people keep asking me what im going to name the baby and i tell them im thinking daphne right now but im not sure, we have until feb. to decide. and they make this face (these arent family members by the way, just mostly strangers or people i encounter at work) and say but why dont you name her paola or lucero or a spanish name?
my heritage is half irish (moms side) and half hawaiian/filipino(dads side), but im sure theyre assuming im hispanic. my husband is mexican american. i had planned to give the baby a universal or american sounding first name so that everybody would be able to pronounce it including me, i dont feel right yelling out a spanish name, it doesnt feel natural because i dont speak spanish. and i dont see my mom saying lucero althought its a beautiful name.
for the mn i wanted a hawaiian name its a tradition on my side of the family. and the last name is rodriguez, so that takes care of the mexican heritage right? but then they ask me whats the baby’s last name, i say rodriguez and they say daphne doesnt match! afterall my own mom gave me an american first name, hawaiian mn, and filipino last name…so i never thought about “matching”.
do you think my baby will have issues later in life for having a non-spanish first name?
Absolutely not, you should pick whatever name you like. And since your husband’s heritage is being honored by the last name, it makes perfect sense to honor your heritage with a first name. If you have a French last name, are your required to use a French first name, etc? I think these people are just expressing a bit of a stereotype … I’m sorry to say. There are many names – both non-Spanish and Spanish – that would go beautifully with the last name [name]Rodriguez[/name]. In fact, since you don’t speak Spanish, I would strongly discourage you from choosing any name that you would find difficult to pronounce.
First off I just love [name]Daphne[/name]! My family hates the name. It gets pretty good support here so don’t worry not everyone will crinkle their noses at it. My husband is Italian and Puerto Rican with an Italian last name. Neither one of us has felt that we had to name our children Italian first names to match our last. You shouldn’t feel obligated to either. Honestly if you think about it if your daughter marries one day (yes looking [name]WAY[/name] into the future) she’ll most likely have different last name then. Name your daughter what you wish. Good luck Again, I just [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Daphne[/name].
People don’t realise they are being so tactless and putting undue pressure on you by their idle and thoughtless remarks.
I would keep the ‘real’ name you want for your baby a sort of secret from all those strangers. I don’t think there is any need to tell them your favourite name on the list, the one fifth down on the list would do. After all you are not really asking their advice.
If [name]Daphne[/name] is your favourite name use it but just keep your choice secret till baby arrives so you don’t have to have to put up with people’s opinions.
Having said that of course share it with those you love if you wish to.
No I don’t! I think [name]Daphne[/name] [name]Rodriguez[/name] sounds fine. Name your baby what you want.
Also, I think the comment about you yelling out a name in Spanish being unnatural is telling. My mom always said that whatever name you choose you better be comfortable saying it 100 times a day, because you will be.
My sister had a similar dilemma in naming her son. Spanish speaking father was insistent on a spanish name with spanish pronunciation. They ended up going with ‘[name]Cristian[/name]’ as that can work both ways. At first they insisted that EVERYONE pronounced it in the spanish way (sort of like crrreeeestian) but after a few months of that turning out very badly with our irish / northern european side of the family (no one could roll the r’s) most people (other than his dad’s side of the family) reverted to pronouncing it more like ‘[name]Christian[/name]’. That’s the way they pronounce it at school now, and he complains that people always try to call him [name]Chris[/name] as well as misspelling [name]Cristian[/name] as [name]Christian[/name]. Recently he announced that he hates his name and from now on wishes to be known as [name]Joe[/name]
I agree with the comment that those people are thinking along the lines of stereotypes. Of course you don’t have a to choose a Spanish name, especially if you wouldn’t feel comfortable saying it aloud.
I think the name [name]Marisol[/name] (and many other Spanish names) are absolutely gorgeous but I’m not a Spanish-speaker either. I feel like an idiot on the few occasions I have to dust off my rusty high school knowledge at work! Spanish with a Southern accent doesn’t quite work! LOL.
You should choose a name you love no matter what the “heritage” of the name is. [name]Just[/name] ignore those silly people.
