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I'm sorry if this has been asked recently. I thought I saw something like it so I scrolled down the page and did a search but I can't seem to find anything. Anyways, I want to ask a question that I've been thinking of for...years, must be, but never really had the courage to ask. It's sort of like those questions about "can you use a name from any culture", but directed towards all of the people who are of a culture that isn't "American" (religious cultures included-American people can answer also. I'd really like to know what fellow Americans think of my theory.).

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I have a theory and it may very well be wrong (and I hope I word this right, because I don't want to offend anyone), but I've always wondered if why people who are American say that anyone can grab and use a name from any culture at any time is because we sort of have a "buffet" culture, where you take what you want and leave the rest? Do you know what I mean? Or maybe it's because an awful lot of us grow up without a real sense of a "mother" culture? I know I'm not speaking for everyone here, but I personally grew up in a family that didn't pay much attention to its heritage at all, so if I were to see someone who was obviously not German or not Slovakian walking around with a name like Ladislava (or whatever) I wouldn't feel like that was weird at all. Whereas I wonder if a person who grew up in a very close Jewish or Armenian family would find it weird to meet a very not-Jewish or not-Armenian Keturah or Anoush. Do you know what I mean? I hear a lot of "it doesn't matter what culture you're from, you can use any name you want", but I wonder if that opinion holds with everyone, or even the majority.

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I hope I didn't word that wrong and end up offending anyone.