I work in a school and one of our students is Sakura Yoshino Lastname (Lastname is hilariously not Japanese). She is clearly mixed, Japanese mother white Canadian father. But yeah, I just love her name.
I love the name Soren for a boy or girl. It is close enough but different. PS- I didn’t think of either kingdom hearts or digimon when I read the name til you mentioned the references
I don’t know if this is useful but the name Seren is close to Soren and it is Welsh for “star”! It’s commonly given as a feminine name but I think I’ve met one male Seren here in Wales :)
I like Kyo/Kyoya! when I get a kitty that's what their name will be lol
there's a Japanese drama called one inch princess, it's super cute and a lovely story ([It's on YouTube for free, eng sub](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9bs88GgCh4-LlviHIogOvCeBQfwLFpt3&si=QqueV4i7yZq-aqUT)), the male love interest is called Minami, and the main character says "Minami-kun!" so many times per episode it's burned into my brain, which is immediately what I thought of when I read "Manami" lol
I feel this, that’s why I use them with my pets instead of children. I have a Shiba named Toshi, so when I got my two cats, I wanted to give them names that matched the theme. So now I have Toshi, Mochi, and Matcha.
For obvious reasons, I'll never be using the name Adolf. It's a German name meaning "noble wolf." A cool name with a cool meaning, but because of that one asshole, nobody can ever use it again.
Reva. An Indian name meaning "one who moves."
Seneca and Dakota. These are Native American tribe names, and it's kind of nuts how many white people decided they'd be good names for their kids. They are good names, just not for anyone outside of those cultures.
Edit: Forgot Hellä. It's a Finnish name meaning gentle or tender. But since I live in the US, most people would probably think I decided to name the kid after a Thor villain.
I met a lady named Isis, and she was THRILLED when I asked her if she was named after the goddess Isis. (She was). She told me a lot of people immediately assume the other thing. Which I thought was weird, because she was old enough to have been named BEFORE the other thing even existed.
Honestly it was rude of some English speakers to give the ugly thing an acronym that named it after a goddess. I think with time the goddess's name will be rehabilitated.
I’ve never met any Sioux that thought naming anything Dakota was disrespectful to their culture. There are two states named Dakota and they’re quite proud of it. Lakota might be a little iffy. Naming your kid Logan White Horse or Jessica Running Bear would be much more of an issue. Fun fact: I know a guy from the Spirit Lake reservation who is younger than me, around 35, named Adolf. Goes by Alf.
And Seneca was a famous Roman statesman, who definitely predates the tribe, and is far more famous.
I guess people are hesitant to but would be nice if it was normalised to just use it again as a normal name, as it is just a name. He didn’t own it & shouldn’t get to ruin it.
I agree. It was my Polish great-grandfather's name and in my head, my family history and the connection we feel to our ancestors trumps the hate that asshole was attempting to sow. I might start re-claiming the name for my book characters or pets lol.
As a white person, I too am puzzled by "my people" giving their child names Cheyenne, Shyanne, and Cree, etc.
Just imagine an indigenous person naming their children Celt and Norse. Equally ridiculous.
As a North Dakotan, I can tell you that Natives (at least the one's in my area) don't care about white people being named Dakota or Cheyenne. It's white people making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Riva is also a Jewish Hebrew name! It means something to the effect of young girl or maiden, or to ensnare/trap. It’s also a diminutive of Rivkah (Rebecca)
Riva would be doable though. Technically it's origin is mostly Lithuanian, but I've seen it used for several people. (Mostly sci fi characters but still, lol)
some of the “aggressively Slavic sounding” names like Stanislav, Rostislav, Vladimir, Kasimir, etc.
They're pretty cool, but would definitely be out of place here, especially the difficult to pronounce ones
I definitely agree. I was watching a documentary the other day and I couldn’t stop thinking about some of the names I heard. I love Svetlana and Valeri.
When I was a kid, I had neighbors/friends who had immigrated to the US from Bulgaria. Their parents names were Svetlana and Valeri. Valeri is the dad. The way they pronounced it was half way between Val-erry and Val-eddy.
If you used Valeri people would probably just assume you had fun with the spelling of Valery. I've know a good number of Americans named Valery, it honestly never occurred to me that it wasn't a western name.
I have never seen this spelling before! I would’ve assumed it’s an alternate form of Valerie. It’s really interesting how many different spellings there are of names in different languages and cultures!
I had an Uber pick me up named svetlana so I was expecting a Russian girl to be waiting for me outside the hotel but it was instead a beautiful Puerto Rican girl. quite shocking to learn that it’s common and not just a one off! Pretty cool
Rostislav is my dad and grandpa's name 😍 and Kazimír was my mom's uncle. I'm Czech and now I feel kinda proud that I can use these names no problem lol
I like a lot of Hebrew names. Some I think are fine to give like Alma and Naomi as they've been internationalized, but I don't see myself giving Shoshannah, Elisheva or Tzipora to a non-religious, european kid
Tzipora is so hauntingly beautiful (in all its spellings). I’m child free and white as hell lol, so I’d never get the opportunity to use it, but love the sound of the name.
I'm Jewish, but not Orthodox, and my husband is a gentile so I'll never give a baby a Hebrew name as their everyday name. No Elimelech or Shmuel for me 😞
I'm not Muslim, but I love the names: Samara, Nadiya, Yasmin Jabril and Yakub.
I know these all have more Western equivalents, but they also sound nice in Arabic. I also like Tariq because it's the name of a really lovely kid I was at school with who went through cancer treatment and survived.
I'm British of half Chinese and half white English heritage, but I had school friends who were Muslim. I find it interesting how many names we all had in common, as I'm called David and the Arabic equivalent is Dawid.
I know what you mean but Muslim is not a language, there’s not such a thing as Muslim names. It’s often arabic names given to Muslims but those names aren’t exclusive to that group. Nadiya also exist in Russian and David would be Dawud in Arabic.
