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We picked names we liked that happen to sound very Asian.

I am much more sensitive to it than DH. I'm American and he's Indian. He sort of has the mentality that people will just get used to foreign names and they should just deal with it. While I did want DS to have a name that was reflective of his religion, I also didn't want one that had stereotypical/negative connotations.

The name I wanted is similar to English names and can be shortened to easy nicknames. The name DH (and his father) wanted was not one that I cared for. We had huge fights about it during my pregnancy and even during labor. In the end, I wrote both names on the birth certificate but I call him my name.

It's totally messed up and I hate it, but that's the situation. I think most people will end up calling him my name since I'm with him 24/7 and am usually the one introducing him to new people. DH's family can call him the other name. I guess we will see how it all plays out when he's old enough to have his own opinion.

I think (hope!) that this country will be more ethnically diverse and tolerant by the time our little ones are adults. But I do worry about my kids growing up in an environment that's negative and hateful.

I didn't vote because I wouldn't say I chose based on culture or race but I definitely thought about what names would get her a job, get her friends (sad, I know), and keep her from being bullied. Yeah, there are "strong" names, but what if your child ends up on the bullied end of the spectrum vs being the "awesome" kid with that name? I don't know. I just figured that there were so many names that I loved that I felt fit the bill.

My LO's name is Gaelic... but she's only like 1/8th Irish. I'm Greek and we considered a few Greek names but ultimately decided that the baby may not appreciate having a name that was difficult to pronounce and/or spell.

We picked an ambiguous name, but I will say that I met a white girl named Tonishia a couple years ago and it was unexpected! Red hair, freckles, blue eyes, very irish looking!

I actually felt pretty strongly in sort of the opposite direction. I'm British but my heritage is West African. DH is American but his heritage is Taiwanese, Japanese and Polish. I wanted my LO's name to relect that as much as possible. Her last name is an anglicised version of the original Polish name (done by previous generations) so I decided to give her a West African first name and a Chinese middle name.

I compromised slightly in that the nickname associated with her first name is easy enough to pronounce. Honestly, I grew up in London, and it is extremely ethnically diverse, so I really hate the idea that a Western name is somehow superior. It bothers me to no end.

I'm not sure what to vote because J's name isn't very indicative of our race or another race! Of all the Jacoby's out there that i know of, there are equal white and black men with the name. So I'm not really sure what it depicts racially? I think when I initially saw the name I may have thought of it as an African American name?

It is something I took into consideration but wouldn't necessarily limit myself by. I love the name Aaliyah although I feel it is a strong African American name and I wasn't sure how I felt about putting that on my daughter (we're as white as can be).

I would never choose a name such as Jamal or Terrell, maybe moreso for not being a fan of the name but I also know no white person with those names.

So I guess I'm kinda in the middle... I wouldn't choose something obviously opposite our race/culture/heritage but I also wouldn't dismiss a name I loved it it seemed to he more common among other races and cultures.

@glimmersnaps: My husband and I went through this on a lesser level. meaning, we sort of had to "negotiate", but luckily we didn't really fight.

I posted a name thread a little while back about the struggle to find a name that reflects his culture while isn't being weird in American culture, and it was difficult, considering some of the "typical" names in DH's language are names like:

Aavani, Aavanthi, Aavanya, Abayana , Ahavani, Ahilamani , Amirthavani, Arunthavi, Arutchelvi, Balakesi, Balambigai

I mean honestly, can you imagine a little girl in the US being named Balambigai? I mean....I don't even know how to pronounce that correctly, and I'm the mommy. And how can you even shorten that for a nickname?

Anyway, so we ended up picking the name Maya--which I definitely think sounds a little bit "ethnic", but doesn't really point to a particular ethnicity. Middle name is still undecided, but Dh's last name is clearly not american, so there's that too.

But yes, it's hard!!! I get more concerned about how well a first name fits with a last name. Like....."Javier Taylor" sounds odd to me. Also, if her name is TOO south asian, I'm worried she would be pingeonholed as like...and IT person, automatically. lol. And what if she wants to be an artist or dancer or banker or whatever?

I would say that name discrimination deals with more than just racial issues, but that does play a part. DH had a friend he went through BMT and training with. He was a large African-American guy named Ivan. He said that his parents named him that so that he would appear "white" on paper. I could never tell if he was joking or not, but he could very well have been serious.

We didnt really consider race when choosing C's name, but we did consider if people would take her seriously or not. I think a lot of "creative" names are silly and I do think that they hinder kids later in life, like @yoursilverlining: 's example.

Our LO has a unique name and even though she's named after someone who is Black, the name is one that is racially ambiguous. (And we wanted that.) DH also has a unique name, but because it's so unique, most people can't tell that he's black from his name--they think he's French

I, on the other hand, have a name that is only used by my race. If you were to meet someone who wasn't Black with my name, you'd probably think it was a little weird. I don't know that I've ever experienced name discrimination--but I don't like that people automatically know what race I am when I'm on the phone or applying to a job.

I hated my name growing up--there were always 5 other girls with my name in my neighborhood and we all spelled it differently. I went to mostly white schools so I was usually the only one with my name.

I am not considering race at all when thinking of names for future LO.

We purposely picked a name that was Arab and that was Muslim. I don't really care what people think of it; it is important to us and I hope it will be important to our son one day when he is old enough to realize.
I don't think he will get judged for it. DH & I were never judged on our names, but we were high achievers and I feel like it would have been plain stupid for someone not to hire either one of us based on ours names

Studies have shown resume discrimination based on name. It's really sad. We wanted names that could reflect our culture but would sound good in all the cultural circles we travel in. Our girls' names had to sound good in Italian and Spanish... and hopefully transcend race while still invoking their backgrounds.

@bunnylove08: This is our situation exactly! LO has a "white" first name with a German last name (I originally loved the name Heidi... but she would look TOTALLY German on paper). She does have an Asian middle name, though, but I doubt she'll ever go by it (and it might not even make an appearance on her resume!).

We picked a very "southern" name. In fact she often goes by her first and middle name which is a very "southern" thing. Oh well.

This reminds me of the article I saw a while ago about the most common Yale names. Some Yale baby parents were actually waaaay ahead of trend with their 1994 Sophia's...

http://gawker.com/5988377/blue-ivy-here-are-the-names-that-get-you-into-yaleor-keep-you-out

My daughter is named Beatrix, which is pretty British, I suppose. My husband has nixed two of my favorites for future babies, because they sound too ethnic. Luka, too slavic, and Paloma, too Spanish. We're pretty white. It's too bad, I love those names.

My LO is mixed race, so I'm really not sure how this plays into your question. Her first name is American (Caucasian), but her middle and last are Vietnamese. I wanted her to have a name that was closer to my culture since she would have her fathers last name. I did consider how it would play into future judgement especially for jobs, but not in a culturally discriminatory sense.

@tysonja: Juh-co-bee