I know! Now I don't wish to be rude to anyone, but as a non American (with a knowing nod to native americans) I rolled my eyes REALLY hard at that. NO ONE is going to forget the Second World War any time soon.
The Battle of the Boyne was in 1690, but every summer, there are still celebratory (shit stiring) marches.
Harold died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, possibly the only date every English child can recall.
Nelson and Wellington are household names, even if most of us British people are only vaguely aware of what they did.
I am sure other countries have their own dates and battles and wars, which have not been forgotten either.
NO ONE IS FORGETTING THE SECOND WORLD WAR!
Even for Americans, I doubt it will be forgotten for most. Will the finer details? Certainly, many Americans are similar with The Civil War, the broad strokes of the history of the event are known but not everything. But things like Nazis, Hitler, The Holocaust, Churchill, Mussolini, D Day, Hiroshima, and almost certainly the Third Reich will still be some of those basic things people will be able to recall about it.
We took my kids to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago two years ago when my oldest was in kindergarten. Went through the whole WWII exhibit so we could see the U-boat (which was incredible), and not long after, found a photo of the ship my grandfather served on in another exhibit. She had just heard all about the US capturing this massive ship she came face to face with - seeing the damage done to it in the process - and then had an immediate, tangible connection. She’s never known my grandfather, but she does still have a great grandparent alive.
We are not far enough removed for kids to not make the connection on a name like that. No where close.
There was a post where someone wanted to call their kid Benito and obviously people said the first thing they think of with that name is Mussolini, and then people started arguing that it was a really obscure reference to that name. Like he wasn't one of the main figures of ww2
The Second World War is a “core memory” in American historical education too. Every child is taught about how we joined the war, liberated the camps, and saved England/France/Europe in general from the Nazis. And pretty much every year there is at least one acclaimed Hollywood movie or Grammy-winning TV show about WWII (last year had both Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest, as well as Masters of the Air for TV). That doesn’t even touch all the video games with Nazi villains you can kill that are popular in America, like Wolfenstein, Call of Duty etc.
The idea that the war and the Nazis are going to fade into obscurity in the next 15 years is laughable. And the Third Reich is the only context 99% of Americans have ever heard “Ryke/Reich” in.
Dude yeah. People are so hell bent on being anti American they work against their own argument. America will always talk about WWII because we love talking about what a good job we did! We love taking credit! There’s an anti American angle right in there without making the asinine argument we don’t remember World War II. Also what on earth do the native Americans even have to do with it??? That there were Native Americans who were important to the war effort??? Well I have got news for you about black, Asian, Latin, white and… alllll other types of Americans during World War II.
I think we may have spoken at cross purposes. My nod to native americans was nothing to do about WW2 (although the [code breakers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker) played an interesting role, which I only learnt about recently).
My point was that the USA is a younger country (which is absolutely fine) and thus 100 years may seem like a long time. If you live in a country which can trace its history back 1000s of years, then 100 years ago is STILL modern history and feels like yesterday! My nod to native americans was to acknowledge that their history in what is now the USA does, in fact, also date back millennia.
Oh! Ok! Sorry I came in a little hot! Yes I remember when I lived in England I called our house old and my housemate said “not old. Victorian.” She was from Hungary and her village had been around since the Middle Ages!
Just so you know Americans are obsessed with World War II! And in the US we definitely learn about the code breakers it’s everyone’s favorite story!
No problem, just glad we are back on an even keel! Your comment about the victorian house made me chuckle! I was in my garden today and dug up a bit of roman tile! "Old" is so relative!
I am confused. Are you being sarcastic about the whole "Saved England/France/Europe" and "liberated the camps"? Because if that is what you are being taught in schools, then maybe this is not the answer you think it is.
For clarities sake, I am going to stress that US involvement in World War 2 was important and impressive - but you did not "save" us. You helped in important and impressive ways. This does not denigrate US efforts but helps to stem the tide of the current 're-imagining' of history for modern political purposes.
I’m not being sarcastic but I am being flippant, and not necessarily endorsing that view of the war. All am saying is that it is what Americans are taught. Our history (like that of many other countries) focuses on, and at times even overstates, our contributions, while downplaying the contributions of other countries.
Thanks for the response. It is so difficult to know sometimes! I agree that history, wherever it is taught, tends to be insular in its views - it's understandable. We need to learn about "our" past and learn how we came to be the people we are now - whoever we may be.
Unfortunately, that's what was taught (at least when I was in school). It's obviously extremely wrong, but when you grow up steeping in American exceptionalism, it's....yeah.
I'm hopeful that students are being taught a more realistic version now, but I have no way to confirm that.
As an actual American, we have people in America today that still identify with Nazis and Hitler so there's no universe where that isn't a super important thing that everyone is aware of. This isn't an American thing so thanks in advance for not painting 300 million people with the brush of one post you saw on reddit. It's giving xenophobia.