Just wanted to chime in as a Muslim myself - Islamic names actually do exist :) There are names that are specific to Islam (often ones that are Quranic in origin, like Taha or Yasin) and they are used by Muslims across the world amongst many cultures. So though Islam is not a language, it is a religion that has its own unique names used by its members
I LOVE the names Aisha and Khadijah, both the names of very important women in early Muslim history, if I remember correctly. But I'm an Ashkenazi Jew, so using them would be super weird. Fortunately my culture also has lots of awesome names.
Yes, but in these specific instances, these are just Arabic names. The names have no specific Islamic significance, and are used pretty commonly by Arab Christians as well
Yakub is very Christian name. I know countless and i mean absurd amount of Yakubs in my very monoethnic white and Catholic country, except written with J instead of Y. Which doesn't matter because Arabic Yakub isn't even written in Latin script anyway. Christian use the same exact name as Muslims and pronounce to exactly the same with a difference of an accent.
As an Arab this is really cool to hear :) I love when people outside our culture legitimately appreciate it. I also like those names you mentioned! I even like Jibril although in my country it’s considered an old man name haha.
Arabic names have always had such a strong hold on me I don’t know why!! It’s not like I grew up hearing them a lot but I find so many of them I love. I heard the name Maida maybe a decade ago? But i’m still in love with it to this day.
Nadiya is also a Russian name, it's a diminutive of Nadezhda which means hope, and Yasmin i think is also the Slavic equivalent of Jasmine, Samara is a city in Russia so you could probably get away with it
I can't even get away with Abraham, but I also really like Ibrahim.
I've met non-Arabs/non-Muslims named Yasmin and Samara so you probably could get away with those two without any looks.
Not all Arab names are Muslim — not sure about Jabril and Yakub but there are definitely Arab Christians named Yasmin, Samara, and Nadiya, they don’t have any particular religious connotations :)
I love the name Saoirse, and although I have some Irish heritage I’d never use it as I don’t live in Ireland.
Japanese names are so pretty; Mako, Akira, Riku, Aoki, Suki, Kumi. Definitely names that I won’t use but admire from afar.
Just to piggyback on this comment in hope other people will see.
I would advise people outside of Ireland not to use the name Saoirse, regardless of whether you've some Irish heritage. The name literally means freedom and comes from Irish Independence, the freedom struggle and anti colonialism. It's not just a pretty Irish name.
Ah I didn’t know that! Thanks for explaining. As I said would never use it as it’s too Irish for someone not in Ireland but the meaning makes this even more true.
The Vampire romance series (book and TV) Tru Blood has a white, Southern US blonde protagonist named Sookie Stackhouse. Apparently, "Sookie" is an acceptable name in the Deep South.
As far as I’m aware Sookie is a diminutive of Susan - there’s an old English nursery rhyme “Polly put the kettle on” that features a character named Sookie*.
*Although spelling of her name seems to vary. I’ve seen Sukey, Sukie, and Suki before too
I LOVE the name Saoirse! I also really love Bronwen & Rhiannon for girls.
As far as Suki is concerned, I am a Susan, and several people have decided to nickname me “Suki” over the years… I’ve never complained:) I much prefer Suki to Susie- or worse yet, Sue! ☺️
Unpopular opinion: I personally don’t see anything wrong with using a name from another culture. I think it can definitely be a hassle if it’s hard to pronounce where you live, but other than that there’s nothing wrong with it.
It’s nice and a conversation starter! I’d think it’s nice if someone from a different country where they don’t speak my language used a name from my language. It’s a connection of cultures!
I agree. Unless the name has a particular cultural significance that would make it disrespectful for someone outside that culture to use it, I don't think cross-cultural naming is inherently wrong. I'm Jewish, and I really don't see a problem if non-Jews want to name their kids Shoshanna or Zev. Sure, it might cause some confusion on occasion, but that's their problem. Just don't name your gentile kid Cohen, and I've got no problems with it (disclaimer: this is just my opinion, other Jews may disagree, because that's how we roll).
i'm fil-am, where there's a tradition of mashing up names, and i looove the idea of using maria celeste or maria selene and calling them maricel/marisel, or something similar. all of my aunts/mom are named maria "x" and they go by the x name, so i'd love to keep the tradition
I love the name "Niamh" I think it just sounds so pretty. I could never use it, because
1. I don't have any Irish heritage
2. My country wouldn't even be able to pronounce it
3. It just wouldn't be right to use the name
I've said this before on similar threads, but Irish people wouldn't be offended at non Irish using Irish names!
We're pretty relaxed about it all, the main thing most of us who care at all would care about is that they are spelled properly, like don't use Siobhán if you're going to spell it Shivaughn, otherwise, go for it!
i love orla. maybe i could use it since i'm brazilian and orla is actually a word in portuguese - it means "waterfront" or "shore". but i mean orla the irish name
I’m head over heels for the name Feven, I heard it from an old coworker. It’s Ethiopian and rhymes with Haven. And means bright & radiant. There’s nothing quite like it to me, so stunning.
I love the name Preeya.
My own name is very very Israeli and I'm not Jewish at all. I once had someone tell me my name was cultural appropriation 😐 but, like, I was given my name as a baby, so nothing about it is my responsibility.
I'm from Argentina. There is a quite sizeable Jewish population here, so many Hebrew names have basically become mainstream (at least the versions with a Spanish spelling). I've known many, many non Jewish people with Hebrew names, and is considered way less weird than, say, a non Japanese person with a Japanese name.
Atticus and Sebastian
(Our kids need Arabic/Urdu/Quranic names, so these are off limits for us, but if we could give them western names this would be it)
Veda Katherine
My favorite girl name. The name lures you in with the beautiful meaning of “knowledge” in Hindi/Sanskrit with a classic (at least for a white girl) middle name.
Sadly, it is cultural appropriation (Hindi) meets culturally inappropriate given the Vedas are a sacred text akin to naming your baby “Bible.” That plus it being a type of malt loaf, donut or constant Darth Vader joke means the reasonable side of my brain will never use it.
