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[apple-sap.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about giving your children a name that is not from your own country/culture?

Thing is, I like a lot of English/French names, but I'd feel uncomfortable giving any of my future children one of those names because I'm 100% Dutch and I've got no connection to neither England nor France. The only option I see is to marry a Frenchman and emigrate to another country :D (the latter I am planning on doing anyway).

And just for fun, some of my favourite names. In between the brackets are in which language to pronounce it in now that is one awkward sentence. No brackets means it's pronounced in English.


Male
Andrew
Henry
Drake
Joseph
Alexei (Russian)
Frank (both English and Dutch)
Kai
Valentijn (Dutch)
Jean-Baptiste (French)
Luke
Ruben (Dutch)
Abel* (Dutch)
Nicholas



Female
Augustine (French)
Marie (I'm really lucky this name isn't such a popular middle name here.. I know every one US citizen and their mother are named FirstName Marie, but here in the NL it is actually pretty uncommon/old fashioned) (French)
Anna/Annie (Dutch/English)
Betty
Noëlle (French)
Sofie* (Dutch)
Hilde (Dutch)
Vlinder* (Means Butterfly. Really tacky in English, but in Dutch it somehow just works) (Dutch)
Sterre* (Ster means Star. Same as above) (Dutch)
Benthe (Dutch)
Mathilde (Dutch)
Johanna
Madelief* (Dutch)
Mirthe/Myrthe (Dutch)
Claire


* - These names are mostly used by those trendy young moms who bring their kids to school with bakfietsen before they go to their full-time job. Though that could be a Dutch-only phenomenon :p


So. What do you think? :)

Comments

[ex-bluebonn.livejournal.com]

I know of quite a few Dutch girls named Miriam, which is also fairly common as a French name (and possibly English as well). My paternal grandmother is Dutch, and both she and her mom are named Christine.

Love the bakfietsen, by the way. Lots of people around here haul their kidlest around in stuff like this (http://www.livingincomfort.com/images/indoor-store-baby---kids-stuff-strollers-jogging-strollers-kool-stop-trailers_thumb.jpg).

[threnody.livejournal.com]

I knew a Dutch Miriam, too, once. Lots of Miriam/Myriam in Europe in general, I've noticed (I'm one, Canadian, and the only other ones I hear of are French, Dutch, or English. Go figure). Not enough to be trendy, but not so rare that people do a double-take.

Also, how much sense does having the kids in front make? Why do we let our kids hang out in trailers where we can't see them, and they can easily get detached or try to crawl out or something? I ever have kids (god forbid), I'm totally having one of those suckers imported. :P