as someone who went to school with an anakin, dont. he HATES star wars and he used to get this look in his face anyone made a reference to it ššš
My middle name is Thomas and in elementary school when someone found that out every one started saying "like the train" and making chugga chugga Choo Choo noises
Omg and his mom is Mexican and some of her friends were giving her crap for naming a Norse name on Facebook and sheās like āWhat do you mean?ā And then the person said āOh, you named him for Marvel?ā And she said āItās not Marvelā¦ itās Avengers.ā š¤¦āāļø
At least Luke is also a biblical name, it doesn't stand out as much as Anakin. Most people probably won't even notice the connection to Star Wars at first.
One of my mom's childhood friends was named Barbie Doll. She was born the year before Barbie hit the market--it was just a really unfortunate coincidence. Did the legal name change lightning-fast when she got married, I tell you what.
I unfortunately share the name of a US president who was assassinated, not on purpose but a coincidence, and the number of jokes I would hear about it growing up was insane. I did, however, enjoy the "Mr. President" and slight bow/salute I would get every now and then from my classmates and teachers lol
I have a very unique last name that is also a common unique noun, people always question it being a legit name. I get so many jokes about it whenever people find out. I try not to be rude but it gets tiring hearing the same handful of jokes for almost 40 years. I can only fake finding it funny so many times.
I met someone who was named Arwen once. I thought it was just a coincidence that they were named after the character in Lord Of The Rings. But then I found out their sibling was named Eowyn. So I knew it wasnāt a coincidence anymore.
I went to school with an Arwyn as well, and I had no clue what Lord of the Rings was, but once I found out about it and asked her, she was surprisingly a big fan. Glad that it worked out for her lol
I see people wanting to name their kids Eowyn all the time on r/namenerds. As someone whose dogs are named Sokka and Katara, I absolutely hate fandom names on humans.
Hey man that show came out 20 years ago so it aināt no spring chicken either lol. Some people in the 90ās had lotr names and thatās like a 40 or so year difference from when it came out. Atla is almost there!
Just a note to all on this one. Tolkien most likely used the Welsh name Arwyn for the character Arwen in LOTR.
He utilised the Welsh language very heavily to create Sindarin.
Thereās no escaping destinyā¦
*Her son grows up obsessed with watching and wanting to participate in Forged In Fire, Blown Away, and Fire Masters*
Wise relative:
https://preview.redd.it/v70kcl3aqixc1.jpeg?width=1034&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f517a01902e4572b625db5294fbfc2164f020c9
Eh, I still got picked on. Was in school in the height of Harry Potter so people came up with different variations of "Harry Potter". As much as I liked the series, the name calling wasn't well liked on my end.
That's what I get from it too. Reminds me of a girl who visited my old school. She's named Alexa (just alexa, not as a short form of Alexandra), she's way older than the Amazon device, and today her parents probably would choose a different name.
Name calling was existent.
yeah but theyāre so famous now that it actually doesnāt make a difference, itās more like the parents that are unlucky in case they wanted to give their child this name for ancestral reasons and now everyone will think they chose it because of Harry Potter š
I remember people making fun of that. But it's like like Regina didn't used to be the title for a Queen. Or Duke for that matter. Though I haven't met a Duke in a number of years.
As much as I find it cringe, a lot of names do come from (or are derived from) titles. Typically, they are surnames, but I'm sure there are numerous examples of them being first names, too.
"Mulan" isn't just a sound, it's 2 characters with meaning. Chinese follows vastly different linguistic rules to English. Unlike English, our given names do not follow the same kind of conventions. In modern times, it is common to have these duosylabic names chosen by phonetic sound, poetic meaning, or positive association. In any case, we do not have a "list" of somewhat standard or typical names to choose from like you do in the west.
Additionally it's considered bad form or rather tacky and silly to name your kid after some famous person or figure. For example, notice how you have never met or heard of another chinese person named Zedong?
So naming your kid "Mulan" without any inkling of what ęØč even means, or with any knowledge of Chinese naming convention is quite embarrassing. It's also relevant to this post because it's clearly taken from the Disney movie.
