Names from other cultures

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

What are your thoughts on names that are very obviously from a culture that is quite distinct from your own? There are lots of pretty Indian names that I might consider using, but I just encountered a very blonde, blue-eyed little girl called Megumi (which is a Japanese name) and it just struck me as weird.

Comments

[lisasimpsonfan.livejournal.com]

Not really a fan only because unless you live in an area with a large population of that culture your kid will spend their life correcting people on the spelling and pronunciation of their name.

[redfield79.livejournal.com]

I love Japanese names so fucking much...but im irish/italian so I would feel weird. :/

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, I love Indian names----Priya, Amrit, Samir, Parvati, and even variation on India, like Indira. I remember a combo I read in a birth announcement somewhere and absolutely loved was for twins, Indira Penelope and Parvati Charlotte. LOVE. I'd never use them, but I love seeing them on other people!

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

And huh. Now that you mention it, I've actually run into several non-Japanese kids with Japanese names at work. Sakura and Sakuri seem to be especially popular. I've had a couple of the parents tell me they were big fans of different anime series, and that influenced the names.

[halliwell66.livejournal.com]

It is sometimes a bit weird.

If the names come from different roots, cultures thats fine but I wouldnt want them stick out like a sore thumb

I know a sibset Jharna & Tristan. Its a nice Indian name but not sure where it came from.

I know a few Australian kids who dont have any family connection to their names eg Priya, Mayke, Soraya, Ikaia, Kawa

It does go the other way I also saw this sibset recently: Seerat (Sukhmann, Sargi, Japji, Samreen, Justin, Armaan)

[wolf-shadow.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly neutral on this one for a few reasons:

1. Race doesn't mean culture, so parent(s) may have lived in Japan/India/whatever and class it as their own culture
2. People don't always look the way you expect given their genes, so I'd be leery of making assumptions
3. People have other links - e.g. friend who's Spanish/English but whose father had had connections to the Soviet Union and gave both his kids Russian names.
4. Named after a close friend or non-blood relative?

Spell it right, know what it means, love the connected culture - use it.

[charuby.livejournal.com]

I'm fond of Japanese and Eastern European names but I'd never use them. Would seem a bit weird. I came across a young woman once with the name of Jessminda which is Indian, but she wasn't Indian (or at least didn't look it).

[blueorange94.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine, who is French-Canadian, married a Japanese woman and they have a Japanese-looking daughter named Marie. In Canada, this would be fine, but I've often wondered how the name translates in Japanese.

IMHO, I think some people tend to think more in terms of language bases. Indo-European names tend to cross cultures more easily with lots of linguo-centric variations (Charles, Carl, Carla, Charlotte, Carlotta, Lotti, etc.), but when you get into deep linguistic divides between your native culture and another you love, it can seem affected and odd. Not that the names themselves are bad, it just makes people kind of double-take if there's no obvious familial link to the linguistic root of the name.