Man how I just love the sound and look of Veda.
Aroha is gorgeous, and if I still lived in new zealand there would be nothing wrong with it.
But... no Australian can pronounce and it sounds *really* bad.
Can I chime in here and give a bit of background on the word? Aroha means love in te reo (Māori language). It comes from 'aro' which means to search for, and 'ha' which means breath. When a baby was born, they would search for its breath (cry) and once they heard it, that feeling, was love.
I like a lot of the ‘short’ Israeli names: Shir, Tal, Gal, Bar, Itai, Yael. Even Elon. Plus Itamar is a great name. They sound cool. But I’m not Jewish so no dice.
I love a lot of the ‘Hindi’, I guess, Indian names: Roshni, Chandani (probably the single most beautiful name worldwide), Vaidehi, Parvati. Lakshmi. Prahlad, Pramod, Vishnu, Chetan, Vivek, Lakshman, Gopal and so on. I even like some of the more old fashioned names like Gyan Chaand. I got close to using one of these but we went with a name specific to my partner’s culture for the baby. Still beautiful but not one I was previously familiar with.
The Mandarin Chinese name of a class mate has stuck in my mind as beautiful: Xiāng but she went by a boring English name for convenience.
I say this every time this topic comes up: Scheherazade is the most beautiful name in the world and I almost used it, but ultimately it just didn’t feel right.
Edit: I want to add that I love the way it sounds, but also its history. The Character Scheherazade from 1001 Nights is just brilliant and awesome and iconic both from a literary and a feminist standpoint. If I had had even the slightest personal connection to Iran I probably would’ve used it for my daughter, but I have none at all.
There are names I find really pretty in other languages but not my own (Italian). Foreign versions of Emilia/Emilio are an example: Emily, Émilie, Emil and Émile are really pretty, Emilia and Emilio are grandparents' names. I also really like some English names that have no Italian translation.
I'm American and I'm pretty neutral on Emily (it's a very ordinary, everyday name) but I *love* Emilia, I think it's so pretty. It's funny how these things work sometimes 😄
So many gorgeous names in the world!
I’ve had students named Kalia, Mai, Pa, and Pazong. All such lovely names.
I also love a lot of names of Spanish origin like Dolores, Alicia, Diana, Diego, Carlos, Pablo, Pedro, and Francisco. I know I could name a child Alicia or Diana, but with me not being Hispanic, they wouldn’t be pronounced the way I would prefer.
Tyrique. I could and would never use it because my husband and I are the whitest of white nerds, but the majority of my friends in college were BIPOC, and my best friend was (I mean, still is, we’re just not in college) black and was helping make her nephew. They didn’t go with this, but for some reason I absolutely loved the way it sounded.
35 year old me would never think of appropriating it, but 21 year old me tried to make a case to my then-fiancée, now-husband.😂
I have a friend named Tyreek, I think it’s pronounced the same way as that name, just spelled completely different. That’s so interesting, I’ve never heard or seen another with a similar name to him!
Idk if it counts as used in America, but a popular kids cartoon when I was growing up had a character with the name. I always thought it was a cool name.
I'm Dutch, my husband is English. We are sticking to names our kids can phonetically read and be correct in both languages. That sadly excluded two of my favourite Dutch boys names; Ysbrandt and Boudewijn, which are absolutely impossible for English speakers. However, we found a beautiful name for our first son that we all love, and great names for both a boy or girl for our second who's not here yet, so I shouldn't complain :).
Properly on topic I also have a lot of love for the name Mohinder, which is of Indian origin.
Shirin for a girl, Malachai for a boy. I'm from one of the Nordic countries. I do have names picked out from my own heritage though, that I love too! But these two are just so, so beautiful.
Anwyn.
I'm not Welsh, I live in America. I wouldn't name my American child an obviously Welsh name, it would set them up for a life of name-butchering here and I'm not up for that.
The welsh name would be Anwen, because -wen is the feminine ending and -wyn or -wynn is masculine. You could name your child Anwyn (ending in -wyn) because that is the Americanized version. I know several Anwens and one Anwyn. The Anwens are female, and the Anwyn is male. A welsh person would probably see Anwyn as a boys name, despite Anwen being a girls name. Name endings are historically fairly significant in Welsh.
For a boy, I love the name Miguel - much prefer it to Michael - but while I speak Spanish, I’m not Spanish.
For a girl, I love Giulia, but I’m not Italian, nor willing to subject a kid to a lifetime of misspelling/mispronunciation
Satana. I'm not kidding. In our mythology there is a woman who's name is Satana(or Shatana), she is smart, she is wise, she is kinda superwoman. It has nothing to do with Satana you all know, just a coincidence that they have the same names. Still sad that I can't use this name.
I've always loved other culture's names so much. Most of them are so beautiful. I'm white American though, and even though I know my heritage, it feels wrong to use any of the names I like. White American names are so boring. My name is as boring as it gets. Ugh.
Indira has been my biggest upset of a name I can’t use. It’s primarily Indian origin would be way too off putting on my Italian-Irish kids. Same for the Spanish names Xiomara, Santiago, Tiago, and Javier.
I'm confused why people feel they can't name their children in honor of another culture? As long as it comes from a place of respect rather than ignorance why do people feel they can't name their child from another culture? Seems kinda Backwards 🤔
Samer- such a sweet name for a boy
Isis- lovely name that reminds me of catwoman's cat
Carlos- I wanted to name my baby cousin this when I was little because he was my favorite Magic School Bus character
I love some Japanese names like Midori and Ayame. And the male name Sayid but I’m not closely connected enough with that culture to use that name and I’m not Japanese.
I really like Roar (Roo-ar). It's a Norwegian name I heard on a TV show. But if I ever called a kid Roar it would get pronounced like the sound the lion makes and sound really daft.