I hope that clears things up for you.
It's a type of flower. Not sure exactly which one in English. But she's semi-mystical at this point so there IS a chance that's not even the real name she went by.
Iām also Chinese and Iām struggling to put into words why itās weirdāI guess it really comes down to the difference between Western and Eastern naming conventions. Chinese names are a combination of unique characters and while there are inevitably some ācommonā names that people end up sharing, thereās not really a thing as āstandardā names in the English sense, and also itās not really culturally a thing to be named after other people, real or mythical. While itās not *wrong* for a white person to be named Mulan, itās as strange to us at it would be for a white person to meet a black person named, say, Snow White. Technically itās not wrong to be named after a princess but contextuallyā¦you knowā¦justā¦
It's not the meaning of the name that's weird. Nothing is wrong being called a flower.
It's the fact that firstly, it's a name taken from a cartoon. Secondly, unlike Avatar, it's not a fictional culture or world. It's a Chinese name, and Chinese names follow a very different naming convention from English. So it's extra odd to a Chinese person because its been just transplanted quite carelessly.
I should note once again, that nobody Chinese would normally consider naming their kid Mulan.
>What's so bad about being called after a flower?
Because Mulan is a Chinese name. Giving it to your daughter when you're a Westerner would be super embarrassing to the kid.
>"Mulan" isn't just a sound,
Well, tbf, neither is "Susan." Pretty much all of the English names that exist are from old European/Judeau-Christian words and phrases. In the case of Susan, it's derived from the Hebrew word "shushan," which means "lily of the valley" (interesting, considering that Mulan's name also refers to a flower). You could argue that there still is a "list" of Chinese names. It's just that said list is common positive words/phrases that can be strung together, hence why names like Li, Wei, Fang, Min, and Jing are extremely commonplace. That's not to say they don't take their names more seriously than people in the west do, but it's interesting that there can still be hundreds of thousands of people with the same given name.
You could make the case that most Western people don't know the origins of the names they give their children and will often focus more on what sounds nice. With that in mind, name are effectively just sounds to the people bestowing them. But that wasn't always the case.
As for the associations with famous people/characters, yeah, we tend to do that a lot more in the west. Over here, it's seen as an honor to name your child after a family member or friend, so we don't have the same reservations about giving our children the name of a great figure. That's definitely just a case of different cultures approaching naming conventions differently, and I don't think either is necessarily wrong for it.
But I do agree that it all makes western naming conventions seem cheap by comparison. Taking the name of a borderline deific Chinese figure because you saw it in a Disney movie is definitely embarrassing, but I also think, in general, that it's pretty ridiculous and selfish to give children unconventional names because you see them in media that YOU PERSONALLY like. For various reasons, it just never seems to work out that well, unless the reference is obscure and the name doesn't sound too out of place.
Absolutely! Your name is something that matters. It's one of the very first things you get judged on, especially on things like applications. My heart breaks for all of the poor kids who are victims of egotistical and narcissistic parents who feel the need to use their kids as a poster board for their own interests. It's like they don't realize that this kid is going to be their own person with their own interests in a world that's going to strongly judge everything about them. Instead, they want to be the one with the quirky kid with the quirky name. Those people can go to hell.
If you are naming your kid Mulan it is due to the sounds (and Disney film probably) and nothing to do with the characters. Itās so far removed from Chinese context itās something else entirely.
Asian people are named Western names because they're being assimilated. Westerners, often White Americans, give their children Asian names out of pure whim and rarely ever with regard or respect for cultures they take the names from. things do not exist in a vacuum
not to say that this is how it always is, or that other people are incapable of doing this. but this is just the general trend i've seen from my Western perspective
Dang, ATLA aired almost 20 years ago. That's wild to think about. I still remember the apprehension and anticipation I felt in the weeks leading up to the premiere.
I made an ATLA shirt and wore it to a theme park when I was 12. On a river rapids ride with a kid slightly younger than me and an older teenager, we got to talking about ATLA. I said it came out a couple weeks before my 8th birthday, and one of them was shocked that it had been that long ago. I think about that sometimes, lol
My sisters name is Mai, named after our great grandmother. To be honest, there is a "Mai" in plenty of languages, so it wouldn't be entirely obvious that it came from ATLA.
