I met a little girl today...

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

It means "beloved"

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.:dunno:

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.

I don't have a problem with it but I would be wary of disrespecting the culture I was using the name of. I would want to research and understand the meaning, history, significance etc and if I couldn't get a clear feeling about it would not use it. I would never want to seem like I was using a name without understanding it, "stealing" it without disregard type thing. I don't know if I'm explaining what I mean well but yeah.

Just out of interest LZ - how do you pronounce Priya? I had a Sri Lankan colleague named Priyan. Is it sort of the same pronunciation?

I guess as a parent you need to chose a name that seems right to you, and right for your child. I think anything goes myself, as long as you love it and it is right for your child.

BTW - people mocked you rhyb? Really? That's awful.

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I don't have a problem with it but I would be wary of disrespecting the culture I was using the name of. I would want to research and understand the meaning, history, significance etc and if I couldn't get a clear feeling about it would not use it. I would never want to seem like I was using a name without understanding it, "stealing" it without disregard type thing. I don't know if I'm explaining what I mean well but yeah.

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No, makes perfect sense to me, I feel the same. I'd only give my kids 'anglo' names because DH and I are through-and-through Anglo-Saxon and we would feel as though we were being disrespectful if we were to use names from other cultures without *really* knowing what we were doing. I've heard some names from different ethnic groups that sound beautiful, flow really well and are just 'pretty', but I wouldn't feel comfortable using them for my own children because as others have said, it kind of puts an image in your head of what the child would/should look like and might be a bit odd with an Irish name (our surname)!

we used to get a few comments about DDs name. it is arabic in origin and our area where we used to live had a high proportion of people with middle-eastern backgrounds. i think they were suprised to find an italian and his dutch/indonesian wife with a name for a child like that LOL! but when we told them how beautiful the name was it was allll good lol!

DH and I have a hard time with names as i am not fond of italian names and he is not fond of dutch names...so we have to go searching elsewhere lol.

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I don't have a problem with it but I would be wary of disrespecting the culture I was using the name of. I would want to research and understand the meaning, history, significance etc and if I couldn't get a clear feeling about it would not use it. I would never want to seem like I was using a name without understanding it, "stealing" it without disregard type thing. I don't know if I'm explaining what I mean well but yeah.

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I think that is part of the reason why I am not comfortable using names of other cultures. You have explained it well.

All of my boys have traditional German names due to my heritage

Nikolaus
Wilhelm
Mateauz

their middles names are after family members

Owen
Tomas
Joseph

but mini me's

Vyolett

was just one the boys picked and we agreed.
I like to stick to a 'theme' so to speak and if that theme is to stay eg with my tradional's then so be it.

I can understand that naming a child is cultural. Still for me, if a name from a different culture had meaning for me, then I wouldn't mind using it. The most important thing for us with names is the meaning, we like to name children and one day be able to tell them 'this is why you have this name'. So it's a given that I'd understand the meaning of the name, or the name would have meaning (for example, if I wasn't sure what Sven meant, but some meaningful person or place was called Sven ).

Priya is pronounced pre-A (hard a, as in hard, rather than ay or ah). And is a beautiful name. Just out of place on a little white girl, IMO.

I am part French and part Egyptian (and probably a lot more if I looked into my family tree); DH has Scottish and Irish ancestry. I have named DS after family members, so he has very traditional English names. I think if we had more boys we would go down the same route as DH doesn't like anything different.

I suppose it maybe is influenced by the fact I have a Welsh name yet have nothing to do with Wales. Except for being able to do a good Welsh accent! People have a go that I can't spell my name, I point out it's my name and I can and anyway it's Welsh, so people then ask if I'm Welsh... nope. Can't even speak the language. Have spent fewer than 20 days in my whole life in the country, and it's really close to us.

DH has also ruled out Celtic names for our children, claiming that they're too hard to spell. But at least they'd have the background for it when people challenged them on it! Then again, a lot of people think that Lieb's real name is Liebling and I was told, whilst pg, not to call my child that in case he ever visits Germany (OK, strange bossy person posting on my pregnancy website) but also where I drew the inspiration for such a beautiful name. But now, when we visit Austria, his name is considered "very Jewish", whereas over here it's considered as English as George.

Funny thing, names. I suppose I'd avoid other cultures yes partly so it didn't seem I was being all imperialistic and stealing their names (we Brits stole most of our words and ideas from other places; a bungalow was considered a hovel and not somewhere to desire to live before we invaded India) but mostly because I didn't want my child to be put through the grief of "but your name is Indian and you're white", which can happen even with European names, even with a name from a country a mere 100 miles away!

i really feel that the world is so cross cultural now that the teasing of yesteryear surely must be fading.
I understand people wanting to hold onto their heritage and follow tradition, but i really don't see how it can be offensive, disrespectful or 'stealing' to use a name from another culture. But if another person used the same name as my children i would be a little chuffed that they liked it too, i know other people get all funny and possessive about namers they choose.

I really wouldn't blink an eye if there was a blonde haired blue eyed girl called Priya. I would just think, wow, that's a pretty name.

I do like the idea of names going together like you say Maz, sticking with a theme, but then again i think it is weird some people have all their kids starting with the same letter.

Names are a funny thing Ryn, you're right. Another of those topics that seems to have many views. ;)

I agree with you JungleMum.

I'm not sure that any one culture can lay claim to a name and not allow others to use it.

Parents have all sorts of reasons for chosing the names they do. I don't think there's anything wrong with chosing a name because you like the sound of it.

I had no idea Priya was an Indian name. Although I probably would have mis-pronounced it to rhyme with "fire" :redface:

Personally, I quite like names from other cultures as they seem more unusual to me and I would like to name my children something a little less common that some of the names from my culture.