Choosing name from another culture

AnotherSun · November 2014

i love the name Hiro. It's got a great meaning, it sounds like Hero, it's all around fantastic. My family is very white though. We have a Korean last name and my husband's family is from China, but my kids are blond hair blue eyed. Is it too weird to use a Japanese name?

jennjilljo · November 2014

I love that name. I don't think it's weird for you to use a name from another culture. DS has an Irish name and we're Americans (not quite the same but it's how I would see it). My only concern with the name is that it's more well known in many cultures for Japanese steakhouses, pet names and characters that follow cultural stereotypes on TV.

HerHighness · November 2014

miniwheat10 said:

I love the name. I have loved it since I read "Much Ado About Nothing." I am not really adding to the convo, but I love the name!

I love that play so much! Its the girls character named hero

it works well for the character.

I like the named Hiro for a boy. I think you husband being Korean would help with confusion but seriously people named their children all kinds of names regardless of ethnicity nowadays. I think it work. (It does make me giggle thinking of Seinfeld and Donna Chang)

crabigator · November 2014

I like the name itself, but to understand the context in which the child would be living in and introduced, etc., I feel like I'd need to know more about the heritage situation, because it sounds kinda complicated and confusing in how you've described it.

So you and your side of the family are Caucasian. But you just happen to have a last name that can also be construed as Asian? Like... Lee? Or something that's obviously Asian and you just have a very unique scenario as to how you have that name?

And your husband's family is from China... but are they Asian? If your children are blonde, I'm assuming your husband isn't fully ethnically Chinese.

Sorry if I'm just being nosy here, but I feel like, to me, knowing the situation in more detail would help in assessing how odd or not it'd be to have a little Hiro. Would his middle name or surname be Asian?

AnotherSun · November 2014

My husband's grandfather was from China. When he moved to the U.S. He picked a more american last name but actually ended up picking a Korean last name. My husband is a quarter Chinese but doesn't really look it.

Having said all of that though, none of his family is from Japan. Our last name is Korean, but is also a common English word. Middle name would probably be Anglo sounding

dacora · November 2014

AnotherSun said:

My husband's grandfather was from China. When he moved to the U.S. He picked a more american last name but actually ended up picking a Korean last name. My husband is a quarter Chinese but doesn't really look it. Having said all of that though, none of his family is from Japan. Our last name is Korean, but is also a common English word. Middle name would probably be Anglo sounding

Considering all this information, I really wouldn't go for a Japanese name. Japan and China are very different countries, and have quite a checkered past. The same could be said of Japan and Korea, the three countries have been historically violent to each other on many occasions.

Personally the idea of using the 'wrong' Asian language to honor your husband's Asian heritage seems weird to me. If you wanted to go with something Asian, I'd try to find a Chinese name.

Granted, we use a variety of names from different European cultures (my name comes from a root Greek word Cora/Kore, and I'm not Greek for example) so I understand that in a way that seems hypocritical.

AnotherSun · November 2014

The goal of the name is not to honor his family, we just like the name Hiro. His family might be offended, but odds are they wouldn't ever meet the baby.

SaraL1175 · November 2014

I love it, mostly because I love Hiro Protagonist from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.

Alygohome · November 2014

Nms but not terrible

AnotherSun · December 2014

@holachicaaa‌ our sibset doesn't go together, but we are fine with that.

CogDis · December 2014

I haven't fully formed an opinion on using names from other cultures.

I'm fearful of the kind of cultural appropriation and exploitation that is messily tied up with things like the colonialism of North America and the First Nations peoples' cultures.

I'm under- read in history and politics concerning other cultures.

In your particular case, I think intentions matter. But, I also think that doing something anyway despite knowing you might offend someone based on cultural reasons means that that the intentions are less clear. I'd reconsider offending family. The child doesn't need their own name to be a barrier from knowing their family (should they choose to). And whatever your relationship with the family, it would be wrong to push that distance onto your child.

I think I'd reconsider.

crabigator · December 2014

Ok, I gotcha. If you like the name, use it for sure.

However: your son will probably spend his whole life explaining his name, just because it's a bit unusual. I'd imagine it'd normally be from people with good intentions, who are just curious. If he was 1/8 Japanese instead of Chinese, it would be an easy and sweet explanation. As it is, regardless of the other Asian connections (Chinese ancestor, Korean surname), basically his explanation would boil down to: my parents liked it.

Which, again, is totally fine. But it's just something to consider. It's like if I named my kid (I'm Chinese, my husband is white) Roberto. It's something that would be asked about a lot.

PS I didn't just pick that name out of the air... my cousin's ex-boyfriend was a Chinese guy named Roberto! Three years they dated, and my family never stopped gossiping about it... but my family's pretty nosy and over-involved overall.