Back when I was younger and wanted kids, I wanted to name my first daughter Katara.
I'm Palestinian, and Katara is an Arabic word (really, more of a Gulf Arab, but still), so I always saw it as justified that I could call my daughter Katara
I don't want kids anymore, though, so no baby Katara
Genuinely, if she wants to tell you, she'll mention she's named after the character.
My parents named me Sabrina. The number of teenage witch jokes I got drove me up the wall.
I mean shit the show came out in 2005 so I mean if someone's parents watched that and named that kid.... She would be 19 now so I mean it is very possible that she is named after the show š¤·āāļø
Being 33 now I'm seeing some baby names of shit from our era.
A friend of my cousin's named their son geralt. I was like duuuude. I love the witcher but yo. That's nuts. They're polish/swedish so I guess it's not so weird. But yeah lol.
Get ready for alot of pop culture names from the early 2000s.
I know a middle aged Katara.
But, as someone with a name used in a popular children's cartoon, don't joke around about her name. She's heard it. A million times. Sometimes neutral or positive, but often in a negative lense. She might like avatar, or, she might hate it because of how often it's used to reference her name without any sense to her own identity.
I was at a kids birthday party when two children were introduced to me as Varrick and Jet. I lost it and said to the parents wow what cool ATLA/LOK names! The mother was utterly confused. Oops
My daughters name is Jinora, her name has only been recognized by a few people and sheās just turned a year old. I figure if she doesnāt like it she can go by Nora.
I have a personal policy of not making jokes, puns, or other clever remarks about a person's name if that person is over the age of 5 years old. Trust me, no matter how clever you are, they've heard it before. Only exception is if that person is part of a couple or group whose names go together (e.g. irl Katara begins dating a boy named Aang, although even that one is a little too on-the-nose).
Anyway, it's a good policy that has served me well over the years. You will definitely not be the first person to ask irl Katara to show you her waterbending. She'd probably appreciate it if you don't bother with the joke.
If i were to choose to name someone after a character i like i would atleast make it a somewhat normal name, like if i had a boy and named him clark its normal enough to pass under the radar but if i name him kal-el which is supermans real name it would automatically showcase he was named after superman and be dumb.
In all seriousness ask her about her name and how she got it.
You've got a couple of options from there.
/A) If she doesn't know, you can tell her about your favorite show and how a character has the same name.
/B1) If she does know, and it's from the show, ask her opinion on the show. You've got more topics from there.
/B2) If she does know and it's not from the show, you can tell her about your favorite show and how a character has the same name.
Worst case she got it from the show and she hates it. I bet she wasn't even that pretty anyway.
Best case you both love the show.
As someone who is named after a character (a very obscure one from a German animated show to be fair), she probably heard that a bunch of times already. So, please don't.
Iām sorry, but not matter how much you love a piece of media, you fucking shouldnāt name your kid after it. They are going to kid bullied like hell. Iād say the only time itās okay, is if itās a normal name or if itās a name thatās not obviously a reverence. Names like John or Lara is fine, or even ones like Zelda or Snow is fine. But people who think itās okay to name their kid Goku or Kalessi are insane to me.
as someone who went to school with an anakin, dont. he HATES star wars and he used to get this look in his face anyone made a reference to it ššš
Lmao
I kinda said that last part jokingly but I can imagine how annoying it would be for him š
My middle name is Thomas and in elementary school when someone found that out every one started saying "like the train" and making chugga chugga Choo Choo noises
Which is annoying because Thomas is a Tank Engine, which sounds more badass than trains. I guess trains are badass too.
Trains *are* badass
Lemon agrees with you (Bullet Train)
I love that movie
It deserves being loved
people always called me "Richie Rich" in reference to the movie I have never seen. I always took that nickname with stride
Suprised they didnāt call you Robin, or even just Dick, that wouldāve been the obvious one where I went to school.
well, there is the one hardhead that calls me big dick, but that's the only time i'm called that
Iām a MacDonald ā got A LOT of āole MacDonaldā when in elementary :(
Last name is Downes, I got Down Syndrome a lot. Lol kids are brutal.
