I don’t like it but you could always use [name]Indiana[/name] instead or maybe even [name]Asia[/name].
[name]Hi[/name],
In [name]Britain[/name] I have never met anyone who finds it offensive. I have a friend who is half [name]Indian[/name] and her name is [name]Ela[/name] [name]India[/name].
I think only Americans and Australians (from what I’ve been hearing) find this offensive.
Well, it was on my list. Now I’m kind of rethinking it. I know a few people of [name]Indian[/name] origin who I couldn’t forgive myself for offending.
Ok then… Argue away!
Sorry, but I hate it. It’s not so much ‘oh, you might offend Indians’, but… it’s a lot more complicated than that. I’d have to sit down longer and think it over, but it just makes me skin crawl. It’s made worse by the fact that I met a young [name]India[/name] at my work (a museum that sometimes attracts young families and school groups), and before my brain kicked it, I said to her mum “Oh, like the country?”. She replied “Oh good heavens, no! We just liked the sound, we hoped that it wouldn’t have that…association!”. Seriously. Pretty much word for word. And she was smiling as she said it. I didn’t want to get in trouble for fighting with a visitor, so I just smiled and made my get-away, but… oh… argh.
Plus, sorry, but you’re a [name]Brit[/name]. As one [name]Brit[/name] to another, seriously? Our empire brutalised [name]India[/name] and its peoples, it’s not exactly a great time in our history and we’ve never actually really atoned for it. There are still Brits out there who a) think the empire was a good thing and b) think people from the Commonwealth/former-empire are worth less than British-born citizens - and of course they’re the kind of people who only think “whiter than white”, “100% British” people fit into the latter country. I’ll leave it there before it gets ranty. I’ve had to deal with people like that far more than I’d like.
And… argh… again, I don’t know how to phrase it. I don’t much care for most country names in the first place, and [name]India[/name], when we have that history with the sub-continent, just… smacks of some form of colonial mindset, of frivolously handwaving ‘[name]India[/name] the country’ for ‘[name]India[/name] the trendy name’ and even if it doesn’t offend Indians, I still find it a bit gross.
If you like the sound of [name]India[/name], what about… eh… I dunno… [name]Indira[/name]? Something like that? It could lean a little towards cultural appropriation if you used it wrong, but I am pretty sick of ‘cultural appropriation’ and think there’s a line between appreciating other cultures/languages/etc and -that-, so you could still get away with it - and it’s 100% better than [name]India[/name].
@cassandrah - Australians don’t hate [name]India[/name]! It’s just the Americans 
I’m not American and I find it offensive. I think “only Indian opinions count” is a ridiculous idea. Should only black people be offended by racism?
Edit: And no, I’m not referring to India with that last comment. I just don’t think you need to be part of a particular group to hold an opinion.
Nope. I think Australian was mentioned because of what I said up-thread, sorry.
Some Aussies definitely do dislike it as a given name. My husband is all-Australian, and not the only one I’ve heard beef about it. It’s definitely got issues with imagery.
I am Australian (but also er, [name]Brit[/name]-ish) and all I associate with the name ‘[name]India[/name]’ is Gone with the Wind, there is a character with that name. I guess for some of us we seperate the name from the place. I have been to [name]Florence[/name], it is a beautiful place, but I don’t think of it when I meet someone called ‘[name]Florence[/name]’, used as a name I am reminded of a P G Wodehouse character and the singer…
I’ve never discussed the name [name]India[/name] with my partner, but probably because he is of [name]Indian[/name] extraction and the thought of a little half [name]Indian[/name] girl called [name]India[/name] weirds me out, I guess it could be a statement of patriotism but he’s er, pretty removed from the mother land. It is a white name and it has colonial connotations that many would not know and/or care about. Some will however but this is contextual and cultural.
