babynames | (no subject)

(no subject)

I work as a teaching assistant (in the UK) between 2 classes of 4-5 year olds, so here's their names!
I've put an * next to the names of the children who are ethnic, just so you know!

Girls
Jessica
Faye
Eve (x2)
Sofia *
Hafsah *
Sophie *
Amina *
Manpreea (She's mostly just called Prea though) *
Zahra *
Anna
Hannah
Millie
Sophya *
Jessica-Leigh
Megan
Lucy
Sarah
Zafira (zah-fee-ruh) *
Robyn
Poonam *
Zaneib *
Holly
Aiysha *
Faith
Sadie
Niamh
Amarni *
Aliza *
Ariana *

Boys
William
Rayhan *
Joseph (x2)
Naheem *
Abdullah *
Shakeel *
Ellis
Andrew
Benjamin
Zachary
Aaron
Bilaal *
Jake
Lewis (x3)
Wajaahat * (Wah-jar-hat)
Shakeeb *
Hyder *
Lennon
Nathan
Sukleen *
Ben

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Ethnic or not, most of those names made me cringe.

I like:

Jessica
Eve
Lucy
Sarah
Robyn
Holly
Faith
Ariana

William
Ellis
Andrew
Benjamin
Zachary
Jake
Lennon
Nathan
Ben

Wajaahat * (Wah-jar-hat)
this sounds like what my 2 year old would say if she was looking for my hat. :P

I like Ellis. It's my MIL's maiden name, so i'm sure if we used it she'd be thrilled. :P

I don't know super well, but it seemed like even the thnic names were pretty common.

I like:
Eve (x2)
Sophie *
Amina *
Zafira (zah-fee-ruh) *
Aiysha *
Faith
Aliza *
Ariana *

William
Joseph (x2)
Naheem *
Benjamin
Zachary
Aaron
Lewis (x3)
Lennon
Nathan

i'm from the UK too.
i like zahra (my name), sophia, anna, sadie, joseph, naheem, benjamin, lennon & bilal is kinda cool ('cause it reminds me of the film 'hideous kinky').

but um, what does 'ethnic' mean anyway? seriously, doesn't everyone have an ethnicity? some of the 'ethnic' names you've shared are arabic/islamic (like aiysha) in origin but others are hindu (poonam) or sikh (manpreea). fair enough if 'ethnic' referred to the same cultural group or religion (tho even that would frustrate me), but that isn't even the case.

yay hideous kinky!! :)

yes, such a great film! it made me visit marrakech. :)

That's awesome! It made me want to go there, too, but I haven't actually been just yet. :) Did you read the book? I actually read the book before I saw the movie and in a way liked the book better. But then again I love Kate Winslet so it's hard not to love the movie just as much. ;)

(deleted comment)

are you serious? my name is zahra and i'm british. i'm pretty sure all of those kids are being brought up in britain, regardless of their cultural backgrounds. 'british' is a nationality, and it seems to me that in this case 'ethnic' basically means...not white. i might be wrong, the wording used here just really bothers me.

I don't think the OP meant it in an offensive way at all, but I read it the same way too. The word "ethnic" is misleading in general, you hear it all the time. "Ethnic foods", "Ethnic clothing"...but isn't everyone ethnic? I think in this case it is might mean, well, of a cultural background that is a minority in the UK (whether they are British nationality-wise or not).
Hmm ;/
Again, no hard feelings to the OP, because people use "ethnic" this way all the time - usually not even thinking about the connotations, and I understand.

i know she probably didn't mean it in an offensive way, but that doesn't mean it's not offensive to some people.
also, if you look up the word 'ethnic' (yay for dictionary.com, i'm such a geek!) it also means 'heathen'/'pagan'. and like i pointed out previously, if you look at the names with a * next to them, at least 3 different cultural backgrounds are represented. i don't think it's fair for them all to be classified as 'ethnic'. i don't know.

Alas, "minority ethnic", often shortened to just plain "ethnic", is a phrase alive and well in UK officialdom meaning "not white-British". It makes me wince too. Everyone's "ethnic" (a member of an ethnic group), just as everyone's "coloured" (my skin isn't transparent, last I looked).

[That said, a friend teaches primary in East London and half her class aren't British by any definition. Some of them haven't lived in the country longer than six weeks; some of them won't still be here by Christmas (deportation in most cases, unfortunately). I don't imagine that's the distinction the commenter meant, but it does exist.]

you don't look transparent to me either! :)
i don't mind 'ethnic minority' so much, it's more straight-up, because the ethnic majority in the UK at least is white and so it would make sense that ethnic minorities be non-white. but i don't know, same thing really, it's such a broad term for so many different people.

that probably wasn't the distinction that the commenter meant. i've just met several british poonams, aiyesha's, and abdullah's. there are probably more people in UK with those names that are here to stay that people that are about to be deported, you know?

The wording here bothers me. I'm ethnic - my ethnicity is white anglo-franco-Canadian mutt.

