, you are not Irish.  And it might hurt your feelings to learn this, but nobody hates Irish Americans who don't understand they're not actually Irish more than the Irish do.  It's a pretense.  That's why the Irish PP in this thread put an obligatory "Sully from Boston" dig in her response.

Sincerely, a Murphy[/quote]

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