Since approximately the 1960s, a great transformation has come in American life. While before this time, the United States was generally considered to have a mainstream culture of its own, the concept of America has since been redefined. Now, the United States is nothing more than an amalgam of immigrants of different ethnic origins, none of which are any more "mainstream" or "better" than any others.
The hybrid ethnicity of many Americans can be revealed in their names. Americans often bear monikers that reflect their ethnic origins. Unfortunately, sometimes Americans have more than one ethnic origin, and one is unavoidably mentioned in their last name, i.e. "O'Reilly", "Mueller", "Wisniewski".
Culturally sensitive parents of different nationalities sometimes opt for a compromise, giving their child a first name that does not match the ethnicity of their last name. This is a mistake. While it is right and praiseworthy to be interested in one's own heritage, an unwieldy combination of ethnic names is merely confusing.
Special care should be taken in the case of names that have English equivalents. The French "Jacques", the German "Johann", the Gaelic "Evan", the Romanian "Ion", and the Russian "Ivan" are all equivalents of the English name "John". Unless your child is raised in a bilingual environment and can speak French, German, Gaelic, Romanian, or Russian, it is best to stick with the English "John", because foreign names are unnecessarily pretentious. Especially French names.
Examples of the "Multicultural Mish-Mash" Category:
- Ivan Rodriguez
- Eamon De Valera
- Bernardo O'Higgins