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Help[Opinions] Dakota
Do you like Dakota?
I never really cared for it. I just realized that it was in fact rather popular, especially for boys (top 100), in the 90s.
I didn't expect that. I've seen it mostly on girls and there are at least three rather well known actresses who bear it (Fanning, Johnson, Blue Richards).
So I wanted to ask what you thought of it and whether you think its use is problematic. I know it is the name of a Native American tribe. I'm wondering how someone belonging to that tribe would feel about the name being used. If it would just be very weird or if it would be offensive. It is also a place name. I think if someone named their child after something from my culture that wasn't traditionally used as a name I'd just find it odd but I would guess that they had good associations with my culture in order to name their child after it and wouldn't see it negatively. But I understand that it is a sensitive topic.
The sound of it isn't bad, it is kind of unusual. But I personally wouldn't use it.
Opinions?
I never really cared for it. I just realized that it was in fact rather popular, especially for boys (top 100), in the 90s.
I didn't expect that. I've seen it mostly on girls and there are at least three rather well known actresses who bear it (Fanning, Johnson, Blue Richards).
So I wanted to ask what you thought of it and whether you think its use is problematic. I know it is the name of a Native American tribe. I'm wondering how someone belonging to that tribe would feel about the name being used. If it would just be very weird or if it would be offensive. It is also a place name. I think if someone named their child after something from my culture that wasn't traditionally used as a name I'd just find it odd but I would guess that they had good associations with my culture in order to name their child after it and wouldn't see it negatively. But I understand that it is a sensitive topic.
The sound of it isn't bad, it is kind of unusual. But I personally wouldn't use it.
Opinions?
This message was edited 10/6/2020, 4:49 PM
Archived Thread - replies disabled
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Replies
Dakota has a nice sound, and I like the meaning "allies, friends." Most people using it would probably be using it in honor of North and South Dakota rather than the tribe, so it has an Indiana Jones or Carolina feel. I wouldn't use it because place names aren't my style. The people that are most vocal about it being controversial are white, so it is hard to know what the reaction among Native Americans is especially since they aren't monolithic.
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It probably would be seen as cultural misappropriation by actual Dakota people. But all I think of is the aircraft.
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Hate
It sounds ugly as a name. Plus, I don't think names of indigenous tribes should be given to little white babies...
It sounds ugly as a name. Plus, I don't think names of indigenous tribes should be given to little white babies...
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Not bad. I like Dakota Fanning.
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I love Dakota but it's a name I cannot use as I feel it'd be inappropriate for me to do so. It's not just a name from another culture (like Sakura) but a name of a group of people who still exist and are still reeling from the effects my country (England) had on them.
It's weird to me that the name London is used, but it'd be a whole kettle of fish if London (the city) had been destroyed by a foreign group along with many of my people.... and then they decide to start naming their kids London.
I'd understand they'd mean no harm as, in this day and age, we're really quite removed from that part of history; the people involved are long dead, and their children's children are long dead. If I were still white and received no racism, it'd probably be more vague melancholy for a culture I never got to properly experience (I feel that way for certain aspects of modern society vs the society our grandparents lived in), but racism plays a large part in what happened, and what continues to happen.
I admit I'm not well educated on the subject, but in one way I feel just as distant towards the events as I do with the - well - hundreds of times Britain has been invaded throughout history and the countless cultures that have been destroyed around the world. However, what sets the Native Americans apart from most of those is that they still exist and have a desire to hold onto their culture and heritage and I respect that.
In addition, the boarding schools that once whisked away the children of Native Americans with the intent to eradicate their culture all together is terrifyingly recent. It wasn't a one-event deal, it was an ongoing attack by the government that lasted into the 20th century. Many children never got to see their parents again after dying on the school grounds. Even after the schools were closed, many children were removed from their "unfit mothers" who practiced their traditions. And those children forced away from their parents are still alive.
https://www.history.com/news/government-boarding-schools-separated-native-american-children-families
Too sad, too recent.
Dakota is lovely, but it's a hard no from me.
It's weird to me that the name London is used, but it'd be a whole kettle of fish if London (the city) had been destroyed by a foreign group along with many of my people.... and then they decide to start naming their kids London.
I'd understand they'd mean no harm as, in this day and age, we're really quite removed from that part of history; the people involved are long dead, and their children's children are long dead. If I were still white and received no racism, it'd probably be more vague melancholy for a culture I never got to properly experience (I feel that way for certain aspects of modern society vs the society our grandparents lived in), but racism plays a large part in what happened, and what continues to happen.
I admit I'm not well educated on the subject, but in one way I feel just as distant towards the events as I do with the - well - hundreds of times Britain has been invaded throughout history and the countless cultures that have been destroyed around the world. However, what sets the Native Americans apart from most of those is that they still exist and have a desire to hold onto their culture and heritage and I respect that.
In addition, the boarding schools that once whisked away the children of Native Americans with the intent to eradicate their culture all together is terrifyingly recent. It wasn't a one-event deal, it was an ongoing attack by the government that lasted into the 20th century. Many children never got to see their parents again after dying on the school grounds. Even after the schools were closed, many children were removed from their "unfit mothers" who practiced their traditions. And those children forced away from their parents are still alive.
https://www.history.com/news/government-boarding-schools-separated-native-american-children-families
Too sad, too recent.
Dakota is lovely, but it's a hard no from me.
This message was edited 10/6/2020, 6:12 PM
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Don't really like it
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