I met a little girl today...

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

She was a pretty little girl. Dark blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin... name of Priya.

That took me a bit by surprise. I always thought of Priya as being, at the risk of offending, an Indian name. It's a pretty name and I have known some lovely young ladies named Priya. But they've all been Indian before today.

Thing is, it is a nice name. And if it were a more anglo-saxon name, I'd consider it for a child of mine.

Do I have a problem, only picking "white british" names for my children? Or do you consider it unusual to pick a name from outside your ethnic background too?

Just wondering what everyone thought. Given that DH rejects names for being "too French" he won't be open to Indian names anyway, but I'm more interested in what other people think atm.

[TeniBear]

I'm a little the same, with names that seem "set" into a certain nationality. For example, I think a lot of Japanese names are beautiful. Indian names flow so nicely. But I couldn't use any of them.

People would presume that the person is that nationality, too. If I heard the name Zhu, for example, I'd think at least one of his parents was of Chinese background, and would be surprised if he was a blonde, blue eyed boy with a white European background. Sven? That just makes me think Swedish, blonde, paper white skin... Can you imagine a little Indian boy named Sven?

Actually, reading that back, I suppose it's not so much the specific nationalities in my mind. It's more that the name wouldn't fit the "look" of the child.

[Nai]

Lots of Asian children are given anglo names (or change their names when they move here) and children from parents with different backgrounds often choose a name from one of the cultures over the other so I don't really see an issue with it to be honest. I'm sure in Sweden there are kids that don't look Swedish who are called Sven.

My girls both have French names but we are not French - DD1 actually looks Spanish. We were even looking for Thai middle names for DD2 as that's where she was conceived but in the end DD1 chose the middle name.

Plus so many people just make up names these days anyway so it's sometimes difficult to know if a name is from another culture or is one that has just been invented by the parents.

[Kazmar]

Anyhting goes these days BUT i still kind of see a name and think where its from. Etc both my girls names are French. Im part French so thats mostly why.

After calling Annabelle a French name I couldn't,not, call Lucy a French name haha

[Twin Sister]

I'm the same way. My husband suggested a few Japanese names for our baby-to-be and even though the names are really nice names, and I'd love them on a Japanese person, they just seemed very out of place on my non-Japanese baby. He then suggested some very Spanish names and again they seemed a wrong match. It's kind of like naming your kid fluffy or Fido, it's just not the right fit.

[luna moth]

An Aussie friend of mine has a little girl called Priya. (her dad is Indian)

It means "beloved"

[Astrid]

I only wanted to use names from a western European/English/Irish background. I also did not feel comfortable using names that were not really part of our ancestral history. Hard to kind of explain, as it was mostly a gut feeling about it.

[Cherished]

I just think a name is a name kwim, if you like it it doesn't matter where it originally came from

[Turkish Delight]

I fought so hard to get my DD to be called Alexis. It is my fave "anglo" name. I wasn't allowed. In our culture, we must stick to Turkish names and nothing else. If my kids, want to name their kids Michael, John, Kate or whatever i'd have no probs as i am not the parent of the unborn child, they are.

I guess, most people stick to their own cultural names.

[berrme]

I am the same. I would just feel silly using a name that was very obviously from a specific nationality that I had nothing to do with. I also think they would sound odd when said along with DH and my name... Melanie, Clive and...Magnus?...Anoushka? It just doesn't work for me.

[Just Me]

I don't have a problem with using names from a different background - within reason. It can be hard for a child to spell a loooong name with lots of different phonics than their own language. I wouldn't say not to for this reason, it is just something to be aware of and if you are the type of person who will get annoyed because people constantly mispell names, it is probably better to avoid it.

I think it is good to look at names from different cultures. If people had stuck with names from only their own background, our choices would still be very limited. Names become more 'normalised' and rise in popularity when people use them more and more often.

Having said all that, I think the meaning behind a name is more important than where it actually comes from. My kids don't have hugely meaningful names, but they still mean nice things.

I recently saw this facebook group called

attention ghetto moms,NOBODY is gonna hire your kid named Shenequataylicha

Some of the stuff in there is quite funny. It has taken being original about naming to a completely new level. My favourite is the name La-a (pronounced La-dash-a). Not really on the topic of cultural names but I guess in a way, it's a culture unto itself.

Good topic LZ

[~clover~]

I absolutely love some of the Maori names I've heard & thought one day that I might use one, but I'm not so sure. I do love them though.

[rhyb]

I love irish names and only wanted to use irish names to go with DS (Aiden). Sienna was going to Brennan, Bella was going to be Riley and Ruby was going to be Irelynn but I lost my confidence after everyone mocked them.

[Mum2SweetCs]

Hmmm ... Im from a chinese background by DD has an Irish name because I love the name and if i have another son or daughter their names wouldnt be asian either.

My DH is known by an anglo name and really im the only one with a chinese name which every misprounces anyway.

[*TripleJ*]

ok well DS has a maori middle name and if he wasnt named after someone he would probably have a maori first name my mum is from NZ but not maori in the slightest i just think the names sound beautiful

personally i wouldnt use an indian name but its up to the person i find weird spelling or creative spelling even more annoying

[Pandora]

I don't think it's unusual, but dh does.

Names on my lists that got vetoed included

Anke
Illiana
Anupam
Kali
Jules
Omar
Louis-Francois. -- this is my favourite


Dh's cousin recently became a dad. He's Aussie and his wife is Of Israeli heritage - they named their little boy Akira

[Bathsheba]

I'm like Astrid and prefered to use names that reflect DH and my Irish, English, Swedish ancestry... it felt right.

Don't you have French ancestry LZ? That would make perfect sense to call your children French names.

[Junglemum]

I must hang around with a group of new age hippies using whatever name appeals to them!

People ask the heritage of my daughters names, but never really ask about my heritage iykwim? I do know a couple of people who like their kids names to reflect their ancestry, but mostly not.

I'm not dutch, (although being a non-indigenous Australian with a very mixed background i might be ) my second daughter has a dutch name.