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HelpWe Need to Talk About India.
And I don't mean the country. Well, it's probably inevitable that we'll talk about the country - but I mainly mean the name. And in doing a search on this board I see the last time a discussion was had about India was back in... 2017, and the thread is archived.
India has jumped on-and-off the Top 1000 in the United States for a bit, with 2001 being its peak year (so I'm guessing a lot of Indias are graduating from college now). In England & Wales it's hovering around the Top 200 names, and in Spain it is trending (this surprised me). So this is hardly an obscure name in the western world.
Which brings me to... the implication.
A little over a year ago, I asked South Asians of BtN whether they thought non-Asians naming their daughters India was offensive. These were the poll results: https://www.behindthename.com/polls/347902
Going off that, I figured that people like me - white, wanting to rectify the atrocities of our ancestors and not appropriate cultures without consent - were still falling into the trap of telling former colonized peoples how they should feel about stuff (essentially). However: I cannot actually guarantee that only people with ancestry from the Indian subcontinent answered that poll, since I can't track that data. Looking back on that poll and realizing that the results might not be trustworthy made me think that maybe that's not a question for the polls, but the boards. (I'd initially trusted it because this was an earlier poll I'd asked - and one which I would definitely reword today, but still: https://www.behindthename.com/polls/311425)
So... BtN, what do we think of India as a personal name? Particularly on a non-Asian? I am especially interested in the opinions of those with South Asian ancestry, since they're potentially divided (just contrast the first poll's results with the most recent comment on the name India).
***
Please rate my personal name lists:
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/117507
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/109399
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/132018
India has jumped on-and-off the Top 1000 in the United States for a bit, with 2001 being its peak year (so I'm guessing a lot of Indias are graduating from college now). In England & Wales it's hovering around the Top 200 names, and in Spain it is trending (this surprised me). So this is hardly an obscure name in the western world.
Which brings me to... the implication.
A little over a year ago, I asked South Asians of BtN whether they thought non-Asians naming their daughters India was offensive. These were the poll results: https://www.behindthename.com/polls/347902
Going off that, I figured that people like me - white, wanting to rectify the atrocities of our ancestors and not appropriate cultures without consent - were still falling into the trap of telling former colonized peoples how they should feel about stuff (essentially). However: I cannot actually guarantee that only people with ancestry from the Indian subcontinent answered that poll, since I can't track that data. Looking back on that poll and realizing that the results might not be trustworthy made me think that maybe that's not a question for the polls, but the boards. (I'd initially trusted it because this was an earlier poll I'd asked - and one which I would definitely reword today, but still: https://www.behindthename.com/polls/311425)
So... BtN, what do we think of India as a personal name? Particularly on a non-Asian? I am especially interested in the opinions of those with South Asian ancestry, since they're potentially divided (just contrast the first poll's results with the most recent comment on the name India).
***
Please rate my personal name lists:
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/117507
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/109399
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/132018
This message was edited 8/19/2022, 10:36 AM
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