Ethic/Cultural names you'd want to use

*sorry, keyboard slip, I meant Ethnic in the title, not Ethic!

Are there any names that you’d secretly love to use if only your child was going to have the right background/culture to pull it off?
Of course in the case of adoptions I realize that can be a great way to honour heritage, but I’m thinking more along the lines of total guilty pleasures that are really associated with one culture you’d love to be able to use (or maybe you actually would use)

Mine are:

Girls:
[name]Saoirse[/name]
[name]Myfanwy[/name]
Ykaterina
[name]Lupe[/name]
[name]Pilar[/name]
[name]Priya[/name]

Boys:
[name]Rolf[/name]
[name]Dmitry[/name]
[name]Constantine[/name]
[name]Knut[/name]
[name]Alejandro[/name]
[name]Klaus[/name]
[name]Lars[/name]

I have a couple for each nationality, haha–I tell myself that I’m just saving them should I adopt internationally, but in all reality, I plan to adopt domestically for the most part, so I think they’re mainly just GPs. :slight_smile: My favorites are Eastern European names–I love Polish names like [name]Ariadna[/name], [name]Cecylia[/name] (sp?), [name]Sabina[/name], Lilija, Gracja, [name]Ziven[/name], [name]Eliasz[/name], Jonasz, etc. I also love the [name]German[/name] [name]Oskar[/name] and the Czech [name]Eliska[/name].

I also love [name]Mei[/name]-[name]Lin[/name], Jia-li, and [name]Mei[/name] for Chinese girls’ names. And I love the French [name]Aurelie[/name], [name]Auguste[/name], [name]Armand[/name], etc.

Latika - [name]Indian[/name]

I can actually get away with Chinese names, but I don’t want to since my children will live in [name]America[/name], but my favorites:
Xuemei
Meili
Biyu
Mingyu
Aiming
Lihua

I would stay away from ethnic names. The reality is an ethnic name on a resume can reduce a person’s opportunity at getting an interview. It’s not right, but it’s life. I will take that into account when naming my child.

@ ashthedreamer – Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I forgot [name]Armand[/name]! I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Armand[/name]. And I think I’d actually use [name]Sabina[/name] if it felt right, I adore that name, it was actually my mother’s “almost name” even though she has no related background.

@ catloverd – I don’t have a lot of experience with Chinese names, but I really like Xuemei from your list

@kjash1971 – I understand your point, but I think that applies more often in the case of kreatif spellings or extremely unusual, difficulty to pronounce names, not just any ethnic name.

I think this thread is just focused on names you like from other countries, not that you would use them. I would never use Latika, it’s just a gp of mine ever since watching Slumdog Millionaire. I forgot to mention [name]Priya[/name]! I love [name]Priya[/name], but again, would never use it.

I do agree that putting an [name]Asian[/name] name on a White baby is a bit odd and could cause them problems later when trying to get a job. It’s sad how racism still exists, but it does, which is why most [name]Asian[/name] parents give their children American/English names if they move to [name]America[/name]. I’m half Chinese. My mom kept her Chinese name as her middle, but she didn’t give me or my sister Chinese names. She didn’t want us to be at a disadvantage.

However, European names seem to be acceptable on Americans, like [name]Bianca[/name] and [name]Sebastian[/name]. It has a lot to do with skin color when it comes down to it.

@holbs: Xuemei is my favorite :slight_smile: it means beautiful snow

Top of my list of ethnic names that would look funny on any child of mine…[name]Imani[/name]! So gorgeous. I also love [name]Araceli[/name].
My husband loves a lot of Irish names, but they just dont work with a very Polish last name in my opinion.

@ashthedreamer, yup, it’s [name]Cecylia[/name]. I adore Gracja too but those j/ys don’t cross the pond very easily

@catloverd, i loved the name Latika after slumdog millionaire too

I love a few ethnic names. Most are from my heritage but would probably sound odd with my english sounding last name.
Mine are:
[name]Magdalena[/name]
[name]Bronwen[/name]
[name]Francesca[/name]
[name]Tatiana[/name]
[name]Ekaterina[/name]
[name]Saoirse[/name]
[name]Aoife[/name]
[name]Lucia[/name]
[name]Zofia[/name]
Elowen

I love, love, love [name]Esperanza[/name] and the nn Anza, but my Spanish-speaking friends and family would die laughing at me. [name]Ah[/name] well. Maybe one of them will use it.