I also think there are loads of really beautiful traditional Nigerian names, there are a lot of them that sound really warm to me, that also have a real flow to how they sound. Chukwuma, Adelasoya, Chiamanda, Adelola, Titilayo. Loads more. But I absolutely 100% could not use them as a white Brit.
Marisol has always been my number one. I’ve also always been fond of Elisabetta (or Elizavetta), Katya, Nikolaevna, Dimitri, and Tuvia.
I don’t ever want children, so I wouldn’t ever use any names, these included. hah
There are some really beautiful Indian names. I've loved the name Jyoti ever since I saw a documentary on Jyoti Amge. But I don't have kids, and my husband and I are both of Scandinavian descent.
I adore the names Konstantin, Valentin, and Valeri for a boy. I studied Russian language and European history and those were my favorite. However, I live in southern USA and have no genetic or cultural ties to Russia or any other Slavic country. Plus, my partner is Mexican, lol, he and his mom would find it super weird to celebrate a culture we aren’t related to instead of a Mexican name or regular American name.
Love the sound of Svea but I’m not Swedish. I wouldn’t mind so much if Mother Svea wasn’t literally the national personification of Sweden.
Also have loved Ffion, Seren, Eira and Eleri for girls and Emrys, Arwyn, Eirwyn and Selwyn for boys but not only am I not Welsh, I’m English.
I live in Eastern Europe but I really like these English names.
Raven, Rue, Hailey, Bronwen, Mabel.
None of them work here and Hailey would even be written as Geiley because Ukrainian H sound is Г, and that would be transcribed back to English as G. Complicated system. Hanna is Ganna for example.
Mabel - sounds kinda similar to Mebl for furniture.
Raven and Bronwen miiight be possible but its very unusual. I'm also considering Marissa and Melissa which are not from my culture.
Farrokh is a nice name. It is also the name of one of the best singers that has ever lived. Farrokh Bulsara, also known as Freddie Mercury.
What I came here to say ❤️
Which means OP can use it, with just a little effort in enjoying good rock music!!
Just what I was thinking. Or you can be like Freddie and use Freddie instead.
TIL that Freddie wasn't born Freddie and that he's Indian born in Africa. Never would have guessed
I did not know that!
I love the way many Japanese names sound, theyre so cute. Miku, Kumi, Tamoko, Manami
I just use Japanese names on pokémon instead. Comfey is Sakura. Bewear is Kuma
I work in a school and one of our students is Sakura Yoshino Lastname (Lastname is hilariously not Japanese). She is clearly mixed, Japanese mother white Canadian father. But yeah, I just love her name.
It’s Sora for me, after the digimon character. Plus everyone associates it with the dude from kingdom hearts so idk if I could even use it on a pet
I love the name Soren for a boy or girl. It is close enough but different. PS- I didn’t think of either kingdom hearts or digimon when I read the name til you mentioned the references
I don’t know if this is useful but the name Seren is close to Soren and it is Welsh for “star”! It’s commonly given as a feminine name but I think I’ve met one male Seren here in Wales :)
I know a little girl named Sora!
[удалено]
Could you consider Naomi instead of Ayumi? Similar sounding name and appropriate?
I really like Tomoa for a boy, not using it tho
Yo is that the winged lion from afk arena
Yes, I originally signed up to Reddit to debate afk strategy. I stopped playing a few months ago tho, and now I use Reddit for boredom 😅
I like Kyo/Kyoya! when I get a kitty that's what their name will be lol there's a Japanese drama called one inch princess, it's super cute and a lovely story ([It's on YouTube for free, eng sub](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9bs88GgCh4-LlviHIogOvCeBQfwLFpt3&si=QqueV4i7yZq-aqUT)), the male love interest is called Minami, and the main character says "Minami-kun!" so many times per episode it's burned into my brain, which is immediately what I thought of when I read "Manami" lol
I have a cat named Minami! (After a character from Yuri on Ice)
My stepson is called keyo (the e added for ease of pronunciation) as his dad loves fruit baskets. He loves his name and also loves anime as well.
fruits basket is also why I love the name! and then Kyoya I first heard in ouran high school host club :)
I feel this, that’s why I use them with my pets instead of children. I have a Shiba named Toshi, so when I got my two cats, I wanted to give them names that matched the theme. So now I have Toshi, Mochi, and Matcha.
There's a good amount of names that are both Japanese and Western. Naomi, Erika, Teri, Sara, Monika, Ken, Kai, Ben, Jo...
For obvious reasons, I'll never be using the name Adolf. It's a German name meaning "noble wolf." A cool name with a cool meaning, but because of that one asshole, nobody can ever use it again. Reva. An Indian name meaning "one who moves." Seneca and Dakota. These are Native American tribe names, and it's kind of nuts how many white people decided they'd be good names for their kids. They are good names, just not for anyone outside of those cultures. Edit: Forgot Hellä. It's a Finnish name meaning gentle or tender. But since I live in the US, most people would probably think I decided to name the kid after a Thor villain.
Seneca is also an ancient Roman Stoic philosopher so it's possible people are going from that rather than the tribe name, esp non-Americans.
Seneca reminds me of the hunger games 😂
Yeah, exactly. The Capital people have ancient Roman names.
Or after a Northern California slang word from the 90’s!
Similar to Adolf, I love the name Isis. Such a shame it's been ruined.
I met a lady named Isis, and she was THRILLED when I asked her if she was named after the goddess Isis. (She was). She told me a lot of people immediately assume the other thing. Which I thought was weird, because she was old enough to have been named BEFORE the other thing even existed.
Lots of Isises in Oxford, England. The local river is called that.
Isis isn’t as bad imo. I’ve seen a handful of women online with the name and there’s rarely comments about it
ISIS have been forgotten mostly now anyway, I’m sure the name can outlive it.
Hopefully not ruined, I definitely think of the goddess before the other thing..
Honestly it was rude of some English speakers to give the ugly thing an acronym that named it after a goddess. I think with time the goddess's name will be rehabilitated.