EVERYONE is ethnic.

Just like white people are white, not people. Y'know?

Interrogate your own (presumed) whiteness, OP!

I agree with this comment.

The older daughter of Winslet's character in Hideous Kinky goes to my school, she's called Carrie... very very odd girl!

really? i'd imagine her to be quite odd...child stars usually are!

Is she the same age as you? Gosh I feel old.

No, she's a good few years younger, i've graduated now though. She suffered from this paralysis problm where she couldnt move at all for months on end, but it was all in her head... more odd stuf..lies.. ahh those child stars!

Wow, that's really sad. I'm never going to watch that movie the same way again!

I just didn't know how to word it.
I didn't mean it in a racist type way at all. I feel pretty bad now =\ but i didn't mean it in an offensive way.
I just thought people might see some of the names and maybe bash it as being 'made up' or trendy when it's a legitimate name, that's all.

i'm sorry for making you feel bad! i just wanted to point out how people might perceive what you said! i'm sure you love all the kids you work with, 'ethnic' or not.

for girls i like;
Faye
Eve
Zahra
Robyn
Aiysha (but i prefer aisha)

& for the boys i only like Nathan

Girls
Jessica-a boring common name. but i still like it
Faye- bit blah
Eve (x2)- much prefer Eva
Sofia *- I like this, and the spelling.
Hafsah *- not my style
Sophie *- my name. boring
Amina * - pretty
Manpreea (She's mostly just called Prea though) *- Man, in a girls name?
Zahra *- dont like
Anna- like
Hannah- dont like
Millie- dont like at all
Sophya *- Now this is unusual! Sophy (my spelling) with an A on the end... odd. very pointless
Jessica-Leigh dont like
Megan- boring
Lucy- boring
Sarah- hate
Zafira (zah-fee-ruh) *- this is the name of a car
Robyn- like, and i like this spelling
Poonam *- poo?lol i know it's a different culture but i dont like it at all
Zaneib *- i know a few girls ith this name
Holly- dont like
Aiysha *- dont like
Faith- dont like
Sadie- dont like
Niamh- like
Amarni *- ohhh goood how TACKY!
Aliza *- i actually prefer Aliza to Eliza
Ariana * its alright

Boys
William- dont like at all
Rayhan *- dont like
Joseph (x2)- like
Naheem *- dont like
Abdullah *- dont like
Shakeel *- dont like
Ellis- like
Andrew- bf's name. boring.
Benjamin- bit boring
Zachary - dont like
Aaron- hmmm mixed feelings
Bilaal *- dont like
Jake- like a lot
Lewis (x3)- dont like it, love Louis
Wajaahat * (Wah-jar-hat)- dont like
Shakeeb *- dont like
Hyder *- dont like
Lennon- dont like
Nathan- hate
Sukleen *- dont like
Ben- dont like

Poonam *- poo?lol i know it's a different culture but i dont like it at all

i need to comment on this 'cause i have a funny poo/poonam story! when i started at uni (in birmingham), we had this party at our halls/dorms so everyone could meet. anyway, after a few drinks, people started writing their nicknames on their foreheads with lipstick. one girl there was called poonam and she went by poo. a latecomer to the party, christine, wasn't aware of the lipstick thing and when she saw POO written on this girl's forehead she went over to her and tried to wipe it off! she was like, "i'm so sorry, somebody's written something rude on your head!", haha, before poonam could tell her it was actually her name. christine lived in a really 'white' area in the north-west and had never heard of any poonams- when she started uni she couldn't even tell the difference between black people and asians/indians, she was THAT bad...but that's a different story to tell.

oh lord that's hilarious! im starting uni (nottingham) this sept, move into my halls on the 29th. im nerrrrvous! Trying to sort ot my room as we speak, i have far too much stuff im not sure where to start.
A friend of a friend sounds like Christine. She lived in a village & wasnt particuarly well travelled, started at manchester uni last year & met a black person fo the firt time o_O

My cousin goes to Nottingham. :P

Really, does he/she like it there? I'm sitting on the floor in my room absolutely bowled over about the amount of stuff i have. ive been tidying & sorting stuff out all evening & nothing seems to have moved! It's all seems far too much for me right now.
(heh little off topic!)

Re: Poo - I think it's fine if people want to go for an ethnic name...but if they're living in America or someplace else, they should consider the possible ramifications of a name that sounds like something else in that country's language :-/

Aww you'll be fine! Yeah she likes it there a lot! She graduates in '08, so maybe when you go you should look for her, since she's only a couple years older than you. Where do you live now? She's from Harpenden (just north of London). I last saw her at my sister's wedding in June. I hate living so far away from her! She's tons of fun-- let me know if you want me to hook you two up!

ahhh cool! Im from Bristol, where are you? im hoping to meet some fun people lol.

I'm in New Jersey (USA). =\

lol I spent last summer in London... i missssss it so much. wanna go back!!

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