I say contextual because I’ve noticed many berries feel [name]Jemima[/name] shouldn’t be used as a name (it was alluded to in the other [name]India[/name] thread). With my background [name]Jemima[/name] is a (puddle) duck from a beloved childhood story, a girl from the Bible and a doll from a children’s TV show…I am shocked that in the States I would be branded a racist for calling my child that, I don’t know about your pancake brand ad campaigns! I realise that ad campaigns and history are not the same thing but it is also fair to say that many are not aware of the history…or the offence that some people may take to what is essentially a place name.
I guess my point is that people have different contexts, but there is enough real racism in the world before jumping to conclusions over this sort of thing (a few weeks ago someone senior to me decided to have a joke about how Australian Aboriginal people look like monkeys and laughed at me when I looked horrified/repulsed/enraged)…I guess I pick my battles.
However, if you go on a global forum and ask all the people on it what they think of a name there are likely to be a few who don’t and they may have stronger or weaker reasons for this and you need to be prepared for that I guess.
Okay, not meaning to greatly offend anyone but I don’t think I really get the argument. ‘You can’t use [name]India[/name] because it’s a country and people died there’- is that what we’re getting at? Then that’s true for every other place name out there, especially other ‘controversial’ ones. [name]Israel[/name]- decades of strife between the Jewish and Arab people. [name]Jordan[/name]- Middle east is a very controversial area at the moment. [name]Britain[/name], [name]London[/name]- around 50,000 people were murdered in the Blitz. [name]How[/name] about [name]Ireland[/name]? The UK has had a very troubled history with the Irish but [name]Ireland[/name] seems to be a trendy name accessory these days, especially in the US. Or, even more controversial- [name]Ira[/name]! I’ve had relatives die in the war -in the Middle [name]East[/name]- and I couldn’t care less if someone from another country chose to name their kid [name]Britain[/name], [name]Britton[/name], [name]Brittany[/name], [name]London[/name], [name]Israel[/name] or [name]Jordan[/name]. And [name]Britain[/name] was the evil, murderous occupier yet [name]India[/name] is the controversial name? It just doesn’t make sense 
I don’t see how [name]Ira[/name] could be controversial anywhere other than perhaps [name]Ireland[/name]. It’s a legitimate name.
All country names are silly. I have family from Poland, does that mean I should use it as a name? No. Same goes for Germany. Unless you have a connection to [name]Ireland[/name], [name]Britain[/name], [name]India[/name], or [name]Israel[/name], you should probably look elsewhere for naming inspiration.
I asked my teenaged friend, who is Indian (born in raised in America but has visited India a few times), about the name. She said that no Indian parents would use India and it was essentially a ‘white’ name that made her think that either the parents were ignorant about or support the British control of India. (She said it was like someone who named their child Lucifer- they were either making a statement or choosing to ignore the cultural stigma.)
The thing we have to remember about Nameberry is that it is a global forum. I think it’s cool that we have viewpoints of names from all over the world, but it also causes a lot of controversy. It’s the twenty first century, and the world is more connected than ever. Some names that were once deemed unsuitable for children and caused a lot of controversy have become mainstream (like Delilah). But, India is still offensive to many and has ties to colonialism.
Fact: Some people think it’s harmless to be racist. I live in a wealthy area and my middle school was about 90% white. I have friends who are black and Hispanic, and racist jokes/comments are made daily by kids who think they’re being funny or ‘no one cares anymore’. Mostly it’s just the culture. Occasionally, kids grow up in a home where racism supposedly doesn’t exist, so it’s okay to joke about it. It’s just harmless fun, they think.
With names like Cohen and India, they are offensive to a large group of people throughout the world. They’ve started to integrate into mainstream, but it still remains a long way from being globally accepted.
India has a gorgeous sound. But what about Indira, Indigo or Indiana?
Edit:
This is a good point to clarify:
During Britain’s rule of India, wealthy British military officers would use the name India because it was ‘exotic’, even as they murdered thousands of Indians. India wasn’t used as a name UNTIL the British occupied India. Jordan and Ira were names that were well established as names and were not names used because of mass murder. London has been used as a name for reasons other than the Blitz, and Britain/Brittany is also a surname.