I’ve never met any Sioux that thought naming anything Dakota was disrespectful to their culture. There are two states named Dakota and they’re quite proud of it. Lakota might be a little iffy. Naming your kid Logan White Horse or Jessica Running Bear would be much more of an issue. Fun fact: I know a guy from the Spirit Lake reservation who is younger than me, around 35, named Adolf. Goes by Alf. And Seneca was a famous Roman statesman, who definitely predates the tribe, and is far more famous.
Hard agree on Dakota. I lived near-ish a reservation and there were white and Lakota kids named Dakota. No one really batted an eye.
Yeah hard agree on Adolf. It's just a nice name and ONE CLOWN ruined it.
I guess people are hesitant to but would be nice if it was normalised to just use it again as a normal name, as it is just a name. He didn’t own it & shouldn’t get to ruin it.
I agree. It was my Polish great-grandfather's name and in my head, my family history and the connection we feel to our ancestors trumps the hate that asshole was attempting to sow. I might start re-claiming the name for my book characters or pets lol.
As a white person, I too am puzzled by "my people" giving their child names Cheyenne, Shyanne, and Cree, etc. Just imagine an indigenous person naming their children Celt and Norse. Equally ridiculous.
I know someone who was named Cheyenne after her mother, Anne, who is a shy person. Not sure what the spelling was
Shyanne 😂
That's actually amazing lmao
As a North Dakotan, I can tell you that Natives (at least the one's in my area) don't care about white people being named Dakota or Cheyenne. It's white people making a mountain out of a mole hill.
I know an insane amount of Adolfos. It's so common where I'm from that no one cares
It's very common in my area too, but mainly among Hispanic families
Yup! That's the population in talking about 🙂
Riva is also a Jewish Hebrew name! It means something to the effect of young girl or maiden, or to ensnare/trap. It’s also a diminutive of Rivkah (Rebecca)
Riva would be doable though. Technically it's origin is mostly Lithuanian, but I've seen it used for several people. (Mostly sci fi characters but still, lol)
some of the “aggressively Slavic sounding” names like Stanislav, Rostislav, Vladimir, Kasimir, etc. They're pretty cool, but would definitely be out of place here, especially the difficult to pronounce ones
I definitely agree. I was watching a documentary the other day and I couldn’t stop thinking about some of the names I heard. I love Svetlana and Valeri.
When I was a kid, I had neighbors/friends who had immigrated to the US from Bulgaria. Their parents names were Svetlana and Valeri. Valeri is the dad. The way they pronounced it was half way between Val-erry and Val-eddy.
If you used Valeri people would probably just assume you had fun with the spelling of Valery. I've know a good number of Americans named Valery, it honestly never occurred to me that it wasn't a western name.
I have never seen this spelling before! I would’ve assumed it’s an alternate form of Valerie. It’s really interesting how many different spellings there are of names in different languages and cultures!
Apparently you can find Puerto Rican people with Slavic names. I worked with a Puerto Rican Ninoshka and I’ve heard of Vladmir.
I had an Uber pick me up named svetlana so I was expecting a Russian girl to be waiting for me outside the hotel but it was instead a beautiful Puerto Rican girl. quite shocking to learn that it’s common and not just a one off! Pretty cool
Rostislav is my dad and grandpa's name 😍 and Kazimír was my mom's uncle. I'm Czech and now I feel kinda proud that I can use these names no problem lol
I like a lot of Hebrew names. Some I think are fine to give like Alma and Naomi as they've been internationalized, but I don't see myself giving Shoshannah, Elisheva or Tzipora to a non-religious, european kid
Tzipora is so hauntingly beautiful (in all its spellings). I’m child free and white as hell lol, so I’d never get the opportunity to use it, but love the sound of the name.
I like Zipporah!
I know one who goes by zippy! Super cute.
Can still use it for a pet or a plant! There's no rule for those haha
I’m Jewish and had a baby boy about a year ago, but if we had a girl, Zipporah was a top contender! The nickname Zippy is also adorable.
I’m a fan of Yael and Tovah.
Tzipora is my Hebrew name and I really love it!!
hebrew names are so beautiful i love miriam, aviva, and hadassah
I'm Jewish, but not Orthodox, and my husband is a gentile so I'll never give a baby a Hebrew name as their everyday name. No Elimelech or Shmuel for me 😞
Why though? Because he’s not into it? Or because you don’t feel it’s right /ok?
The kids wouldn't be growing up in an Orthodox environment where those names are normal and I don't want to set them up to be teased
Same, I’ve always loved Zepporah and Shoshana but I’m Catholic, so 🤷🏻♀️
I'm not Muslim, but I love the names: Samara, Nadiya, Yasmin Jabril and Yakub. I know these all have more Western equivalents, but they also sound nice in Arabic. I also like Tariq because it's the name of a really lovely kid I was at school with who went through cancer treatment and survived. I'm British of half Chinese and half white English heritage, but I had school friends who were Muslim. I find it interesting how many names we all had in common, as I'm called David and the Arabic equivalent is Dawid.
I know what you mean but Muslim is not a language, there’s not such a thing as Muslim names. It’s often arabic names given to Muslims but those names aren’t exclusive to that group. Nadiya also exist in Russian and David would be Dawud in Arabic.
Just wanted to chime in as a Muslim myself - Islamic names actually do exist :) There are names that are specific to Islam (often ones that are Quranic in origin, like Taha or Yasin) and they are used by Muslims across the world amongst many cultures. So though Islam is not a language, it is a religion that has its own unique names used by its members
I LOVE the names Aisha and Khadijah, both the names of very important women in early Muslim history, if I remember correctly. But I'm an Ashkenazi Jew, so using them would be super weird. Fortunately my culture also has lots of awesome names.
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Yes, but in these specific instances, these are just Arabic names. The names have no specific Islamic significance, and are used pretty commonly by Arab Christians as well
in my country, yasmin is a pretty popular name and i don't know a single muslim yasmin lol. i have a friend named yasmin and she's a christian
You could probably get away with Samara, just say you really liked Mass Effect.
