Would you raise an eyebrow if you met a [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] who had no Italian, Spanish, or Latina heritage? Has it become mainstream enough that a Canadian family with mostly British ancestry could pull it off, or would it feel a little like cultural appropriation? (This may or may not matter, but in my imagination it’d be pronounced loo-SEE-ah.)
In [name_m]Britain[/name_m] it’s not an uncommon name. I would only assume a girl named [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] had Italian ancestry if she also had an Italian surname.
Nah, I don’t think it’s weird, especially with the pronunciation you favor. It would strike me as a little odd if you went with [name_f]Lu[/name_f]-CHEE-a, but not in an offensive way. I’d just wonder what drew you to it, is all.
[name_f]Lucia[/name_f] has historically been used in plenty of other countries because of [name_f]Santa[/name_f] [name_f]Lucia[/name_f], I believe. That’s at least true in Scandinavian countries. I think the pronunciation actually does matter — a Loo-CHEE-ah without any Italian heritage might be a bit confusing, but Loo-SEE-ah seems more widely used.
In general I think I’m a bit of a stickler about the origins of names, compared to a lot of people here. Using Native American or Sanskrit names on white kids seems like naive cultural appropriation to me. [name_m]Even[/name_m] the traditional Irish names on children with no Irish heritage rubs me the wrong way. But any names with common Latin and Greek language roots seem much more flexible.
I agree with the others–[name_f]Lucia[/name_f] has had enough widespread international usage (and it’s popular enough here!) that I wouldn’t bat an eye at hearing it used on a non-Spanish/Italian/etc. little girl. I love it a lot and have it on my list, and while I have a little Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese ancestry, it’s not much, and it’s far enough back that I couldn’t even trace it to one specific ancestor. I love tons of international names, though, and would say it the Italian way–loo-CHEE-ah. Although I’m not sure that’s any weirder than having [name_f]Madelief[/name_f], [name_f]Eleni[/name_f], or [name_f]Giovanna[/name_f] on my list. 
I think [name_f]Lucia[/name_f]'s great. I adore it. I’m not a [name_f]Lucy[/name_f] fan, so I wouldn’t say it the loo-SEE-ah way, but I [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] loo-CHEE-ah and like LOO-shah a lot. I’ve met a couple, and, strangely enough, out here it seems like most of them are said like LOO-shah.
With Loo-see-a, not at all.
Loo-chee-a is the only pronunciation of the name that has me thinking the person has Italian heritage.
I don’t think anyone would raise an eyebrow. It may have sounded exotic in the past, but now [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] has become popular all over the world, although pronounced in different ways.
Works for anybody. Pretty name!
I’m half Italian myself and there’s no [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] in my family to my knowledge, nor are any of the family’s Italian friends a [name_f]Lucia[/name_f]. I understand where you are coming from, though. It does sound vaguely Italian to me. I don’t know exactly the origin of [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] but to me it sounds more Russian than anything else.
I would not think [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] to be a cultural appropriation for a Canadian family of British heritage.
[name_f]Lucia[/name_f] does feel Italian/Spanish to me in that if I had to guess I would say that a [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] was of Italian/Spanish heritage. I wouldn’t find it unusual or see it as cultural appropriation on someone who wasn’t though, especially with the loo-SEE-ah pronounciation.
It would be pretty harsh if we had to have heritage from the name we chose. There would be so few names to choose from for all of us.
Behind the Name says [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] has been used in [name_f]England[/name_f] since the 12th century, and throughout Christendom since the Middle Ages, so I think it’s safe to call it a general European name, not ethnically Italian.
I think [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] is fine with any heritage especially when pronounced Loo-see-ah plus it is a lovely name.