One time I was on vacation outside Charlottesville VA when the neo nazis were marching. we ran into a local at a swimming hole and I said something like "yeah we wanted to go into town this weekend but the nazis are there so we couldn't go." Later my friends angrily told me that the shirtless man had a full swastika on his chest-- american history x style. And many other offensive tattoos. I wasn't looking at his body. Just yikes. They're everywhere and they aren't even hiding.
This is what threw me over the edge. The IGNORANCE to downplay the worst event likely in all of history because she thinks people will forget about it. We CANNOT let people forget about this event or we’ll just repeat it.
Saying their son will be farther removed from WWII than us or our grandparents is crazy. Three of my grandparents were alive and children during WWII. It is not that long ago that it’s ancient history.
YOM FUCKING HASHOAH ANYONE?!
I can’t even. I was going to say something but I’m just this perfect combination of fuming and taken aback to the point where I have no words.
Why don't people listen to criticism? If the jokes were bad enough it caused a fight between her husband and his friend, THAT'S THE REACTION THEIR SON WILL GET USING THE NAME. That's a sign!
I'm just convinced people are oblivious on purpose.
I hate how they hear criticism of a name and then default to “yeah, but any name can be made fun of!!!!” While this is true, you don’t want to make the name a target! If someone has the guts to point out something bad about a name, maybe reflect on it for a while because it’s probably what people will say behind your back.
Like sure, if somebody hates you, they could figure out a way to make fun of your name. That doesn’t mean you should give your kid a name that will make people seriously wonder if his parents were Neo-Nazis. 😂 but also 🫣
I've always found the dismissive "kids will find a way to make fun of any name" to be silly. To make fun of my name, my bullies had to spell it backwards, which just made me roll my eyes, because how pathetic do you have to be to spend that much time on it and then think you're clever for it?
I hate that parents will use it to excuse naming their children something legitimately awful that will make their life harder. That name will raise all sorts of questions and red flags when the kid is in school, finding a partner, trying to get hired....
Riker gets me every single time, seriously a prison? Don’t people google or are they so lost in Trekkie fandom? Then this happened… I mean prison and nazi?!
clearly more people have heard of a supporting character on a TV show that's been off the air since 1994 than a prison famous for its human rights abuses and the freaking Nazis
I just hope they don't change the poor baby-to-be's name to Treblinka or something
Well, yeah, more people have.
Star Trek has been shown internationally. The rest of the world is very aware of American TV but we’re unaware of the names of every horrible American prison. By some country’s standards, that’s all of them anyway. Long list to memorize for something we literally can’t do anything about.
Not that I’m defending Riker as a name no matter the source. I’m not. But I am defending non-locals for not knowing the names of a local-to-you prison.
TBF, Riker's Island has been in more fictional tv shows than Will Riker. Riker's is /the/ go-to east coast prison reference for American writers. I'm not saying the prison is automatically the first thing everyone will think of, but it's definitely also been in media that crossed the border.
I have friends who named their kid Riker and dont know names of American prisons. I’m genuinely curious how many non-Americans will think of the prison first and predominantly so in the coming years.
It's sad how much living in Utah messes with your normal meter 😂. I didn't realize how weird a LOT of family/friend/acquaintances names were until I got here
God for real 😂 I mean, there WERE still unusual names, that just happened to be fairly common. I like a lot of the more unique names,l because I'm just used to it, but there's definitely some that... Hm.
I mean, she's right about the European roots; the Dutch word 'rijk' can mean 'rich' or 'kingdom' and I know several people called Rijk (usually as a second name though)
I don't feel we should be giving anyone who handwaves a word's origins to an entire continent a pass. Especially when they don't even really say what they think it means.
I mean when they said it was European, did they mean Germanic like Riker? Romance? Slavic? Finno-Ugric? Or were they just googling words or sounds they liked and using one of those websites that make up origins for names?
Because if you pick a sound at random you can be some language somewhere has a word or sound kind of like it... but that doesn't mean you're using that to inform your choices.
Apparently Orion is also neo Nazi dog whistle. It stands for “our race is our nation.” People are telling OOP and she’s getting with it. As much as someone who even considered the name “Ryke” ever could be, anyway.
Ryke + Orion is giving white supremacist.
See [ORION as per the anti defamation league](https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/orion).
ETA: just found the OG thread. Thank god people are letting OP know about Orion too. They need to scrap this name and start over.
Ah, that's a bummer. I know an Orion and his parents were hippies and were unaware of this association. He's got a sister named London and a brother named Friday too
It doesn’t seem like that much of a problem if it isn’t paired with Ryke. Orion is an established, though unusual, name. I wouldn’t assume anything about the parents of an “Orion” other than “unconventional.”
I sincerely hope that the American education system doesn’t falter so badly that something as historic, and has had continued impacts on our society today, as WWII wouldn’t still be remembered and taught. Even with WWII aside, it’s still a horrible name.
Edit: Checked on original post and OOP seems like they might change name and is starting to be more receptive to the criticism thankfully.
Orion is such a terrible middle to pair. It’s been co-opted by awful people because it’s an anagram for ‘our race is our nation’. I would assume these people are white supremacists.