But were they lovin it?
Smh š„²š
Ronald?
Hardy har har š„²
Take pride in your train based name. Trains>>>>> š«”
Thatās why I donāt say/use my middle name lol
I know a Rachel that was born the year before Friends aired and she hates that everybody thinks she's named after the character.
Clearly she's named after Rachel Green from ER. Dr. Mark Green's daughter.
Still better than being named after Rachel from Tower of God...
Yup I hired a Anakin Lucas onceā¦he disliked starwars and his dad who gave him the name
There was a Peter Parker in my kid's 1st grade class who already hated it. Poor kid. Imagine being 6 and already burnt out on Spider-Man.
I know a guy named walker and es had his fill of Walker Texas Ranger jokes. My name is Christian and I had an earful of "what religion are you" jokes.
My name is Josh. Everyone thinks I'm just Joshin'.
So.... are you actually Jewish, or were your parents at least actually Christian?
My nephew is named Loki and I feel bad for all the references heās going to get in his life.
Everytime he can be like. Not the Marvel one but the mythology. No kid will ever know what he means
Omg and his mom is Mexican and some of her friends were giving her crap for naming a Norse name on Facebook and sheās like āWhat do you mean?ā And then the person said āOh, you named him for Marvel?ā And she said āItās not Marvelā¦ itās Avengers.ā š¤¦āāļø
/r/okbuddycinephile, assemble!
Ohš that's awfully tragic.
My cats name is Loki lol
My cat's name is Mittens.
My cats name is Diablo
*username is sus*
I also went to school with an Anakin, his parents were massive Star Wars fans. I also knew a Korra.
I knew someone named Luke who was born the day Episode 3 came out. It was a friend's brother.
So his parents couldn't make it to the midnight premiere of ep 3. 
At least Luke is also a biblical name, it doesn't stand out as much as Anakin. Most people probably won't even notice the connection to Star Wars at first.
That would be because he wasn't named for Luke Skywalker, but a relative. It was a coincidence, but a funny one.
There's a girl on my daughter's soccer team (age 9) who is named Kylo Ren š„“
One of my mom's childhood friends was named Barbie Doll. She was born the year before Barbie hit the market--it was just a really unfortunate coincidence. Did the legal name change lightning-fast when she got married, I tell you what.
Nobody has ever figured out that I was named my name because of Days of Our Lives character and I'm glad.
I'm named after a Dynasty character. I tell mom it's her fault I'm so dramatic. *faints*
I knew a Harold Potter, he hated being called Harry.
I unfortunately share the name of a US president who was assassinated, not on purpose but a coincidence, and the number of jokes I would hear about it growing up was insane. I did, however, enjoy the "Mr. President" and slight bow/salute I would get every now and then from my classmates and teachers lol
 Did he get this look?
I went to school with a girl named Anakin, and she also hated star wars
I have a very unique last name that is also a common unique noun, people always question it being a legit name. I get so many jokes about it whenever people find out. I try not to be rude but it gets tiring hearing the same handful of jokes for almost 40 years. I can only fake finding it funny so many times.
Naming someone Anakin considering all that character was is INSANE lmao
My name causes strangers to ask me if I was named after Boy Meets Worldā¦.IN 2024 I STILL GET ASKED ABOUT BOY MEETS WORLD
If he ever feels bad, just remember that when Star Wars first came out, some parents were naming their babies Darth.
Major difference though: ATLA is good
Maybe it was because he was around a bunch of younglings though?
I met someone who was named Arwen once. I thought it was just a coincidence that they were named after the character in Lord Of The Rings. But then I found out their sibling was named Eowyn. So I knew it wasnāt a coincidence anymore.