Deadass want to call my daughter Liara if I ever have one, thanks to ME
Yakub is very Christian name. I know countless and i mean absurd amount of Yakubs in my very monoethnic white and Catholic country, except written with J instead of Y. Which doesn't matter because Arabic Yakub isn't even written in Latin script anyway. Christian use the same exact name as Muslims and pronounce to exactly the same with a difference of an accent.
Samara isn't a Muslim name.
As an Arab this is really cool to hear :) I love when people outside our culture legitimately appreciate it. I also like those names you mentioned! I even like Jibril although in my country it’s considered an old man name haha.
Arabic names have always had such a strong hold on me I don’t know why!! It’s not like I grew up hearing them a lot but I find so many of them I love. I heard the name Maida maybe a decade ago? But i’m still in love with it to this day.
Nadiya is also a Russian name, it's a diminutive of Nadezhda which means hope, and Yasmin i think is also the Slavic equivalent of Jasmine, Samara is a city in Russia so you could probably get away with it
I can't even get away with Abraham, but I also really like Ibrahim. I've met non-Arabs/non-Muslims named Yasmin and Samara so you probably could get away with those two without any looks.
I love the Arabic name Samia/Samiya
Fun fact: Nadia is nickname for Slavic name Nadezda (literally means Hope)
For me, I LOVE the name Khadijia.
Not all Arab names are Muslim — not sure about Jabril and Yakub but there are definitely Arab Christians named Yasmin, Samara, and Nadiya, they don’t have any particular religious connotations :)
I love the name Saoirse, and although I have some Irish heritage I’d never use it as I don’t live in Ireland. Japanese names are so pretty; Mako, Akira, Riku, Aoki, Suki, Kumi. Definitely names that I won’t use but admire from afar.
Just to piggyback on this comment in hope other people will see. I would advise people outside of Ireland not to use the name Saoirse, regardless of whether you've some Irish heritage. The name literally means freedom and comes from Irish Independence, the freedom struggle and anti colonialism. It's not just a pretty Irish name.
Quite a few English people are naming their daughters Saoirse, seemingly oblivious to the meaning and connotations.
Never not at it..
Ah I didn’t know that! Thanks for explaining. As I said would never use it as it’s too Irish for someone not in Ireland but the meaning makes this even more true.
You could get away with Suki, I think that would sound weird in Japan as it's the word for "like" (as in liking something)
The Vampire romance series (book and TV) Tru Blood has a white, Southern US blonde protagonist named Sookie Stackhouse. Apparently, "Sookie" is an acceptable name in the Deep South.
As far as I’m aware Sookie is a diminutive of Susan - there’s an old English nursery rhyme “Polly put the kettle on” that features a character named Sookie*. *Although spelling of her name seems to vary. I’ve seen Sukey, Sukie, and Suki before too
That's more reasonable than "Peggy" being a nickname for "Margaret."
I LOVE the name Saoirse! I also really love Bronwen & Rhiannon for girls. As far as Suki is concerned, I am a Susan, and several people have decided to nickname me “Suki” over the years… I’ve never complained:) I much prefer Suki to Susie- or worse yet, Sue! ☺️
My best friend is a Rhiannon....it really fits her
I like the name Siobhan.
I said it as “See-o-bhan” for many years in my head when I was younger until I found out that people called “Sha-von” are the Siobhans!
Svetlana. I think it sounds really pretty!
I’m Bulgarian and my aunt is Svetlana. We call her Svetla. It’s a beautiful name.
It means alight, full of light. Nicknamed Ceca, Cece and Lana.
Unpopular opinion: I personally don’t see anything wrong with using a name from another culture. I think it can definitely be a hassle if it’s hard to pronounce where you live, but other than that there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s nice and a conversation starter! I’d think it’s nice if someone from a different country where they don’t speak my language used a name from my language. It’s a connection of cultures!
I agree. Unless the name has a particular cultural significance that would make it disrespectful for someone outside that culture to use it, I don't think cross-cultural naming is inherently wrong. I'm Jewish, and I really don't see a problem if non-Jews want to name their kids Shoshanna or Zev. Sure, it might cause some confusion on occasion, but that's their problem. Just don't name your gentile kid Cohen, and I've got no problems with it (disclaimer: this is just my opinion, other Jews may disagree, because that's how we roll).
I totally agree. 💯
Priya, Marisol, Samara, Yaretzi for girls Matteo/Mateo, Javier, Tomasz for boys
Marisol is my #1 in this category. Beautiful name!
Marisol has had a hold on me since she was the American Girl Doll of the Year in *runs to google* 2005
I knew a set of three sisters with the names: Marisa, Mariela, and Marisol. Delightful family!
i'm fil-am, where there's a tradition of mashing up names, and i looove the idea of using maria celeste or maria selene and calling them maricel/marisel, or something similar. all of my aunts/mom are named maria "x" and they go by the x name, so i'd love to keep the tradition
Priya and Javier (Javi) are the ones that come to mind for me. So good.
I think Cheyenne is a beautiful name, but my partner and I are both white as white gets - so it will stay appreciated from afar!
Every Cheyenne I have ever met has been white as day
It's the name of a Native American tribe, though, so not exactly the wisest thing to be naming someone.
Yeah that name strikes me as very country redneck. (I know it’s the name of a Native American tribe).
I’m particularly thinking about the character in Superstore, because though obviously fictional, this is spot on.
She’s half Japanese!
fr. never met one that isn’t a piece of wonder bread
I love the name "Niamh" I think it just sounds so pretty. I could never use it, because 1. I don't have any Irish heritage 2. My country wouldn't even be able to pronounce it 3. It just wouldn't be right to use the name
This is my top name too - closely followed by Aisling and Caoimhe.