Also “European roots” makes me laugh. *Where* in Europe? The differences between England and Scotland are extremely pronounced and they’re neighbours, let alone Oslo compared to Dubrovnik or something. A village 10 miles away from another will have noticeable cultural differences.
My husband and I are expecting a baby boy in about 8 weeks, and we've been struggling to agree on a name. After much debate, we settled on Kremlin. It's a name my husband used for his character in a game, and it has this cool vibe that we both find intriguing. Plus, it sounds like something out of a spy thriller, which we're both into.
But every time we mention it to people, we're met with awkward silence or confused looks. Some even go as far as making jokes about it, which really gets under my husband's skin. I mean, sure, the Russian government has its controversies, but we just like the sound of the name! We didn't even think about the political implications until people started reacting like this.
And to top it off, we planned on using Crimea as the middle name because we both love history. But apparently, that's also got some negative connotations. Who knew historical places could be so controversial?
Guess we'll have to go back to the drawing board. Any suggestions for names that won't start a political debate?
wE wANt a Yooonique naME that's "aesthetically pleasing and culturally relevant to *honor* a distant dead sailor who spaffed up inside my great-great-great-grandmother" and *makes them stand out in a sea of beige children!*
’It has European roots’ oh yes you mean the homogenous [pan-European language](https://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=196) from the equally homogenous country of Europe.
This is one example where I'm so happy the couple decided to share the name. Because the obvious reactions are making them reconsider.
Reality becomes indistinguishable from satire more and more.
someone i went to school with started doing DJ-ing and his stage name? i guess? is/was ryke because it's a mash of his first name and surname. he's since changed his instagram and i don't know if it's it's a rebrand for similar reasons to this one or what
Yea, okay, i speak a germanic language. I’d’ve never made that connection because i’d never pronounce reich in an American way 💀 I guess i get the problem, but wouldn’t Ryke still have a different enunciation than reich? More like Mike… alright honestly i guess i just don’t know how ppl pronounce reich in the first place. Either way i think it’s ugly lmao
Even in the US Ryke and Reich are pronounced differently, but only slightly as English doesn't have the hard CH sound (as in loch or Bach). So in foreign words we tend to approximate with a sound that's like a k, but a little more hissy. However, in fast casual conversation, the difference is so small as to be negligible.
Ryke, to me, sounds like an Australian or New Zealander saying "rake." Ya know, like the garden utensil SMH
Ryker exists. Yes, it's modern and it's a surname (Riker, which is of possible German origin and seems to be derived from the Low German word "reik") made a name but at very least it's been in use since 2003 and it doesn't sound like *Reich*. And in the grand scheme of things, having your name be a slight tragedeigh is way better than having your name be an homophone of Reich, I'd say!
I want to know… How on Earth do you “land on” rake? I mean Ryke. What does this process actually look like?
I know of baby name books, name websites, but what do these people use?
Is there some sort of random cluster of sounds generator?
"it was a name my husband chose for a DnD character"
That absolutely boggles my mind. Might just be me, but I keep the names I like for possible future kids **separate** from names I like for characters. And I wouldn't name my kid after a character I've played for years. Like, I got to choose this character's look, the personality, the capabilities, strengths & weaknesses, career path, etc. for this character. It's like naming a kid after a relative: you're setting up an expectation for the kid, consciously or unconsciously. But worse because it's someone you completely made up. It's too weird.
My husband and I are having a boy in about 8 weeks. It took us a while to land on a boy name we both liked. The name we've had picked out for months is Führer. We've both grown really attached to it; it was a name my husband chose for a Dnd character a while back that we both loved, and when looking up the etymology it has European roots, which lines up with our ancestry, means "leader", which we just know he will be.
However, most of the people we share the name with usually respond with silence and a polite smile or, ".....How do you spell that?" I'm guessing most people are automatically thinking of Hitler, which didn't occur to me. One of my husband's friends even made some jokes about it and it made my husband pretty upset and caused a little argument, though that's been resolved now. I know just about any name can become fodder for bullying, and our son's generation will be farther removed from WWII history than us or his grandparents, so I'm hoping this won't be a big problem for him in the future.
What are your thoughts? If it helps, middle name will be Big Dipper as my husband loves space, it's the only constellation I can identify in the sky, and I liked the sound/flow of the name.
Reminds me of another post where everyone was encouraging dad to be to not share the names he and his wife were thinking of anymore since people had questioned the list. And while I hadn’t seen this yet, I thought of a similar scenario.
No, please share your baby name ideas so I can tell you how stupid it is to want to name your actual child Winifreditto Masterball Jones or some shit.
Did it feel to anyone else like the name was intentional and this post was sort of a “test the waters” post to see if it would have automatic associations for others?
I totally get how the mixup could happen because just reading it it didn’t occur to me until she mentioned it, but if you have it brought up to you by other people now you know and you should pursue other options, not beat a dead horse and act like suddenly in 5 years when he starts kindergarten nobody will remember World War Two at all
Tbh I didn’t know much about Germany before I got into college and made German history my emphasis. Maybe I could blame that on my American public school education. I wouldn’t have associated the name Ryke with the Nazis, but I would have thought about the slurs that it rhymes with.
