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Help[Opinions] Re: Winona and Cherokee
in reply to a message by noisynora
I'm not one to cry "cultural appropriation" at the drop of a hat, but in this case I am going to.
Winona has some history of being used as a name across ethnic lines, and I don't really object too strongly to it being used, though I associate it with Judd and Ryder, neither of whom I like, and also it sounds to me like a motor home.
Cherokee is an ethnicity with all the usual nuances and facets of an ethnicity, and it does not lend itself to being used as a first name. I find it far more offensive as a first name on a white kid than I do Winona, and on an actual Cherokee kid it seems kind of heavy-handedly obvious.
But together as a sibset, it really is offensive; Winona is not a Cherokee word, so basically it's someone acting like they think there's just one "Native American" or "American Indian" people who share the same language and culture, and thinking that it's cool and shows how "woke" they are that they gave their daughters "Indian names" and they don't even know they're being clueless.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
Winona has some history of being used as a name across ethnic lines, and I don't really object too strongly to it being used, though I associate it with Judd and Ryder, neither of whom I like, and also it sounds to me like a motor home.
Cherokee is an ethnicity with all the usual nuances and facets of an ethnicity, and it does not lend itself to being used as a first name. I find it far more offensive as a first name on a white kid than I do Winona, and on an actual Cherokee kid it seems kind of heavy-handedly obvious.
But together as a sibset, it really is offensive; Winona is not a Cherokee word, so basically it's someone acting like they think there's just one "Native American" or "American Indian" people who share the same language and culture, and thinking that it's cool and shows how "woke" they are that they gave their daughters "Indian names" and they don't even know they're being clueless.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
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