When did it become normal for people other than the parents to feel like they have a say in what a child is being named?

A man names his child after a person who was his mentor, and cared for him. That sounds like a really good reason to name a child, to honour someone you love and respect. Each time someone asks about the name, retell a story of how the 'original' Dmiriti helped and encouraged you. It will soon get people to shut up if all you do is tell others about an awesome person.

If people keep drawing lines to separate groups of people from each other, even having names be for a group by color, then will racism ever stop? Name your child after that amazing man who you loved and tell him the story behind his name when he's old enough to know it. Have a good life.

Why can’t it be cultural appreciation? Things are out of control.

I'm black and grew up with a friend named Dimitri who was also black and no one ever gave him a hard time about his name. Kids don't care

NTA. It's your choice to name your child as you choose. The opinion of others doesn't matter. Besides it's also not their right to criticize you. A lot of ppl name their children after ppl they care about or that have had a positive impact on their life. It's not like you named him Goofy from Disney or after the 7 dwarfs. It was after someone important who you cared about and cared for you. They need to STFU

Abram Petrovich Gannibal would like to have a word... as would his great-grandson, Alexander Pushkin.

Not their baby, not their baby to name. It's beautiful that he wants to honor his mentor.

I am so sick of all of this you can't this culture or that culture rubbish. We should be celebrating each other's cultures, sharing cultures , learning and understand each other. You don't lose your identity sharing culture, you are who you are. You just get educated on others.

I'm black and I know many black people named "Dimitri". People objecting are being stupid. Mind your business.

Be proud of your culture...theres a numb sentence that starts the next race war. You can be proud of a culture and still name your kid anything you like.

What’s with all these snowflakes that get their panties in a bunch over what someone names their own child?

This is why we can't have nice things... It shouldn't matter what race this guy is, and it shouldn't matter what he named his kid. Silly people, think for yourselves.

Ehh, I've moved off of making fun of names. Children rarely go by their full names, unless they're in trouble with mama, so Dimitri is a great name. I personally hate the middle name my parents gave to me so I changed it to "M."...so its not like this kid is saddled with this name forever. Or maybe the kid actually loves it. Who knows.

I wonder if Arsenio Hall went through this. (Arsenio is named after St. Arsenio, a town in Italy.)

DImitri is a fine name. However, Petrovich isn't a given name. It's a patronymic formed of the possessive form of the father's given name and means "of Petr" (in this case, the father's name is Petr).

What would be a „cultural appropriate“ name?

My only problem with this name is that Petrovich is not a surname, but a "father's name", that is, Dmitry is the son of Peter. That's why this combination sounds strange as a name.

Your child, your choice. Tell your family to go to helll with their cultural gatekeeping (or racism in disguise) and the faster the better. 👿

Unless a name is the actual word for a color, like Red, Blackie, Ol' Yeller, Pinkie, Amber, etc, Unless you are actually naming your child an actual color then I am sorry but no names are any color, They are words.

my middle name is french. i am not french, i am also not confused about who i am or where i come from

Completely NTA, but family pressure is really tough.

I do wish people would stop trying to color code names and languages. And also stop assuming Eurasia is completely devoid of nonwhite folks. And also stop caring about skin color in the first place. But I digress. Dimitri is a lovely name.

If it's about cultural inheritance or mobbing, I suppose there might be a shortened variation of the name that fits the culture, like Dimo/Dimas/Mitry/Mike ... Whatever sounds appropriate. My parents gave me a traditional family-name they did not like and have called me a much more up-to-date short version. The only time it is ever used is at some official business, or when some nurse struggles through the pronunciation while calling me to my appointment.

When did naming your baby become so politically, racially, and emotionally charged? Every day there is a post about someone losing their mind over a baby name. When I was a kid, (50's - 60's) there were about 5 choices 2 for girls and 3 for boys mostly from the bible. Everyone had the same name. Today when I meet a Debbie or a Kathy, I know they were probably born in my generation. Everyone needs to lighten up and let the parents name their baby as they see fit.

Whoever has a problem with the parents' choice of name likely hasn't seen the movie, "In The Name Of The Father" (Daniel Day Lewis). Names are only questionable if they're jokes or have baggage, if the kid is likely to suffer mockery. Dmitri may not be common, but it's not ludicrous. And I wonder how many Cubans were named Dmitri during the cold war (probably a few), which isn't the whitest country in the world.