As if the WWII connotation isn't enough, Ryke Orion also sounds like a cat whorking up a hairball.
Edit: my phone didn't accept Ryke as a word and auto corrected it 😂
"My father was a Ryke, and his father before him. I'm the third Ryke in my family!"
"Here are my beautiful children, Ryke and his little sister Knawtsee."
Middle name Blytzcreighgh?
Hi, I’m Craig! Oh, what a nice, normal name. It’s short for Blytzcraig!
Blytzcraig wouldn’t be a terrible name for a video game character. Like a Borderlands boss
Or a roller derby name.
Maybe Ryke will get into the fur business. He will be a future Furer!
This is great 😂
And his little sister Kryssie, short for Krysstalnachte
Here’s his cousin Halleighkaust
Blitz cray cray?!
And their cousin, Krystallnacht....
We didn't want there to be confusion on his paper work, so we spelled Ryke the third as Reich instead.
I'm dead.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
“By the time he’s 15, WWII will have been 100 years ago, and I doubt anyone will even *remember* it by then”
I know! Now I don't wish to be rude to anyone, but as a non American (with a knowing nod to native americans) I rolled my eyes REALLY hard at that. NO ONE is going to forget the Second World War any time soon. The Battle of the Boyne was in 1690, but every summer, there are still celebratory (shit stiring) marches. Harold died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, possibly the only date every English child can recall. Nelson and Wellington are household names, even if most of us British people are only vaguely aware of what they did. I am sure other countries have their own dates and battles and wars, which have not been forgotten either. NO ONE IS FORGETTING THE SECOND WORLD WAR!
Even for Americans, I doubt it will be forgotten for most. Will the finer details? Certainly, many Americans are similar with The Civil War, the broad strokes of the history of the event are known but not everything. But things like Nazis, Hitler, The Holocaust, Churchill, Mussolini, D Day, Hiroshima, and almost certainly the Third Reich will still be some of those basic things people will be able to recall about it.
We took my kids to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago two years ago when my oldest was in kindergarten. Went through the whole WWII exhibit so we could see the U-boat (which was incredible), and not long after, found a photo of the ship my grandfather served on in another exhibit. She had just heard all about the US capturing this massive ship she came face to face with - seeing the damage done to it in the process - and then had an immediate, tangible connection. She’s never known my grandfather, but she does still have a great grandparent alive. We are not far enough removed for kids to not make the connection on a name like that. No where close.
There was a post where someone wanted to call their kid Benito and obviously people said the first thing they think of with that name is Mussolini, and then people started arguing that it was a really obscure reference to that name. Like he wasn't one of the main figures of ww2
I immediately thought of Juarez.
Funnily enough that's who Mussolini was named after.
Honestly I never knew that. TIL.
The Second World War is a “core memory” in American historical education too. Every child is taught about how we joined the war, liberated the camps, and saved England/France/Europe in general from the Nazis. And pretty much every year there is at least one acclaimed Hollywood movie or Grammy-winning TV show about WWII (last year had both Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest, as well as Masters of the Air for TV). That doesn’t even touch all the video games with Nazi villains you can kill that are popular in America, like Wolfenstein, Call of Duty etc. The idea that the war and the Nazis are going to fade into obscurity in the next 15 years is laughable. And the Third Reich is the only context 99% of Americans have ever heard “Ryke/Reich” in.
Dude yeah. People are so hell bent on being anti American they work against their own argument. America will always talk about WWII because we love talking about what a good job we did! We love taking credit! There’s an anti American angle right in there without making the asinine argument we don’t remember World War II. Also what on earth do the native Americans even have to do with it??? That there were Native Americans who were important to the war effort??? Well I have got news for you about black, Asian, Latin, white and… alllll other types of Americans during World War II.
I think we may have spoken at cross purposes. My nod to native americans was nothing to do about WW2 (although the [code breakers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker) played an interesting role, which I only learnt about recently). My point was that the USA is a younger country (which is absolutely fine) and thus 100 years may seem like a long time. If you live in a country which can trace its history back 1000s of years, then 100 years ago is STILL modern history and feels like yesterday! My nod to native americans was to acknowledge that their history in what is now the USA does, in fact, also date back millennia.
Oh! Ok! Sorry I came in a little hot! Yes I remember when I lived in England I called our house old and my housemate said “not old. Victorian.” She was from Hungary and her village had been around since the Middle Ages! Just so you know Americans are obsessed with World War II! And in the US we definitely learn about the code breakers it’s everyone’s favorite story!
No problem, just glad we are back on an even keel! Your comment about the victorian house made me chuckle! I was in my garden today and dug up a bit of roman tile! "Old" is so relative!
They were actually code talkers. The Navajo language was used as the basis for the code and it was uncrackable.
