New Post
Search
Help[Opinions] Polish twin girls
Amanda and Eliza, this is from a Polish TV show called "Nasz Nowy Dom" about Polish people living in extreme poverty and their home being made over. I hate to judge but it's interesting how such a poor family would've chosen English names.
1
Replies
It says that Eliza is used in Poland and Amanda is used in several European countries as well, so maybe not that weird? Amanda seems to be a decently used name in Europe today even if it's dated in the US. Eliza probably works better than Elizabeth in Poland as well, and is an alternative to Elzbieta/Izabela.
1
They were both used in Poland since before England became the main cultural exporter in Europe. Especially Eliza isn't seen as "foreign" at all. Amanda is slightly more unusual, I suppose, so might be seen that way by some perhaps, but they are both names that my great-grandmothers could easily have had so I'd say they are pretty well established as Polish names by now.
And just as an aside, the generally speaking poorer classes tend to be in the avant-garde of introducing foreign names to Poland. It's still to an extent an existing stereotype that poorer people pick names from pop culture. 10-20 years ago Jessica, Brian, and Kevin were the subject of memes and relentlessly ridiculed for being associated with poverty and low education. So what I'm saying is, even if they had actual English names, such as Jennifer and Jessica it would have actually been far more interesting if they were rich.
And just as an aside, the generally speaking poorer classes tend to be in the avant-garde of introducing foreign names to Poland. It's still to an extent an existing stereotype that poorer people pick names from pop culture. 10-20 years ago Jessica, Brian, and Kevin were the subject of memes and relentlessly ridiculed for being associated with poverty and low education. So what I'm saying is, even if they had actual English names, such as Jennifer and Jessica it would have actually been far more interesting if they were rich.
This message was edited 5/24/2023, 2:02 PM
3
I did a bit of Googling and both names are very popular in Poland. I'm sure Eliza is pronounced far differently than the usual English version.
3
The question is WHY is it popular there and what socioeconomic (and how educated) class uses it. Eliza was prononounced Eh-lee-za.
1
Eliza is probably on par with Elisa in other non-English speaking countries. Elzbieta is also popular, as of course Elizabeth in all its forms tends to be.
If the names are very popular, they are probably pretty widely distributed over all socio-economic and educational groups.
And English and American culture is more widely known than ever before thanks to the Internet, so a "typically English" name like Amanda wouldn't be so unusual.
If the names are very popular, they are probably pretty widely distributed over all socio-economic and educational groups.
And English and American culture is more widely known than ever before thanks to the Internet, so a "typically English" name like Amanda wouldn't be so unusual.
1