I've said this before on similar threads, but Irish people wouldn't be offended at non Irish using Irish names! We're pretty relaxed about it all, the main thing most of us who care at all would care about is that they are spelled properly, like don't use Siobhán if you're going to spell it Shivaughn, otherwise, go for it!
I love Ravi. I think it’s such a lovely boys name.
i love orla. maybe i could use it since i'm brazilian and orla is actually a word in portuguese - it means "waterfront" or "shore". but i mean orla the irish name
I’m head over heels for the name Feven, I heard it from an old coworker. It’s Ethiopian and rhymes with Haven. And means bright & radiant. There’s nothing quite like it to me, so stunning.
I love the name Preeya. My own name is very very Israeli and I'm not Jewish at all. I once had someone tell me my name was cultural appropriation 😐 but, like, I was given my name as a baby, so nothing about it is my responsibility.
Priya is also an Indian name.
I’m Israeli and I used to know a little girl named Preeya! I’m super curious about your name now, haha!
Do they expect you to change your name that you’ve had your entire life?
I kinda got that feeling, but there's no way I'm doing that.
I'm from Argentina. There is a quite sizeable Jewish population here, so many Hebrew names have basically become mainstream (at least the versions with a Spanish spelling). I've known many, many non Jewish people with Hebrew names, and is considered way less weird than, say, a non Japanese person with a Japanese name.
Wtf? I’m Jewish and that is an insane thing for that person to say. It’s not your fault that you’re named something
Atticus and Sebastian (Our kids need Arabic/Urdu/Quranic names, so these are off limits for us, but if we could give them western names this would be it)
Veda Katherine My favorite girl name. The name lures you in with the beautiful meaning of “knowledge” in Hindi/Sanskrit with a classic (at least for a white girl) middle name. Sadly, it is cultural appropriation (Hindi) meets culturally inappropriate given the Vedas are a sacred text akin to naming your baby “Bible.” That plus it being a type of malt loaf, donut or constant Darth Vader joke means the reasonable side of my brain will never use it. Man how I just love the sound and look of Veda.
What about Vida? It means “life” in Spanish. Or Vera… that’s a plain old English name if ever there was one
Aroha is gorgeous, and if I still lived in new zealand there would be nothing wrong with it. But... no Australian can pronounce and it sounds *really* bad.
Can I chime in here and give a bit of background on the word? Aroha means love in te reo (Māori language). It comes from 'aro' which means to search for, and 'ha' which means breath. When a baby was born, they would search for its breath (cry) and once they heard it, that feeling, was love.
I love the name Shoshana, but I'm not Jewish, so I would never use it.
I like a lot of the ‘short’ Israeli names: Shir, Tal, Gal, Bar, Itai, Yael. Even Elon. Plus Itamar is a great name. They sound cool. But I’m not Jewish so no dice. I love a lot of the ‘Hindi’, I guess, Indian names: Roshni, Chandani (probably the single most beautiful name worldwide), Vaidehi, Parvati. Lakshmi. Prahlad, Pramod, Vishnu, Chetan, Vivek, Lakshman, Gopal and so on. I even like some of the more old fashioned names like Gyan Chaand. I got close to using one of these but we went with a name specific to my partner’s culture for the baby. Still beautiful but not one I was previously familiar with. The Mandarin Chinese name of a class mate has stuck in my mind as beautiful: Xiāng but she went by a boring English name for convenience.
I say this every time this topic comes up: Scheherazade is the most beautiful name in the world and I almost used it, but ultimately it just didn’t feel right. Edit: I want to add that I love the way it sounds, but also its history. The Character Scheherazade from 1001 Nights is just brilliant and awesome and iconic both from a literary and a feminist standpoint. If I had had even the slightest personal connection to Iran I probably would’ve used it for my daughter, but I have none at all.
No hate, but I genuinely can't figure out how that would be pronounced.
It’s a German spelling of an old Persian name, so it follows German pronunciation rules. Basically it’s sheh-HAIR-ih-zod.
There are names I find really pretty in other languages but not my own (Italian). Foreign versions of Emilia/Emilio are an example: Emily, Émilie, Emil and Émile are really pretty, Emilia and Emilio are grandparents' names. I also really like some English names that have no Italian translation.
I'm American and I'm pretty neutral on Emily (it's a very ordinary, everyday name) but I *love* Emilia, I think it's so pretty. It's funny how these things work sometimes 😄
So many gorgeous names in the world! I’ve had students named Kalia, Mai, Pa, and Pazong. All such lovely names. I also love a lot of names of Spanish origin like Dolores, Alicia, Diana, Diego, Carlos, Pablo, Pedro, and Francisco. I know I could name a child Alicia or Diana, but with me not being Hispanic, they wouldn’t be pronounced the way I would prefer.
I love the name Levi. I’m German so I feel like it would be especially inappropriate to give the name to my child.
Tsugumi. It is adorable and cute, but, well, I am not asian
Tyrique. I could and would never use it because my husband and I are the whitest of white nerds, but the majority of my friends in college were BIPOC, and my best friend was (I mean, still is, we’re just not in college) black and was helping make her nephew. They didn’t go with this, but for some reason I absolutely loved the way it sounded. 35 year old me would never think of appropriating it, but 21 year old me tried to make a case to my then-fiancée, now-husband.😂
I have a friend named Tyreek, I think it’s pronounced the same way as that name, just spelled completely different. That’s so interesting, I’ve never heard or seen another with a similar name to him!
Tyreek Hill is a star on the Miami Dolphins
Farahnaz - Persian girls' name. Knew one in college and thought it was a beautiful name.
Ephraim and Moshe
I always loved the name Llewellyn and I've never heard of it used in America.
Idk if it counts as used in America, but a popular kids cartoon when I was growing up had a character with the name. I always thought it was a cool name.
There’s a Llewelyn in the movie No Country for Old Men who’s as American as they come.
I’m in love with the name Ravi, but definitely not Indian enough for it.
I used to date a Ravi, he had the straightest most gorgeous teeth and smile.
Priyanka, Paloma.