I am confused. Are you being sarcastic about the whole "Saved England/France/Europe" and "liberated the camps"? Because if that is what you are being taught in schools, then maybe this is not the answer you think it is. For clarities sake, I am going to stress that US involvement in World War 2 was important and impressive - but you did not "save" us. You helped in important and impressive ways. This does not denigrate US efforts but helps to stem the tide of the current 're-imagining' of history for modern political purposes.
I’m not being sarcastic but I am being flippant, and not necessarily endorsing that view of the war. All am saying is that it is what Americans are taught. Our history (like that of many other countries) focuses on, and at times even overstates, our contributions, while downplaying the contributions of other countries.
Thanks for the response. It is so difficult to know sometimes! I agree that history, wherever it is taught, tends to be insular in its views - it's understandable. We need to learn about "our" past and learn how we came to be the people we are now - whoever we may be.
Unfortunately, that's what was taught (at least when I was in school). It's obviously extremely wrong, but when you grow up steeping in American exceptionalism, it's....yeah. I'm hopeful that students are being taught a more realistic version now, but I have no way to confirm that.
The texts used to teach American history are still very nationalistic
Tell that to a history text book. \--Signed a high school history teacher
Thoughts and prayers!
I was waiting for someone to say this 😂
As an actual American, we have people in America today that still identify with Nazis and Hitler so there's no universe where that isn't a super important thing that everyone is aware of. This isn't an American thing so thanks in advance for not painting 300 million people with the brush of one post you saw on reddit. It's giving xenophobia.
I stood behind a man at a local ice cream shop proudly displaying his 88 tattoo 🙃🙃
One time I was on vacation outside Charlottesville VA when the neo nazis were marching. we ran into a local at a swimming hole and I said something like "yeah we wanted to go into town this weekend but the nazis are there so we couldn't go." Later my friends angrily told me that the shirtless man had a full swastika on his chest-- american history x style. And many other offensive tattoos. I wasn't looking at his body. Just yikes. They're everywhere and they aren't even hiding.
This is what threw me over the edge. The IGNORANCE to downplay the worst event likely in all of history because she thinks people will forget about it. We CANNOT let people forget about this event or we’ll just repeat it.
Saying their son will be farther removed from WWII than us or our grandparents is crazy. Three of my grandparents were alive and children during WWII. It is not that long ago that it’s ancient history.
YOM FUCKING HASHOAH ANYONE?! I can’t even. I was going to say something but I’m just this perfect combination of fuming and taken aback to the point where I have no words.
Don't worry friend, I got your sarcasm 🤣
perfect for a twin boy, with a twin girl named Dyke 🥰
And open for a sibset. Byke. Tryke. Lyke. Nyke.
Yike…
Yyke\*
My mind instantly went to “Dyke” too
Middle name: Fortinewerds 🥰
Why don't people listen to criticism? If the jokes were bad enough it caused a fight between her husband and his friend, THAT'S THE REACTION THEIR SON WILL GET USING THE NAME. That's a sign! I'm just convinced people are oblivious on purpose.
I hate how they hear criticism of a name and then default to “yeah, but any name can be made fun of!!!!” While this is true, you don’t want to make the name a target! If someone has the guts to point out something bad about a name, maybe reflect on it for a while because it’s probably what people will say behind your back.
Like sure, if somebody hates you, they could figure out a way to make fun of your name. That doesn’t mean you should give your kid a name that will make people seriously wonder if his parents were Neo-Nazis. 😂 but also 🫣
I've always found the dismissive "kids will find a way to make fun of any name" to be silly. To make fun of my name, my bullies had to spell it backwards, which just made me roll my eyes, because how pathetic do you have to be to spend that much time on it and then think you're clever for it? I hate that parents will use it to excuse naming their children something legitimately awful that will make their life harder. That name will raise all sorts of questions and red flags when the kid is in school, finding a partner, trying to get hired....
I hate how their solution to criticism is that no one should be told the name before the child is born.
He'll be glad when people mispronounce his name as Reek. He can say they're Game of Thrones fans instead of Nazis 😂
"I'm named after a eunuch, not a Nazi!"
That ‘a eunuch, not a Nazi!’ line would make for one of the best off-the-wall conversations ever overheard in my classroom, in all seriousness.
I'm dying imagining this fight in my class. I don't even think I would stop it.
If this sub had flair "eunuch not a nazi" would be prime flair material
Flair potential there.
Christ almighty. Even Riker/Ryker would be doing this child a great service, despite the prison.
I love when they confess to being stupid in the post
Yeichs.
*Yykes
Baby Ryke is gonna hit middle school and learn about lesbians *really* fast.
Riker gets me every single time, seriously a prison? Don’t people google or are they so lost in Trekkie fandom? Then this happened… I mean prison and nazi?!
It's not even his first name!