Hello, I just wanted to say that I adore your desire to name your baby [name]Daphne[/name]. Its my name too, lol! Not only the [name]Daphne[/name] part, but the [name]Rodriguez[/name] part, too (except mine is [name]Rodrigues[/name])!! And…My husband is Mexican & I am Puerto Rican (with a splash of Filipino) and I was born & raised in [name]Hawaii[/name]. Soooo many coincidences, I know! I didnt really like my name growing up, but as I got older I realized that my name is very unique and I ALWAYS get compliments on it. So, I would like to say to you…name your baby what you feel is a name that you will enjoy. Dont worry about what “other” people (including family members) think…Afterall, YOU are the one carrying the little darling for 9mos Good luck and CONGRATULATIONS on your baby girl!!
I understand where you are coming from - my heritage is mostly [name]German[/name] and my family is from Minnesota (but I grew up mostly in the South). My husband was born in raised in [name]El[/name] [name]Salvador[/name]. This has made the naming business much more tricky for us!
First, you and your DH have to be happy with the name. The other thing I tried to keep in mind is “how will my daughter’s name make her feel when she is with either side of the family?”. I don’t want her to feel weird or bad if one side of the family pronounces her name weird or in a totally different way than the other side. I really want both sides of her heritage to be important to her.
The solution was a name that was kind of universal and a middle name that was spanish (and a spanish last name of course). My 3 year old is [name]Sophie[/name] [name]Esperanza[/name] and for my next little girl we’ve decided on [name]Stella[/name] [name]Josefina[/name].
BTW, I think [name]Daphne[/name] is a beautiful name and I can’t think of any reason to not use it! You really do have to be comfortable saying the name and that is why I rejected a whole stack of very beautiful “Spanish” names. (And why my DH rejected a whole stack of other names…)
If I were you I would not use a Spanish name. You and your husband are going to be saying it more than anyone (probably you!) so you have to be comfortable with it. It has to be easy for you to say! There are plenty of American names I wouldn’t use because they just don’t feel right coming out of my mouth. Using a name in a language you don’t speak simply because the last name is from that language is totally ridiculous for people to expect. Sure, there are countless gorgeous Spanish name, but they generally do sound better when spoken by a Spanish speaker. There are plenty that sound gorgeous in English, too, but you shouldn’t feel obligated to pick one. [name]Daphne[/name] is SUCH a beautiful name! I’m sure your daughter would prefer having a name you love than a name that culturally matches her last name.
I agree that you shouldn’t use a spanish first name, unless you want to. Your last name is obviously Spanish, and that is enough to honor that heritage. You should maintain your tradition of using a Hawaiian middle name. I love the idea of a multi-cultural name. It is a lovely idea, and I wish I could use it. My background is all [name]German[/name] though (husband too) and I refuse to use a [name]German[/name] first name. I think [name]Daphne[/name] is a great name, and it sounds fine with [name]Rodriguez[/name]. What are you middle name ideas?
[name]Don[/name]'t waste another thought on it!! [name]Yo[/name] uhave chosen a beautiful name for your DD!! My DH is Hispanic, and none of our 7 children , except one of our DD’s who carries a Spanish middle name after her grandmother have a spanish name! [name]Baby[/name] girl on the way is going to be named [name]Sophie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name] [name]Juliette[/name] Estrada! We are not worried at all that the name is French and the last name Spanish- matter of fact we wanted it that way, as I have french on my side, but more importantly we just love the name. do what makes you and DH happy =0)
[name]Just[/name] a question about pronunciation. Most Spanish speakers who are not native English speakers cannot pronounce s consonant clusters. So [name]Stella[/name] might get converted to E-stella by your inlaws… I think [name]Estella[/name] is cute too, though.
Oh, yeah, I am fully aware that my inlaws will likely call her “[name]Estella[/name]” or even “[name]Estellita[/name]” but I am totally cool with that. I think it’s cute and we only see them like once a year. My DH & I had that conversation before we chose that name. It was not a bad compromise for me considering how some of the other names we were considering would be ruined by one side or the other!
Again, I just [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Daphne[/name].