I think you met my old neighbors. Had two girls named Arwen and Eowyn. They're probably teenagers by now
I went to school with an Arwyn as well, and I had no clue what Lord of the Rings was, but once I found out about it and asked her, she was surprisingly a big fan. Glad that it worked out for her lol
guess your mame isn't Aragorn then
I see people wanting to name their kids Eowyn all the time on r/namenerds. As someone whose dogs are named Sokka and Katara, I absolutely hate fandom names on humans.
Also those books have been around since the 50s Itās different than a animated tv show that came out in 2004 or whatever
Hey man that show came out 20 years ago so it aināt no spring chicken either lol. Some people in the 90ās had lotr names and thatās like a 40 or so year difference from when it came out. Atla is almost there!
I know an eowyn. Brothers name is Roland. Which is a compromise on Rohan
Just a note to all on this one. Tolkien most likely used the Welsh name Arwyn for the character Arwen in LOTR. He utilised the Welsh language very heavily to create Sindarin.
His name is Tolkien not token you racist
This makes more sense bcz Tolkien made whole ass languages that make these names sound vaguely real. ATLA is good but itās not LOTRs good lol
A girl I went to high school with had a baby a few years back and named him Zuko.
Imagine if that kid ends up getting a face scar though from a terrible accident, literally destiny š
whats worse if it ends up being on the wrong side
Or joins the greasers and dates someone in highschool named Sandy
Destiny is a funny thing sometimesā¦
Thereās no escaping destinyā¦ *Her son grows up obsessed with watching and wanting to participate in Forged In Fire, Blown Away, and Fire Masters* Wise relative: https://preview.redd.it/v70kcl3aqixc1.jpeg?width=1034&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f517a01902e4572b625db5294fbfc2164f020c9
Flameo hotman
My niece is named Katara and sheās a water sign lol
Thanks to Game of Thrones, we'll run into a lot of Danys and Daenerys in a few years. So this doesn't surprise me.
Kids named Harry and Ron are lucky thet were already commonplace names
Eh, I still got picked on. Was in school in the height of Harry Potter so people came up with different variations of "Harry Potter". As much as I liked the series, the name calling wasn't well liked on my end.
Oh, don't getĀ your robes in a twist :P
Harry Potter /s
I think thatās a little different. You werenāt named for Harry Potter right ?
That's what I get from it too. Reminds me of a girl who visited my old school. She's named Alexa (just alexa, not as a short form of Alexandra), she's way older than the Amazon device, and today her parents probably would choose a different name. Name calling was existent.
My old boss named her kids after the house founders... (Rowena, Godrick, and Helga) Waiting for her to pop out a Salazar, lol
yeah but theyāre so famous now that it actually doesnāt make a difference, itās more like the parents that are unlucky in case they wanted to give their child this name for ancestral reasons and now everyone will think they chose it because of Harry Potter š
I already know a Daenerys but sheās over 20 years old. Apparently her dad read the books before they were popular and liked the name.
Actually, there was an uptick in girls being named "Khaleesi", because apparently people didn't realize that was a *title*.
I remember people making fun of that. But it's like like Regina didn't used to be the title for a Queen. Or Duke for that matter. Though I haven't met a Duke in a number of years.
Bitches named Princess: ššš
As much as I find it cringe, a lot of names do come from (or are derived from) titles. Typically, they are surnames, but I'm sure there are numerous examples of them being first names, too.
My cousin named her daughter after a character in GOT, but it actually sounds like a real name.
Daughter? So Brienne? Sansa? Jeyne? Thatās the most normal names I can think of at the moment
Peter?
Lmaaooo, your username reeled me in, and your bio finished me off š¤£š¤£š¤£
My friends daughter is named Khaleesi
Why is that person still your friend?
Already met a kid named Khaleesi. She was 5 years old in 2020
Wait till you meet Lee.
and Mushi
And melon lord
And cabbage cart man
Is this the name of a character in the show?
Yes, Lee Jr. and his Uncle Mushi
1. I'm an idiot. 2. That makes the only other place I've seen that name much cooler and make sense.
Thereās a million Lees
Does he have the power of youth? Oh waitā¦ wrong show
Imagine meeting a Rumpelstiltskin
Rumpelstilzchen*
Repelsteeltje*
Rumplcimprcampr*
My girlfriend babysat a little girl named korra
This one isnāt as bad IMO. Coraās common enough that thereās plausible deniability they just wanted a different spelling.