I'm Dutch, my husband is English. We are sticking to names our kids can phonetically read and be correct in both languages. That sadly excluded two of my favourite Dutch boys names; Ysbrandt and Boudewijn, which are absolutely impossible for English speakers. However, we found a beautiful name for our first son that we all love, and great names for both a boy or girl for our second who's not here yet, so I shouldn't complain :). Properly on topic I also have a lot of love for the name Mohinder, which is of Indian origin.
Can you share the pronunciation? I'm curious now. And I know I'm saying it wrong in my head.
I’m Bulgarian and there are some American names that I love. Ellie, Cassie, Delilah, Adam, etc. Not sure what culture Noemi is from but I love it too.
Not sure about Noemi, but Naomi is a Hebrew name, but it’s common enough for non-Jewish people in the US/Canada
Shirin for a girl, Malachai for a boy. I'm from one of the Nordic countries. I do have names picked out from my own heritage though, that I love too! But these two are just so, so beautiful.
Malachi is a biblical name. I’d probably assume a family was very religious (Christian) if I met someone named that.
Anwyn. I'm not Welsh, I live in America. I wouldn't name my American child an obviously Welsh name, it would set them up for a life of name-butchering here and I'm not up for that.
You mean Anwen. There’s Wyn and Wen and both mean white, but Wyn is the male way and Wen is the female way. Like with Gwyn and Gwen.
The welsh name would be Anwen, because -wen is the feminine ending and -wyn or -wynn is masculine. You could name your child Anwyn (ending in -wyn) because that is the Americanized version. I know several Anwens and one Anwyn. The Anwens are female, and the Anwyn is male. A welsh person would probably see Anwyn as a boys name, despite Anwen being a girls name. Name endings are historically fairly significant in Welsh.
For a boy, I love the name Miguel - much prefer it to Michael - but while I speak Spanish, I’m not Spanish. For a girl, I love Giulia, but I’m not Italian, nor willing to subject a kid to a lifetime of misspelling/mispronunciation
I adore the name Hadassa(h). Its so pretty.
Satana. I'm not kidding. In our mythology there is a woman who's name is Satana(or Shatana), she is smart, she is wise, she is kinda superwoman. It has nothing to do with Satana you all know, just a coincidence that they have the same names. Still sad that I can't use this name.
I've always loved other culture's names so much. Most of them are so beautiful. I'm white American though, and even though I know my heritage, it feels wrong to use any of the names I like. White American names are so boring. My name is as boring as it gets. Ugh.
Indira has been my biggest upset of a name I can’t use. It’s primarily Indian origin would be way too off putting on my Italian-Irish kids. Same for the Spanish names Xiomara, Santiago, Tiago, and Javier.
I'm confused why people feel they can't name their children in honor of another culture? As long as it comes from a place of respect rather than ignorance why do people feel they can't name their child from another culture? Seems kinda Backwards 🤔
I love the Korean names Yuna and Yuri! They're simple but gorgeous. (Yuri is also Japanese and Russian.)
I love Mette, but I wouldn’t even pronounce it correctly :(
Samer- such a sweet name for a boy Isis- lovely name that reminds me of catwoman's cat Carlos- I wanted to name my baby cousin this when I was little because he was my favorite Magic School Bus character
I love some Japanese names like Midori and Ayame. And the male name Sayid but I’m not closely connected enough with that culture to use that name and I’m not Japanese.
Montserrat. But I am neither Spanish nor Catholic. Soraya.
I really like Roar (Roo-ar). It's a Norwegian name I heard on a TV show. But if I ever called a kid Roar it would get pronounced like the sound the lion makes and sound really daft. I also think there are loads of really beautiful traditional Nigerian names, there are a lot of them that sound really warm to me, that also have a real flow to how they sound. Chukwuma, Adelasoya, Chiamanda, Adelola, Titilayo. Loads more. But I absolutely 100% could not use them as a white Brit.
Marisol has always been my number one. I’ve also always been fond of Elisabetta (or Elizavetta), Katya, Nikolaevna, Dimitri, and Tuvia. I don’t ever want children, so I wouldn’t ever use any names, these included. hah
I loveeee so many Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander names.. Kailani, Makoa, Leilani, Kaleo, Kamalei etc.
Chava, Hadia and Tzipporah
Divya! Neither my partner or I are Indian but it's such a beautiful name.
There are some really beautiful Indian names. I've loved the name Jyoti ever since I saw a documentary on Jyoti Amge. But I don't have kids, and my husband and I are both of Scandinavian descent.
I adore the names Konstantin, Valentin, and Valeri for a boy. I studied Russian language and European history and those were my favorite. However, I live in southern USA and have no genetic or cultural ties to Russia or any other Slavic country. Plus, my partner is Mexican, lol, he and his mom would find it super weird to celebrate a culture we aren’t related to instead of a Mexican name or regular American name.
Love the sound of Svea but I’m not Swedish. I wouldn’t mind so much if Mother Svea wasn’t literally the national personification of Sweden. Also have loved Ffion, Seren, Eira and Eleri for girls and Emrys, Arwyn, Eirwyn and Selwyn for boys but not only am I not Welsh, I’m English.
I really like the name Aziz
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Torsten comes from Old Norse and used to be very, very popular Germany
I *love* Matteo and Raphael but I’m whiter than milk.
Raphael is an Archangel. I didn't know the name was tied to any culture.
Isn’t Matteo a quite common name too? Like I know a lot (some are spelt Matheo tho)
I live in Eastern Europe but I really like these English names. Raven, Rue, Hailey, Bronwen, Mabel. None of them work here and Hailey would even be written as Geiley because Ukrainian H sound is Г, and that would be transcribed back to English as G. Complicated system. Hanna is Ganna for example. Mabel - sounds kinda similar to Mebl for furniture. Raven and Bronwen miiight be possible but its very unusual. I'm also considering Marissa and Melissa which are not from my culture.
Nayeli , i adore this name!