I love a lot of English names, but I’m not English in the slightest! I also have a soft spot for [name]German[/name] and Russian names, but a lot of them wouldn’t work with my uber-French last name (which ironicly means “[name]German[/name].”) I like some Irish names too, but, again, they wouldn’t work well wtih my surname.

  • [name]Athena[/name]

I love Welsh names. Too bad most of them sound awful with my surname. A few faves:

[name]Emrys[/name], [name]Caradoc[/name], Eifion, Macsen, [name]Madoc[/name], Heilyn, Siorus
[name]Anwen[/name], [name]Olwen[/name], [name]Eira[/name], [name]Carys[/name], Eirlys, [name]Rhonwen[/name], [name]Morwenna[/name], [name]Eluned[/name], [name]Seren[/name], [name]Mared[/name]

Well, my kids will all have distinctly Hebrew names (and not anglicized ones!) b/c that’s my heritage, but i love a lot of Irish, Welsh, and French names.

Eirlys
[name]Roisin[/name]
[name]Ciara[/name]
[name]Aislinn[/name]
[name]Aurelie[/name]
[name]Coralie[/name]
[name]Brigitte[/name]
[name]Lucienne[/name]

[name]Iolo[/name]
[name]Gareth[/name]
[name]Patrick[/name]
[name]Fintan[/name]
[name]Coll[/name]
[name]Amaury[/name]
[name]Luc[/name]
[name]Sebastien[/name]

Probably my favorite is [name]Paloma[/name]. I love [name]Paloma[/name]. I love names with those long o sounds and this name sounds so rich and smooth and flowing. I considered it strongly when I was ttc with my ex a few years ago as he was Mexican and I figured I could get away with it. But now that we aren’t together and my children will be half Korean…I don’t think I can use it :frowning: sad times.

Definitely have a thing for Welsh names: (though I have a little bit of Welsh in me, I’m not sure I nor any of my future children could pull them off)

Eilonwy (yes, from the [name]Black[/name] Cauldron)
[name]Delyth[/name]
[name]Meredith[/name]
[name]Nerys[/name]

[name]Emrys[/name]
[name]Rhys[/name]
[name]Llewellyn[/name]

I also like Korean names (don’t think I could do it, despite being half Korean), Eastern European names, too. (I am not Eastern European at all) Some of my fav Eastern European names are:

[name]Cyril[/name]/ [name]Cyryl[/name]
[name]Alexis[/name]
[name]Alexei[/name]
[name]Jarek[/name]

[name]Tatyana[/name]
[name]Natalya[/name]
[name]Ester[/name]

Oh, I also love the name [name]Fatima[/name]! I just don’t think I could pull it off though.

[name]Oskar[/name] and a lot of the Scandenavian K names
[name]Ingrid[/name]/[name]Greta[/name] and a few other [name]German[/name] names
[name]Petra[/name]/[name]Althea[/name] and some of the prettier Greek and Mythological names.
[name]Carys[/name] cause it’s just gorgeous

[name]Aoife[/name], [name]Anoush[/name] and [name]Nala[/name]

[name]Lars[/name]

I know a blonde haired, blue eyed, Caucasian girl with the name [name]Paloma[/name] and it suits her really well! :slight_smile:

My family has had Tahitian middle names for quite some time. Some of which include [name]Tati[/name], Vetu, Teva, Marau and Marama.

Definitely [name]Sakura[/name]! It means cherry blossom in Chinese. I think its just beautiful…
However I’ve never been to [name]China[/name], have very rudimentary knowledge of the culture and basically I feel like it’d feel a little strange to use a Chinese name!
Particularly when I know she’d spend her whole childhood being asked, ‘Oh wow, what made your parents pick that name?’

I always liked [name]Marco[/name], but don’t have the heritage for it. As it turned out I only had daughters anyway.

Funny thing is I know a mum who has a son called [name]Marco[/name] (born the same time as my first daughter) - She is half Italian/Aussie & her hubby is Turkish. She had [name]Jackson[/name] as her top name for her son and [name]Marco[/name] further down on her list, but when her son was born he had olive skin, big brown eyes and dark hair. She says she took one look at him and thought there was no option, he just WAS [name]Marco[/name] (even though she loved the name [name]Jackson[/name]).