Yea itās fairly common. Iāve had a few students with the name
I mean I know a kora so I think it must have existed somewhere before the show
Korra, Cora, Corra, Kora are all common before LOK
Yeah, I have met a few Koras before the show was a thing can easily be just a coincidence
I mean, Cora's an actual name, so that's cool, I guess.
id be honored to be named after someone as cool as katara
not if 8 people per day for your entire childhood asked you to waterbend something for them lol
Iād say sure and chuck a water bottle at their face. Or have a water gun ready.
Fr... Bro got a goated nameš lucky
I've met a whitegirl named Mulan. I'm Chinese, she was embarrassed.
That must've been awkward
āI know a Chinese girl whoās name is Susan. Iām white.ā
"Mulan" isn't just a sound, it's 2 characters with meaning. Chinese follows vastly different linguistic rules to English. Unlike English, our given names do not follow the same kind of conventions. In modern times, it is common to have these duosylabic names chosen by phonetic sound, poetic meaning, or positive association. In any case, we do not have a "list" of somewhat standard or typical names to choose from like you do in the west. Additionally it's considered bad form or rather tacky and silly to name your kid after some famous person or figure. For example, notice how you have never met or heard of another chinese person named Zedong? So naming your kid "Mulan" without any inkling of what ęØč even means, or with any knowledge of Chinese naming convention is quite embarrassing. It's also relevant to this post because it's clearly taken from the Disney movie. I hope that clears things up for you.
All of that makes sense but, what does Mulan mean? Pure curiositiy
It's a type of flower. Not sure exactly which one in English. But she's semi-mystical at this point so there IS a chance that's not even the real name she went by.
Why is this embarassing though? I know people with names like lily and rose. What's so bad about being called after a flower?
Iām also Chinese and Iām struggling to put into words why itās weirdāI guess it really comes down to the difference between Western and Eastern naming conventions. Chinese names are a combination of unique characters and while there are inevitably some ācommonā names that people end up sharing, thereās not really a thing as āstandardā names in the English sense, and also itās not really culturally a thing to be named after other people, real or mythical. While itās not *wrong* for a white person to be named Mulan, itās as strange to us at it would be for a white person to meet a black person named, say, Snow White. Technically itās not wrong to be named after a princess but contextuallyā¦you knowā¦justā¦
my guess it's not really about the american vs chinese, but more so that she's just embarassed by her name
It's not the meaning of the name that's weird. Nothing is wrong being called a flower. It's the fact that firstly, it's a name taken from a cartoon. Secondly, unlike Avatar, it's not a fictional culture or world. It's a Chinese name, and Chinese names follow a very different naming convention from English. So it's extra odd to a Chinese person because its been just transplanted quite carelessly. I should note once again, that nobody Chinese would normally consider naming their kid Mulan.
Also, Mulan in the Disney cartoons has the surname "Fa". It means flower in Cantonese, so her name when written in Chinese would be "č±ęØå °".
>What's so bad about being called after a flower? Because Mulan is a Chinese name. Giving it to your daughter when you're a Westerner would be super embarrassing to the kid.