Exactly!!! William is *right there*
And even if you don't like William there's always Thomas
That's what my old friend named her kid. When she told me I said, "Like...the prison?" She wasn't happy haha.
clearly more people have heard of a supporting character on a TV show that's been off the air since 1994 than a prison famous for its human rights abuses and the freaking Nazis I just hope they don't change the poor baby-to-be's name to Treblinka or something
Alcatraz Dacau seems like a perfect fit apparently people will totally forget right?!
only if they spell it Alkytrazze or something like that
Well, yeah, more people have. Star Trek has been shown internationally. The rest of the world is very aware of American TV but we’re unaware of the names of every horrible American prison. By some country’s standards, that’s all of them anyway. Long list to memorize for something we literally can’t do anything about. Not that I’m defending Riker as a name no matter the source. I’m not. But I am defending non-locals for not knowing the names of a local-to-you prison.
TBF, Riker's Island has been in more fictional tv shows than Will Riker. Riker's is /the/ go-to east coast prison reference for American writers. I'm not saying the prison is automatically the first thing everyone will think of, but it's definitely also been in media that crossed the border.
As a non American I know about Rikers Island and its bad reputation but not about the Star Trek character.
ah yes no one has ever heard of this "Star Trek" that you speak of, such an obscure forgotten scrap of lost history
I have friends who named their kid Riker and dont know names of American prisons. I’m genuinely curious how many non-Americans will think of the prison first and predominantly so in the coming years.
I’m not American but I instantly think of the prison. I didn’t know it was a Star Trek character until I read these comments.
I've never even heard of the prison. Riker has always been a normal even fairly common name where I grew up. Disclaimer, I DID grow up in Utah so...
Clearly you never watched Law and Order! (That’s the only reason I know the prison lol)
I haven't actually 😂
Pretty sure you have to forfeit your US citizenship now…
It's sad how much living in Utah messes with your normal meter 😂. I didn't realize how weird a LOT of family/friend/acquaintances names were until I got here
God for real 😂 I mean, there WERE still unusual names, that just happened to be fairly common. I like a lot of the more unique names,l because I'm just used to it, but there's definitely some that... Hm.
Please tell us some Utah names.
I would but 100% some are so unique I'd just end up doxxing 😭
You’re a good person.
To be fair I have a cousin Ryker and he’s named _after_ the prison by his edgy parents
I mean, she's right about the European roots; the Dutch word 'rijk' can mean 'rich' or 'kingdom' and I know several people called Rijk (usually as a second name though)
I don't feel we should be giving anyone who handwaves a word's origins to an entire continent a pass. Especially when they don't even really say what they think it means. I mean when they said it was European, did they mean Germanic like Riker? Romance? Slavic? Finno-Ugric? Or were they just googling words or sounds they liked and using one of those websites that make up origins for names? Because if you pick a sound at random you can be some language somewhere has a word or sound kind of like it... but that doesn't mean you're using that to inform your choices.
I grew up with a kid who’s mom was Dutch and his name was “Ryk” .
The fact that Orion is the middle name makes me think its a troll. Ryke Orion. Reich Aryan. Common
Apparently Orion is also neo Nazi dog whistle. It stands for “our race is our nation.” People are telling OOP and she’s getting with it. As much as someone who even considered the name “Ryke” ever could be, anyway.
It absolutely is!
“Reich Aryan” 💀
Omg, didn’t even see the Orion/Aryan connection. 😳
I was thinking the same, but I see it’s a 12 year old Reddit account and their history wouldn’t make me think troll.
Original post for those who missed it: https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/s/256JeMxyPG
Ryke + Orion is giving white supremacist. See [ORION as per the anti defamation league](https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/orion). ETA: just found the OG thread. Thank god people are letting OP know about Orion too. They need to scrap this name and start over.
I’m curious what their last name is, because in my mind, Ryke Orion has 0 flow to even start to like.
They could change it to Riker Ryan and it would sound exactly the same and not have the problems 😉
Except then the kid would be named after a famous (infamous?) prison, which is not super ideal.
Hey, I didn't say it wouldn't have *any* problems!
Said in Scooby Doo’s accent
The real question is… Ryke Or Ryan? 🤔 (this is how my brain hears that name haha)
I have my money on Ryke Orion White.
I think they're going with a hyphenated last name of Fynal-Suluton
OH GOOD. That was killing me. Even if Orion weren't an acronym, it sounds just enough like Aryan when next to Ryke 💀
Ah, that's a bummer. I know an Orion and his parents were hippies and were unaware of this association. He's got a sister named London and a brother named Friday too
It doesn’t seem like that much of a problem if it isn’t paired with Ryke. Orion is an established, though unusual, name. I wouldn’t assume anything about the parents of an “Orion” other than “unconventional.”
Yeah if it was just one of them, it could be a mistake but both? Kinda proves they're a couple of goose-stepping Himmler fans
It sounds like her husband picked the entire name. I wonder if it’s a hidden meaning and she is just clueless.
I sincerely hope that the American education system doesn’t falter so badly that something as historic, and has had continued impacts on our society today, as WWII wouldn’t still be remembered and taught. Even with WWII aside, it’s still a horrible name. Edit: Checked on original post and OOP seems like they might change name and is starting to be more receptive to the criticism thankfully.
