Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nabanil ("a new, clear blue sky")
Neal ("champion")
Neehal ("new")
Nelith ("personification of law")
Nihal ("satisfied, contented, happy")
Nilan ("moon, handsome")
Nilavalagan ("handsome, moon")
Nilavan ("moon, handsome")
Nilmitra ("blue")
Nithilan ("brilliant like a pearl ")

Why do South Asian families and living in the US always name their children ethnic names like the above, but East Asian families usually name their kids typical American names? Sincerely curious White American here.

We give them full-fledged names from our home culture too. You personally have just never seen it.

I know someone named Nirmal who goes by Neil. Nikhil would work too although Nick is the more obvious nickname.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I find it ridiculous both when Irish Americans call their kid Caoimhe and other Irish names no one can pronounce. I also find it annoying when Indian Americans insist on naming their kid a Hindu sounding name that no one can pronounce!

Doesn’t matter if the kid is brown or white. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine either way!

I am an Indian-American and my husband and I picked names that we knew would be easily pronounceable for Americans who are not used to the sounds in our families' languages. We did this more for the children than for other people - as a child, it was always SO annoying that nobody even made an effort to try to pronounce my name properly (or even CLOSE to properly) and just shortened it to an American nickname by default.

Which leads to my pet peeve - at least TRY with foreign names, people. Most names, even if they're using sounds you're not used to, can be practiced or slightly westernized. But please don't mangle a name just because you're too lazy to put any effort into it. It's so insulting.

Agree 100%.

I live in a community and a lot of the families are Indian immigrants. Most of the kids have hard names. Sometimes it’s just too exhausting to learn them all. I’m team name your kid something easy if you are going to live here or at least have an easy nickname. It’s going to be easy for the kid long term and I say this as someone who a middle eastern name that people constantly mispronounced.
My kids have short easy names that no one mispronounces. Sometimes people are embarrassed they are saying it wrong so they don’t want to say anything.

I am friendly with all the Indian moms but I only know a few of their names. Learning 10+ Indian moms names + all the kids names is really hard! If we exchange numbers I will look up their name and try my best to pronounce it later. They don’t call me by my name either . A lot of the time my child will tell me the other kids names . Most of the mom also speak very softly so it’s harder to understand their name.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I find it ridiculous both when Irish Americans call their kid Caoimhe and other Irish names no one can pronounce. I also find it annoying when Indian Americans insist on naming their kid a Hindu sounding name that no one can pronounce!

Doesn’t matter if the kid is brown or white. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine either way!

I am an Indian-American and my husband and I picked names that we knew would be easily pronounceable for Americans who are not used to the sounds in our families' languages. We did this more for the children than for other people - as a child, it was always SO annoying that nobody even made an effort to try to pronounce my name properly (or even CLOSE to properly) and just shortened it to an American nickname by default.

Which leads to my pet peeve - at least TRY with foreign names, people. Most names, even if they're using sounds you're not used to, can be practiced or slightly westernized. But please don't mangle a name just because you're too lazy to put any effort into it. It's so insulting.

Agree 100%.

I live in a community and a lot of the families are Indian immigrants. Most of the kids have hard names. Sometimes it’s just too exhausting to learn them all. I’m team name your kid something easy if you are going to live here or at least have an easy nickname. It’s going to be easy for the kid long term and I say this as someone who a middle eastern name that people constantly mispronounced.
My kids have short easy names that no one mispronounces. Sometimes people are embarrassed they are saying it wrong so they don’t want to say anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I find it ridiculous both when Irish Americans call their kid Caoimhe and other Irish names no one can pronounce. I also find it annoying when Indian Americans insist on naming their kid a Hindu sounding name that no one can pronounce!

Doesn’t matter if the kid is brown or white. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine either way!

I am an Indian-American and my husband and I picked names that we knew would be easily pronounceable for Americans who are not used to the sounds in our families' languages. We did this more for the children than for other people - as a child, it was always SO annoying that nobody even made an effort to try to pronounce my name properly (or even CLOSE to properly) and just shortened it to an American nickname by default.

Which leads to my pet peeve - at least TRY with foreign names, people. Most names, even if they're using sounds you're not used to, can be practiced or slightly westernized. But please don't mangle a name just because you're too lazy to put any effort into it. It's so insulting.

Agree 100%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nabanil ("a new, clear blue sky")
Neal ("champion")
Neehal ("new")
Nelith ("personification of law")
Nihal ("satisfied, contented, happy")
Nilan ("moon, handsome")
Nilavalagan ("handsome, moon")
Nilavan ("moon, handsome")
Nilmitra ("blue")
Nithilan ("brilliant like a pearl ")

Why do South Asian families and living in the US always name their children ethnic names like the above, but East Asian families usually name their kids typical American names? Sincerely curious White American here.

Are you seriously asking why people from two different cultures on different sides of the same continent don’t practice the same naming traditions?

Exactly. Why don't the Scots use the same naming conventions as Russians? Same thing.

I don’t think it’s a crazy question. Haven’t you noticed that Korean- Americans and Chinese Americans are often named typical white names and Indian Americans usually have Indian names (unless they are Christian)?

I think people are being a little rude to you. Having known a bunch of immigrant families in my life and being Irish I think what it comes down to is parental desire for conformity.

The more normalized/accepted someone is the more likely they are to go back to more traditional names. For example I have a lot of Asian friends born in the 80s who have extremely white names like Daniel, Mary, Stephanie etc. Because their parents were first or second gen immigrant parents who's primary goal was to set them up to succeed in American culture (I am not saying this is right or wrong but my friends have told me this is why they got their names).