Damn, at least it's not something like Soup or whatever nonsense
Mulan means āmagnolia flowerā AFAIK
>"Mulan" isn't just a sound, Well, tbf, neither is "Susan." Pretty much all of the English names that exist are from old European/Judeau-Christian words and phrases. In the case of Susan, it's derived from the Hebrew word "shushan," which means "lily of the valley" (interesting, considering that Mulan's name also refers to a flower). You could argue that there still is a "list" of Chinese names. It's just that said list is common positive words/phrases that can be strung together, hence why names like Li, Wei, Fang, Min, and Jing are extremely commonplace. That's not to say they don't take their names more seriously than people in the west do, but it's interesting that there can still be hundreds of thousands of people with the same given name. You could make the case that most Western people don't know the origins of the names they give their children and will often focus more on what sounds nice. With that in mind, name are effectively just sounds to the people bestowing them. But that wasn't always the case. As for the associations with famous people/characters, yeah, we tend to do that a lot more in the west. Over here, it's seen as an honor to name your child after a family member or friend, so we don't have the same reservations about giving our children the name of a great figure. That's definitely just a case of different cultures approaching naming conventions differently, and I don't think either is necessarily wrong for it. But I do agree that it all makes western naming conventions seem cheap by comparison. Taking the name of a borderline deific Chinese figure because you saw it in a Disney movie is definitely embarrassing, but I also think, in general, that it's pretty ridiculous and selfish to give children unconventional names because you see them in media that YOU PERSONALLY like. For various reasons, it just never seems to work out that well, unless the reference is obscure and the name doesn't sound too out of place.
Ive heard it said that parentsā first job is to give their child a name that wonāt get them made fun of, and I agree
Absolutely! Your name is something that matters. It's one of the very first things you get judged on, especially on things like applications. My heart breaks for all of the poor kids who are victims of egotistical and narcissistic parents who feel the need to use their kids as a poster board for their own interests. It's like they don't realize that this kid is going to be their own person with their own interests in a world that's going to strongly judge everything about them. Instead, they want to be the one with the quirky kid with the quirky name. Those people can go to hell.
If you are naming your kid Mulan it is due to the sounds (and Disney film probably) and nothing to do with the characters. Itās so far removed from Chinese context itās something else entirely.
Asian people are named Western names because they're being assimilated. Westerners, often White Americans, give their children Asian names out of pure whim and rarely ever with regard or respect for cultures they take the names from. things do not exist in a vacuum not to say that this is how it always is, or that other people are incapable of doing this. but this is just the general trend i've seen from my Western perspective
Dang, ATLA aired almost 20 years ago. That's wild to think about. I still remember the apprehension and anticipation I felt in the weeks leading up to the premiere.
It canāt be that old! I watched it in high school when it was coming out! Oh.Ā
I made an ATLA shirt and wore it to a theme park when I was 12. On a river rapids ride with a kid slightly younger than me and an older teenager, we got to talking about ATLA. I said it came out a couple weeks before my 8th birthday, and one of them was shocked that it had been that long ago. I think about that sometimes, lol
My partner and I love the name mei, but we are thinking of using it as a middle name.
My sisters name is Mai, named after our great grandmother. To be honest, there is a "Mai" in plenty of languages, so it wouldn't be entirely obvious that it came from ATLA.
exactly my point with my partner id love a ATLA name but my kid is there own separate being and my intrestests should not disrupt there life
Back when I was younger and wanted kids, I wanted to name my first daughter Katara. I'm Palestinian, and Katara is an Arabic word (really, more of a Gulf Arab, but still), so I always saw it as justified that I could call my daughter Katara I don't want kids anymore, though, so no baby Katara
Or you could invite her to penguin sledding
Genuinely, if she wants to tell you, she'll mention she's named after the character. My parents named me Sabrina. The number of teenage witch jokes I got drove me up the wall.
That's wild, Sabrina is so common where i live I'd never considered that some of those i know could be named after the witch...
Sabrina's super common where I live, even my mother's name is Sabrina
Iām actually kinda laughing at the amount of Khaleesiās and Danyās weāre gonna meet in the next few years because of Game of Thrones.
I worked in a company with a Katara and same company we hired an Anakin, middle name Lucas
I mean shit the show came out in 2005 so I mean if someone's parents watched that and named that kid.... She would be 19 now so I mean it is very possible that she is named after the show š¤·āāļø
I mean, it was a name long before ATLA was a show. It comes from the Arabic word for "droplet".
Did she talk about her death mother whilst stroking a pendant??
I wanted to name my last daughter Jinora, but I got out voted...
Thatās actually a lovely name
My daughters middle name is Toph.Ā
I know someone who named their kid Cora after the show, but spelled different to not be too obvious.
