(no subject)

[juniorfan29.livejournal.com]

I was watching a show on WE tonight called "My Fair Wedding".

Bride and Groom: Bayyina and Dewan

Bride's Sister: Tasleema


Those were the only names I caught, but that was enough to make me shudder!

Comments

[arbus.livejournal.com]

i am genuinely curious. what do people find attractive about these sounds? enough that they want to stick their children these things for life?

taz-leema. bai-yeena. WTF people.

[ifancylust.livejournal.com]

how was the bride's name pronounced? bay-INN-uh?

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

They don't sound like typical Western names, but they do sound like something I'd except from the Southern Asian subcontinent. Were the participants from a non-Anglo background?

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

except expect

[istytehcrawk.livejournal.com]

I've seen the episode. They were all African-American, if I remember correctly.

[raisintree.livejournal.com]

I don't think these people were foreign...

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

Haha... all the American Taoefeiligihliighhhh mothers are going to come after you now. Remember to pronounce their child's name "Bob".

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

Nothing! I was kidding. Kid! Kidding. I absolutely was agreeing that this post seems to be ignoring some cultural possibilities — but trying to jokingly also make the point that for many it's a double standard. Black Americans using non-Anglo names = alien and weird to them, but non-Irish white Americans using absurd spellings because they're the "legit" Irish spelling is usually praised to high heaven here.

[raisintree.livejournal.com]

Is "non-Anglo" now a keyword for "made-up?" Show me the cultural influence behind "Dewan."

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

It appears to be a surname (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=dewan&btnG=Google+Search&meta=).

The Dewan Mushtaq Group (http://www.dewangroup.com.pk/) is Pakistani.


The other names also are googleable as South Indian subcontinent/Pakistani... Tasleema more often spelled Taslima, but then neither form is the "original" as the original obviously didn't use the Roman alphabet. Bayyina is something like truth/proof and associated with the Koran.

[raisintree.livejournal.com]

I'm not denying that. It's just a slippery slope. Dismiss these names as product of "different cultural backgrounds" within the United States, and you have mothers of Brii'leigh's and Jaydox's contending their child's name is a reflection of their "culture" and not just of their fondness for extraneous vowels.

If these people are African-American (as an above poster said), then yes, perhaps they do have a different cultural background... but within the larger culture of the United States (and don't try to contend that their culture is "completely different": for the most part we all are exposed to the same media, governed by the same government, etc). Furthermore, if one is going to claim cultural differences as the basis for his/her child's unusual name, shouldn't the name reflect some sort of cultural heritage? Where's the heritage in Tasleema? Made-up names have no cultural basis.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

The slippery slope is a fallacy (http://www.fallacyfiles.org/slipslop.html).

For Tasleema, see above.

[raisintree.livejournal.com]

How is this relevant? I meant that if some mother's defend their child's kr8tive names as "culturally-based" why can't others?

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

... you appear to genuinely believe what you are saying, so we're not going to get very far.

In the interest in keeping baby_names happy and dramafree, let's call a truce!

[raisintree.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying I would use that rational, but that other's might. I'm merely being the devil's advocate.

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

I've seen much worse, and if they're actual names in another culture, then it's much better than making a name out of a bunch of apostrophes.