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I agree it matters that Winona's an actual name, and Cherokee is a word referring to an entire people. And it matters that they're from different cultures. I also think the name Cherokee is too appropriated as a brand name already, to make a good name for a person who isn't Cherokee - even if it wasn't considered appropriative by anyone. (I personally think the word "appropriation" applies to things institutions do, things that are intended as mass marketing, or which are effectively propaganda - not things like baby names given by individuals. But I can see how it becomes the same, if enough people are doing it.)

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I was wondering about the "appropriation" aspect of tribe names that seem to be Anglicizations of words in the languages of other tribes. I thought - how can it be appropriation of culture, if it's an English imitation of some other tribe's word? But then I noticed that there are four tribe names in the db that are like that (Shawnee, Dakota, Cheyenne, Cherokee), and they don't have other names that are in their own language. I can imagine that tribes asked one another to name them. I wonder if that is true or if anyone here knows? Anyway I thought it is interesting, kind of a tangent.

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- mirfak