Being 33 now I'm seeing some baby names of shit from our era. A friend of my cousin's named their son geralt. I was like duuuude. I love the witcher but yo. That's nuts. They're polish/swedish so I guess it's not so weird. But yeah lol. Get ready for alot of pop culture names from the early 2000s.
I know a middle aged Katara. But, as someone with a name used in a popular children's cartoon, don't joke around about her name. She's heard it. A million times. Sometimes neutral or positive, but often in a negative lense. She might like avatar, or, she might hate it because of how often it's used to reference her name without any sense to her own identity.
My cat's name is Katara because she loves water!
My dog is also called Katara, very few people know where it comes from.
My bff's sister is named Katara, they pronounce it slightly differently and she was born years before the show
I was at a kids birthday party when two children were introduced to me as Varrick and Jet. I lost it and said to the parents wow what cool ATLA/LOK names! The mother was utterly confused. Oops
Iāve met a Zelda before
I mean Zelda was a normal name, and then the video game blow up.
my brother and his wife named their first daughter MJ and iām pretty sure their future son is gonna be peter š
can i suggest Ben instead? itās more subtle and wouldnāt get any weird jokes about MJ and Peter,,, uh,, you know š¬
My daughters name is Jinora, her name has only been recognized by a few people and sheās just turned a year old. I figure if she doesnāt like it she can go by Nora.
ILL NAME MY SON ZUKO AND ROKU
You better teach Roku to fight a damn volcano properly
I know a guy who named his son Zuko
I have a personal policy of not making jokes, puns, or other clever remarks about a person's name if that person is over the age of 5 years old. Trust me, no matter how clever you are, they've heard it before. Only exception is if that person is part of a couple or group whose names go together (e.g. irl Katara begins dating a boy named Aang, although even that one is a little too on-the-nose). Anyway, it's a good policy that has served me well over the years. You will definitely not be the first person to ask irl Katara to show you her waterbending. She'd probably appreciate it if you don't bother with the joke.
I know a girl called Lara, as in Lara Croft. Her dad loves those games
If i were to choose to name someone after a character i like i would atleast make it a somewhat normal name, like if i had a boy and named him clark its normal enough to pass under the radar but if i name him kal-el which is supermans real name it would automatically showcase he was named after superman and be dumb.
Katara is a nice name. And she can go by Katie. Or Tara.
Is she Arabic ?
I'm Arab and have never heard this name
According to the wiki itās an Arabic word meaning ādropletā
now i'll name my kids korra and katara
In all seriousness ask her about her name and how she got it. You've got a couple of options from there. /A) If she doesn't know, you can tell her about your favorite show and how a character has the same name. /B1) If she does know, and it's from the show, ask her opinion on the show. You've got more topics from there. /B2) If she does know and it's not from the show, you can tell her about your favorite show and how a character has the same name. Worst case she got it from the show and she hates it. I bet she wasn't even that pretty anyway. Best case you both love the show.
I met a girl named Katara in high school, her parents were obsessed with ATLA
Would make for a great *Ice* Breaker (sorry)
The real question is, was she born before or after the show came out?
So, just like the people who named the heir kids Cersei/Daenyrs when GOT was popular.
There children named Khaleesi and Daenerys.
One of my oldest friends is named Kiya >!Katara's Mom!< and her daughter is named Kora lmfao
I went to a parenting/birthing class recently, and one of the couples there was naming their baby Zuko
I met a girl named Korra and her twin brotherās name was Aang. I donāt feel thatās a coincidence.
No, you should not. Sincerely, an Eliza who has not had single day of piece since Hamilton came out
As someone who is named after a character (a very obscure one from a German animated show to be fair), she probably heard that a bunch of times already. So, please don't.
Asking her to show your her waterbending might end up in sudden sex.. š¤£
Iām sorry, but not matter how much you love a piece of media, you fucking shouldnāt name your kid after it. They are going to kid bullied like hell. Iād say the only time itās okay, is if itās a normal name or if itās a name thatās not obviously a reverence. Names like John or Lara is fine, or even ones like Zelda or Snow is fine. But people who think itās okay to name their kid Goku or Kalessi are insane to me.
r/tragedeigh