Conversely there is less belief among Irish people that having the name Aoife is going to hold their child back (as while prejudice against the Irish was very real, it hasn't really been a thing in a very very long time). Basically the more recent the strong racism towards the population, the more likely they are to try to have their children's names conform.

I think Indian culture is in an interesting place on this topic because big tech has an ENORMOUS Indian presence and while they certainly face racism there is not as potent a racist/stereotype against Indians in the workforce and as a result Indian names are used more frequently. And again this is not to say Indian people have not faced prejudice but nothing quite like Chinese (railroads) or Japanese (WWII/internment camps) or African Americans have faced. I think this is also why Latino names have become more part of the common tongue.

And I think there are consequences to this as Indian and Latino names I think are more expected versus a really traditional Asian name like you see with Jungkook and Jimin (kpop band BTS) sound like they really are very unfamiliar in English and some of those kpop bands even are embracing the american names (like Jennie in Blackpink).

Anonymous wrote:I know a Nihal. He is cool and I assume could be called Neil if he wanted to be.

I also know a Nihal who is cool and thought of him when this came up. And despite me and pp here I have never known another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nabanil ("a new, clear blue sky")
Neal ("champion")
Neehal ("new")
Nelith ("personification of law")
Nihal ("satisfied, contented, happy")
Nilan ("moon, handsome")
Nilavalagan ("handsome, moon")
Nilavan ("moon, handsome")
Nilmitra ("blue")
Nithilan ("brilliant like a pearl ")

Why do South Asian families and living in the US always name their children ethnic names like the above, but East Asian families usually name their kids typical American names? Sincerely curious White American here.

Are you seriously asking why people from two different cultures on different sides of the same continent don’t practice the same naming traditions?

Exactly. Why don't the Scots use the same naming conventions as Russians? Same thing.

I don’t think it’s a crazy question. Haven’t you noticed that Korean- Americans and Chinese Americans are often named typical white names and Indian Americans usually have Indian names (unless they are Christian)?

It is a totally stupid and uninformed question. Back to my Scotland example - it's only 800 from Iceland, so why don't Scots use surnames derived from their father's given names? Or why don't the Irish spell their names in English instead of Gaelic.

It’s not at all a stupid or uninformed question. Korea and India are obviously different countries with different naming customs, and for that matter even different states in India have different naming traditions.

But in the U.S. there is absolutely some commonality of experience between U.S. born kids of Asian immigrants. When I was growing up in MoCo in the 80’s, the few of us tended to befriend one another as we were all foreign looking outsiders who had to code switch between school and home and whose extended families were an ocean away.

So it is surprising to me that there’s a difference in naming.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I find it ridiculous both when Irish Americans call their kid Caoimhe and other Irish names no one can pronounce. I also find it annoying when Indian Americans insist on naming their kid a Hindu sounding name that no one can pronounce!

Doesn’t matter if the kid is brown or white. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine either way!

Sounds like you're too dumb to figure out how to pronounce things foreign to you - other people can hear someone tell them a pronunciation and then get it right, not that hard.
Do you also think American expats living in India should give their kids Indian names?

Actually I have a PhD from an Ivy league school and am from an immigrant background myself, so I’m not that dumb. But even if I was, there’s no need to be mean.

I think you’re the one being mean saying that “Hindu sounding names” are “annoying.” I’d expect better from an Ivy League educated immigrant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I find it ridiculous both when Irish Americans call their kid Caoimhe and other Irish names no one can pronounce. I also find it annoying when Indian Americans insist on naming their kid a Hindu sounding name that no one can pronounce!

Doesn’t matter if the kid is brown or white. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine either way!

Sounds like you're too dumb to figure out how to pronounce things foreign to you - other people can hear someone tell them a pronunciation and then get it right, not that hard.
Do you also think American expats living in India should give their kids Indian names?

Actually I have a PhD from an Ivy league school and am from an immigrant background myself, so I’m not that dumb. But even if I was, there’s no need to be mean.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I find it ridiculous both when Irish Americans call their kid Caoimhe and other Irish names no one can pronounce. I also find it annoying when Indian Americans insist on naming their kid a Hindu sounding name that no one can pronounce!

Doesn’t matter if the kid is brown or white. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine either way!

Sounds like you're too dumb to figure out how to pronounce things foreign to you - other people can hear someone tell them a pronunciation and then get it right, not that hard.
Do you also think American expats living in India should give their kids Indian names?

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I find it ridiculous both when Irish Americans call their kid Caoimhe and other Irish names no one can pronounce. I also find it annoying when Indian Americans insist on naming their kid a Hindu sounding name that no one can pronounce!

Doesn’t matter if the kid is brown or white. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine either way!

I am an Indian-American and my husband and I picked names that we knew would be easily pronounceable for Americans who are not used to the sounds in our families' languages. We did this more for the children than for other people - as a child, it was always SO annoying that nobody even made an effort to try to pronounce my name properly (or even CLOSE to properly) and just shortened it to an American nickname by default.

Which leads to my pet peeve - at least TRY with foreign names, people. Most names, even if they're using sounds you're not used to, can be practiced or slightly westernized. But please don't mangle a name just because you're too lazy to put any effort into it. It's so insulting.

Anonymous wrote:Neilificent?

My cousin’s name. From Mumbai.

Nelondhiashara

Yeah I find it ridiculous both when Irish Americans call their kid Caoimhe and other Irish names no one can pronounce. I also find it annoying when Indian Americans insist on naming their kid a Hindu sounding name that no one can pronounce!

Doesn’t matter if the kid is brown or white. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine either way!