Why is it certain immigrant groups don't give their children American first names inthe United States?

[Bullet Sniper]

Well as an children of immigrants myself, I have an English first name and I see other youth of non-caucasian groups in America or anywhere in the Anglosphere like Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, other Far Eastern Asian ethnicities, Latino's and Hispanics, Ashkenazi or Sephardic Jews, and maybe others have American/English first names given by their parents more often than not, just like their white anglo-saxon and african-american counterparts for the sake of assimilating into this nation's culture and society and being more "Americanized".

What seems to strike me as a bit odd and fascinating yet somewhat meandering is how immigrants from places like the Arab world, other Islamic countries, India, other South Asian countries, and Sub-Saharan Africa don't give their children any American/English first names like East Asian, Latinos, or Jewish parents do. I mean it made me think of that scene from that movie "Harold and Kumar: Go To White Castle", where one of the police questioned why Harold, an american of south korean descent, has an english first name, but Kumar on the other hand, an american of gujarati indian descent, doesn't, making him "less American-sounding".

Any reasons for this? Have we ever seen any famous or non-famous Indian-American, Arab-American, or Muslim-American or African African-American have any actual American/English first name at all?

[CSTowle]

Lots and lots of reasons, same for why they do. Some might be: wanting to hold onto cultural heritage and to instill that in their child, tradition, just plain liking the names they're used to, etc. And since Western European, mostly English, names (and of course Biblical names that are popular there and elsewhere in the Western world) have had a pretty good run I think that maybe it's a good thing. I go by Towle most of the time because I'm friends with several people named Chris. They also tend to go by last names/nicknames when in the same room.

[t hedge coke]

Because white people have a hard time pronouncing Mato Wakita correctly.

[KOSLOX]

Because some people think names like Skyler, Ashton, and Jamie sound just as silly as Euro-American's think Kulap, Sanjeeda, or Chioma sound.

[Spike-X]

Why should they?

[dzub]

American names like .. Geronimo? Hiawatha? Sitting Bull?

[Username taken]

Why should they?

Exactly.

Why should they?

[Spike-X]

Exactly.

Why should they?

Exactly .

[Rahul]

Exactly .

Why should they? Exactly!

[Spike-X]

Why should they? Exactly!

This guy gets it.

[Detox]

Why should they?

Because this is America, home of the land and free of the ....nevermind...I got nothin.

[DrNewGod]

Because Anglo-Euro culture is still dominant in the US, but not the degree that once it was.

[Den]

Well, in addition to above points, a lot of names in some families get recycled too. If a beloved grandfather or some other relation was named Henry or something, then Henry is liable to show up again. So if a fellow from the Middle East moves to America , has a kid, and wants to tip his hat to his own dad, well, then it's not likely his dad was named George.

[Shawn Hopkins]

What's an "American Name?"

[KOSLOX]

What's an "American Name?"

Honestly, the only ones other than American Indian names that are truly unique to the North American continent are probabaly black names that came about starting in the late 70s. So maybe the OP wants to see kids of Vietnamese descent named LaDainian Nguyen (named for LaDainian Tomlinson).

Actually, that would be kind of awesome.