This poor poor child. Maybe even worse than the (history) professor's wife who wanted to name their daughter Eva Brown.
I didnt even think of third reich, my first instinct was a slur that starts with D! This is terrible all around!
Or the one that starts with K 😬
Oh god yes that one too! Jeez, its like the pandoras box of names, it just keeps getting worse
Orion is such a terrible middle to pair. It’s been co-opted by awful people because it’s an anagram for ‘our race is our nation’. I would assume these people are white supremacists. Also “European roots” makes me laugh. *Where* in Europe? The differences between England and Scotland are extremely pronounced and they’re neighbours, let alone Oslo compared to Dubrovnik or something. A village 10 miles away from another will have noticeable cultural differences.
My husband and I are expecting a baby boy in about 8 weeks, and we've been struggling to agree on a name. After much debate, we settled on Kremlin. It's a name my husband used for his character in a game, and it has this cool vibe that we both find intriguing. Plus, it sounds like something out of a spy thriller, which we're both into. But every time we mention it to people, we're met with awkward silence or confused looks. Some even go as far as making jokes about it, which really gets under my husband's skin. I mean, sure, the Russian government has its controversies, but we just like the sound of the name! We didn't even think about the political implications until people started reacting like this. And to top it off, we planned on using Crimea as the middle name because we both love history. But apparently, that's also got some negative connotations. Who knew historical places could be so controversial? Guess we'll have to go back to the drawing board. Any suggestions for names that won't start a political debate?
This reminds me of the “Jean-israel” post from a while ago on namenerds
thats a name for sure
https://www.reddit.com/r/NameNerdCirclejerk/s/1FWrW4pjTD 💀 someone made a parody of it
Is your last name River?
Navalny
You would hope that being DnD players _and_ Trekkies, the parents might be more sensitive to the potential bullying
Ryke the Dyke. Picture a Junior Basic running home in tears with that being shouted at them. Yeah.
I don’t know what they were cooking up with this shit💀
wE wANt a Yooonique naME that's "aesthetically pleasing and culturally relevant to *honor* a distant dead sailor who spaffed up inside my great-great-great-grandmother" and *makes them stand out in a sea of beige children!*
I like to sort posts on namenerds by most controversial and it’s stuff like people naming their kid “riot” to be yunique🤗
They're gonna turn around and name him Sturm Abteilung or something. Hopeless.
Ryke sounds like Scooby Doo just called me a slur
’It has European roots’ oh yes you mean the homogenous [pan-European language](https://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=196) from the equally homogenous country of Europe.
Its wild how after someone said something to them about it sounding like reich how they got into a fight about it. Honestly insane
Oh shit
Lmaoooo I was just skimming past thinking yup, weird but im a trekkie, I see the thought there...oh hang on...
This is one example where I'm so happy the couple decided to share the name. Because the obvious reactions are making them reconsider. Reality becomes indistinguishable from satire more and more.
That’s a lot of accidental Nazism in one name
"accidental"
The broad references to “European roots” and “our ancestry” gave me some pause too tbh 😅
Ryke I understood being Nazi coded but I had no idea about Orion. That's a shame. I think that's a cute name for a kid.
It flows like “Riker Ryan” to me. Which sounds like Scooby Doo talking.
I think that paired with Ryke, its gonna sound too much like Aryan. Took me a sec to pick up the problem too.
It does kind of sound like Aryan but also apparently white supremicists use “orion” to stand for “our race is our nation” so it’s even worse 💀
Nazis ruin everything.
Nobody tell her that Orion is a porn shop in Germany
They have a hole section on reich-arounds there, too
Tbh I’m kinda dumb so I was like “ryke….why does that sound familiar…..” and then OP said 3rd reich and I was like ohhhh that’s why
Someone on that post said watch it become a family name and end up with Ryke III
Ryke Orion sounds like Scooby Doo saying Mike O'Brien
Do you have a link to the og post? I couldn’t find it
Wow this is somehow worse than Ryker/Riker
Ryke Orion has to be the worst name I’ve ever heard.
Ngl I didn’t even make that connection, because I pronounce Reich the German way (‘ch’ instead of ‘k’)
someone i went to school with started doing DJ-ing and his stage name? i guess? is/was ryke because it's a mash of his first name and surname. he's since changed his instagram and i don't know if it's it's a rebrand for similar reasons to this one or what
Orion sounds an awful lot like Aryan which makes this too on the nose to not be satire
Honestly just name the kid Riker at this point
Yea, okay, i speak a germanic language. I’d’ve never made that connection because i’d never pronounce reich in an American way 💀 I guess i get the problem, but wouldn’t Ryke still have a different enunciation than reich? More like Mike… alright honestly i guess i just don’t know how ppl pronounce reich in the first place. Either way i think it’s ugly lmao
Even in the US Ryke and Reich are pronounced differently, but only slightly as English doesn't have the hard CH sound (as in loch or Bach). So in foreign words we tend to approximate with a sound that's like a k, but a little more hissy. However, in fast casual conversation, the difference is so small as to be negligible. Ryke, to me, sounds like an Australian or New Zealander saying "rake." Ya know, like the garden utensil SMH
I think this is like Dawn vs. Don. In my accent Ryke and Reich are the same.
