Celebrate that everyone else in the world doesn’t have it (even if you have to share it with a couple thousand others), and (2) You may come across a list, just like this, written by someone thousands and thousands of miles away, and your name might just be on it. You may feel your “simple English name” is dull and uninteresting, but just remember two things: (1) It’s your name. It’s okay if you’ve felt a little bit of foreign name envy on more than one occasion. Yes, sometimes they can be shocking to our ears, and maybe they can be a little hard to pronounce. I’ll give you that. However, putting pronunciation aside, there are many that just have an awesome sound, or an interesting meaning or are attached to some pretty significant people. There is, however, another aspect that we shouldn’t overlook. You’re getting a taste of how people in that culture think, what they believe and how they express themselves. You aren’t just learning nouns, adjectives and verbs. Keep that in mind when you’re learning a new language. We’re hard-wired to preserve our cultural identities, and, generally, the first place people start is with the name. This is intentional. There’s a reason why we don’t know a ton of French Giovannis. No doubt you automatically made the associations with Latin America/Spain, France and Italy. There are names that we instantly associate with a culture or region just by seeing or hearing them. Take a look at the name “John” in alternate forms: Juan, Jean, Giovanni. They don’t just represent you, they represent where you come from, where your parents came from, entire ethnic groups and nationalities. Lots. In addition to personal significance, names bear huge cultural significance as well. So what does this have to do with learning a language? It’s clear that no matter the avenue chosen for naming a baby, every culture takes this process very seriously. In other cultures, names are chosen more ceremoniously. Parents pick from the family tree, they look to events that occurred during or after pregnancy, they perform rituals, magic and incantation, and a whole host of other processes to decide the perfect name for their person-to-be. From the biblical to the bizarre, when your options range from “James” to “ Jermajesty,” things can get a bit overwhelming. This is especially true in the Western cultures where parents have the freedom to name their child almost anything that they want. Therefore, choosing a name that the parents, the child and even society can live with can turn quite stressful. Everyone wants to make sure that they get it right, since, really, you only get one shot. The reason that this process becomes so involved is because there’s a general awareness of how important names are. When it comes to naming babies, expectant parents spend countless hours poring over baby-naming websites, making up lists and receiving advice-whether invited or not-from pretty much anyone who feels bold enough to offer up their opinion on such a personal matter (at least in some cultures, more on that in a second). We don’t think about it too often, but names are a major part of our being. (Download) Why You’ll Be Extra Interested in Cool Foreign Names as a Language Learner #RARE MAGICAL NAMES PDF#This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. #RARE MAGICAL NAMES PLUS#Here you’ll find 32 awesome foreign names, plus why they should matter to you, a dedicated language learner. You won’t find a pot of gold at the end of it, but you’ll get to satisfy your craving for foreign culture (which is worth way more!).Īll it takes is one simple question: “Hey, what’s your name?” We’re fortunate in that we can actually taste the rainbow. Luckily we’re not all named Bob or Sue-that would be boring. We yearn to be enriched by the foreign and new. We want to experience something different. We seek out what we’ve never seen or heard before. Still, the idea of everyone being labeled with these two designations sounds like something out of a young adult dystopian novel. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with “Bob” and “Sue.” They’re great names that are surely attached to some great people. Febru32 Cool Foreign Names You Wish Your Parents Gave Youįrom Bangkok to Montreal, say every man and every woman had the exact same name.įeeling a little uncomfortable about the idea of global name homogeneity? Yeah, me too.
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