The [name]IRA[/name] carried out nearly 500 bombing attacks in the UK from the 70s-90s, killing many innocent civillians. But yeah, it’s a name. Much like [name]India[/name] is.
[name]Do[/name] we know that though? Evidence? We can’t possibly know the views of the entire planet. It seems statements like that are based on the views of a few berries and their [name]Indian[/name] friends.
Look, if a bunch of Israelis come in and name their kids Palestine, that’s offensive.
If a bunch of Protestants come in and name their kids Catholic, that’s offensive.
If a bunch of white people (Brits especially) come in and name their kids [name]India[/name], that’s offensive.
See how that works? I’d be pissed as hell if a white person named their kid [name]Egypt[/name] (where I come from) cause they liked the sound. And no, it’s not the same as [name]London[/name] because people died in the Blitz. No one was arguing that you can’t use it because people have died in [name]India[/name].
Please reference aurra’s post. She explains it perfectly. But no, the name [name]Ira[/name] has absolutely NOTHING to do with the [name]IRA[/name].
[name]Janna[/name], that’s perfect.
Considering the issue is about [name]India[/name] and colonialism, I thought I might put in my two cents by offering a comparison. If a British person named their child [name]Ireland[/name], I’d probably think “Huh, that’s a bit weird” but I wouldn’t be offended. I know how terribly we treated when we were a colony (the worst of it not even a hundred years ago) and for all I know there could have been families with property in [name]Ireland[/name] a long time before that who chose to show that with their children’s names but even if they did once do that, I wouldn’t be offended now. Granted, there might be some who would but being highly Nationalist and Republican myself I figure if I didn’t particularly mind then a lot of people wouldn’t mind. They don’t mean offence with it. They just think it sounds nice and makes a good name. Is that so bad? Are these things only an issue when it’s white people naming their child after a country that isn’t mostly white (I only mention this because of the above poster, janna, said they’d be annoyed by a white person naming their child [name]Egypt[/name])?
If I asked my family (who have stronger opinions than me), they’d probably just say who the hell would name their child that because it’s a weird name to us.
If [name]Ireland[/name] isn’t a problem, why should [name]India[/name] be?
@sarahmezz - I’m Australian and I find the name [name]India[/name] distasteful! I can’t help but think of the brutality of Colonialism and it’s legacy of oppression and exploitation.
That said, I teach global politics so I’m probably not a fair representation! I do think that as Australia itself is a former colony, most Australians would be aware of the activities of the British empire to some extent.
Please show me! I don’t mean to be annoying- I really would like to see some records or something! 
So far I’ve seen much the opposite- a quick search shows baptisms of Indias in the 16th/17th centuries, before the start of British occupation. And [name]London[/name] has been used as a name for reasons other than the Blitz? Ditto [name]India[/name]! People using the name aren’t thinking ‘I’ve killed thousands of Indians, let’s champion that fact!’.
Ugh, people are missing the point. I know [name]Ira[/name] isn’t directly related to the [name]IRA[/name]. I mean that names can have meanings attached to them by different people. I- and I’m sure other Brits on these boards would agree- know that [name]India[/name] really isn’t considered offensive. If it really was once a taboo name, it’s certainly transcended that now. 2.5% of the UK population is British [name]Indian[/name] (more than double the proportion of [name]Indian[/name] Americans in the US) you’d think that if they still had major problems with the British, they wouldn’t be settling here.
And thank you, cupcake3690. Agreed.
I don’t care for the name [name]India[/name]. It now has some derogatory connotations with that crazy person [name]Katie[/name] Hopkins who is known around the world now as a NAME SNOB. She actually said that she would not use geographical names because they are “Low Class” and then named her daughter [name]India[/name]…??? Does she have any brains? Those poor kids will have this hanging over their heads now forever and I’m sure will end up changing their names someday. Katie Hopkins Name Snob | Baby Names | Essential Baby