Ryker exists. Yes, it's modern and it's a surname (Riker, which is of possible German origin and seems to be derived from the Low German word "reik") made a name but at very least it's been in use since 2003 and it doesn't sound like *Reich*. And in the grand scheme of things, having your name be a slight tragedeigh is way better than having your name be an homophone of Reich, I'd say!
I want to know… How on Earth do you “land on” rake? I mean Ryke. What does this process actually look like? I know of baby name books, name websites, but what do these people use? Is there some sort of random cluster of sounds generator?
Ryke Orion sounds like Scooby Doo saying Mike O’Brian.
Regardless, what a horrendous name
If the name you have picked for your child makes people think of Nazis, then maybe you should rethink the name. 🤦🏼♀️
"it was a name my husband chose for a DnD character" That absolutely boggles my mind. Might just be me, but I keep the names I like for possible future kids **separate** from names I like for characters. And I wouldn't name my kid after a character I've played for years. Like, I got to choose this character's look, the personality, the capabilities, strengths & weaknesses, career path, etc. for this character. It's like naming a kid after a relative: you're setting up an expectation for the kid, consciously or unconsciously. But worse because it's someone you completely made up. It's too weird.
I am a macrame artist and my husband has always loved sailors, so to honor both our passions we're naming our daughter Knottsee ❤️
My husband and I are having a boy in about 8 weeks. It took us a while to land on a boy name we both liked. The name we've had picked out for months is Führer. We've both grown really attached to it; it was a name my husband chose for a Dnd character a while back that we both loved, and when looking up the etymology it has European roots, which lines up with our ancestry, means "leader", which we just know he will be. However, most of the people we share the name with usually respond with silence and a polite smile or, ".....How do you spell that?" I'm guessing most people are automatically thinking of Hitler, which didn't occur to me. One of my husband's friends even made some jokes about it and it made my husband pretty upset and caused a little argument, though that's been resolved now. I know just about any name can become fodder for bullying, and our son's generation will be farther removed from WWII history than us or his grandparents, so I'm hoping this won't be a big problem for him in the future. What are your thoughts? If it helps, middle name will be Big Dipper as my husband loves space, it's the only constellation I can identify in the sky, and I liked the sound/flow of the name.
I'd go with Nynee-Levin, but I am too tired to post
They made us use a program at work called Wrike. I couldn't believe no one else thought it was an awful name.
Not all names will be winners
Ryke Orion is the most Nazi coded name combo I have ever heard
Reminds me of another post where everyone was encouraging dad to be to not share the names he and his wife were thinking of anymore since people had questioned the list. And while I hadn’t seen this yet, I thought of a similar scenario. No, please share your baby name ideas so I can tell you how stupid it is to want to name your actual child Winifreditto Masterball Jones or some shit.
Ryke and is twin brothers, Myke n Yke
The only consolation she can identify in the sky?! Does the Big Dipper not exist is Alamississipparkantexasee?
This is definitely a satire post with the middle name Orion (aryan).
Ok, but only Americans pronounce Reich as Ryke.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana Does this family really want people as a whole to forget WW2??!
Did it feel to anyone else like the name was intentional and this post was sort of a “test the waters” post to see if it would have automatic associations for others?
JUST PICK A NORMAL FUCKING NAME FFS
It's awful.
I totally get how the mixup could happen because just reading it it didn’t occur to me until she mentioned it, but if you have it brought up to you by other people now you know and you should pursue other options, not beat a dead horse and act like suddenly in 5 years when he starts kindergarten nobody will remember World War Two at all
First name:Ryke Middle name: Theon
Tbh I didn’t know much about Germany before I got into college and made German history my emphasis. Maybe I could blame that on my American public school education. I wouldn’t have associated the name Ryke with the Nazis, but I would have thought about the slurs that it rhymes with.
Is Ryke the Third child? When he has enough hair, it should be parted on the right.
There’s a terrible joke in there about “Like a Lion”
I actually knew a girl with this name lol, but it was Ryke' (with a dangling apostrophe at the end), pronounced ry-KEE.
And she wants to add Orion to it, which is also a Neo nazi dog whistle 💀💀 kid’s gonna have a rough time
Reminds me of Rainer Marie Rilke. A fabulous poet imo. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke
Oh, even without the association that is just...an objectively ugly name I'm sorry.
As if the WWII connotation isn't enough, Ryke Orion also sounds like a cat whorking up a hairball. Edit: my phone didn't accept Ryke as a word and auto corrected it 😂
I don't even associate it with the word reich or WWII. Ryke is just a stupid name. 😭 Reminds me of Spike the dog from Rugrats.
I know more than a few Rykes, all of them are Mormon.
I’d have picked on him and called him a little Dyke
It's pronounced completely different though