this topic (and its corollaries) has come up a bunch in the forums…thought i’d share this article here:)
I would like to point out at least one very deep flaw in the posters argument. [name_f]One[/name_f] - The name [name_f]Porsche[/name_f] is a derivative of [name_f]Porsha[/name_f] or [name_f]Portia[/name_f]. 100 years ago is was considerer a “white womans name”
Two - names like [name_m]DeShawn[/name_m] are simply made up.
The argument was made by the author that people define these names as ignorant because they’re “black names”. I’m sure the author fails to realize that the names are just unfortunate names unto themselves.
The argument only perpeturates the notion its a black white issue when really the names are just dumb names.
[name_f]Porsche[/name_f] stood out immediately to me because in my life I’ve only known two people with the name [name_f]Portia[/name_f]. [name_f]One[/name_f] was a young black girl I went to school with the other was an ancient white woman who my grandmother knew. And they where both (regardless of skin color) blessed with the unfortunate name that means “pig”
In order for the “black” / “white” issue to really go away people just need to stop making a “black” / “white” issue.
Nice read.
Funny how names become unusable when they’re too associated with Blacks. [name_m]Even[/name_m] on these boards I’ve witnessed posters warn an OP that a name is ‘more common with Blacks’ or respond with ‘I’ve only known Blacks named ______’. My thoughts are:
- Why are you assuming everyone on these boards is White?
- Why are you assuming that a White person would have a problem with their child having a name associated with [name_m]Black[/name_m] people?
- Why does it even matter?
But is [name_m]DeShawn[/name_m] anymore “dumb” than Rykker or [name_f]Renesmee[/name_f]? I don’t think so. However, [name_m]DeShawn[/name_m] and other made up names get more negativity if they are associated with [name_m]Black[/name_m] people.
I think it is a “black/white” issue.
I Googled “Why do black people name–” and Google filled in “stupid names” for me, so I went with it. I quit looking after three pages of results.
I replaced “black” with “white” and got two pages in before I found a result that wasn’t about how black people name their children.
I replaced “white” with “[name_f]Asian[/name_f]” and got the same set of results, so clicked on a couple and found rants about how black people name their children with some token slurs to Asians as well.
An underlying question to me is why do we care what other people name their children?
There are amazing and ridiculous names for every ethnicity. I think people’s perception of what constitutes a “race-affiliated name” is what would make or break it, even if it is a great name. For example, my future [name_m]SIL[/name_m] really loved the name [name_f]Kira[/name_f] for a girl. Her husband vetoed it because it was “too black.” Really? What does that even mean? For one, I don’t think I’ve met or heard of an African-American named [name_f]Kira[/name_f]. Unless it is insanely one-race-dominated and would be pretty much offensive to that culture to use, I feel like this is a weird and racist reason not to use a name.
Nope, they’re not but I consider made up names “dumb”, regardless of what ethnicity they were derived on.
Imani? It seems to be pretty ethnicity specific but I know it’s a legit name. Raynell? No, it’s made up. Wystan? That’s pretty unusual but again, it’s legit (and Old English). Renesmee? No, it’s made up.
@nat108 - People mention what they consider to be a downmarket name because for some people, that matters. Even if the person the poster is black, it still matters to them. My mom used to work with a black woman who had daughters named Stephanie and Brittany. She haaated that black people would throw a bunch of syllables together and call it a name. Granted, this was over 10 years ago, before names like Renesmee and Rykker were becoming popular and it wasn’t as much of a “thing” white people did.
Interesting article. I think it’s a great point that plenty of other groups tend to use group-identifying baby name choices and don’t get the same ridicule & urban legend status (you do not know someone who knows someone who met a girl named La-a) and the reason is absolutely racism.
This made me remember a racist joke about how [name_f]Asian[/name_f] people were supposed to throw pots and pans into the air in order to decide their babies names.
Names are cultural identifiers and I am pretty certain that they are becoming less and less identifying as time goes by. Is [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] black or white? Is [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] a girl or a boy? Maybe adults feel even more uncomfortable with these less-familiar cultural identifying names because they grew up in a time when [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] was white and [name_f]Latoya[/name_f] was black and things felt more predictable and they rarely encountered names that were incredibly unfamiliar and now they’re sending their children to school with kids named [name_f]Djuna[/name_f] and Yahuda and Praislyn? I don’t know, but it’s an interesting topic.
[name_m]DeShawn[/name_m] is probably a surname name or an “of [name_u]Shawn[/name_u]” kind of name like [name_m]Harrison[/name_m] or [name_f]McKenzie[/name_f], right?
No. [name_m]Deshawn[/name_m] is just de in front of [name_u]Shawn[/name_u].
And De is a surname prefix, right? Like Mc. I think it means “of” or “the”? So [name_m]DeShawn[/name_m] and [name_f]McKayla[/name_f] are not dissimilar.
[name_f]McKayla[/name_f] is a creative spin on [name_f]Michaela[/name_f] and [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u]. “De” means “the” in Dutch surnames. It doesn’t have the same meaning in African American invented names. It’s just a prefix to make a “unique” name.
The two names are similar in that they’re both made up.
Someone shared this article before: http://www.salon.com/2008/08/25/creative_black_names/ and I found it an interesting perspective (if one that I have no idea how to go about verifying.)
The author compares these made-up names to music:
To me, this is the difference between a truly unique, creative name and the ‘youneek’ spellings, but all of those distinctions are pretty arbitrary imho. Who blessed [name_f]Katherine[/name_f]/[name_f]Catherine[/name_f]/[name_f]Kathryn[/name_f] but drew the line at [name_f]Chloe[/name_f] vs Klowie? Why do names like [name_f]Melinda[/name_f] (made up in the 1840s because people liked the -linda ending) and [name_f]Miranda[/name_f] (invented by [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m]) get a pass, but [name_m]Deshawn[/name_m] and [name_f]Shaniqua[/name_f] incite wrath?
And what’s wrong with making up a name anyway? I’d venture a guess that once upon a time, yours was made up, adopted from a word in common usage, or bastardized from another language (if not all three). I know mine was.
[name_f]Miranda[/name_f] is from a Latin word. [name_f]Shaniqua[/name_f] isn’t. It’s a bunch of sounds put together. [name_f]Miranda[/name_f] isn’t.
Backs up Casilda with flags and pom-poms
Totally with you on this one.
I read the article thinking it was going to explain to me that I was wrong and that names like Fo’nique were actually common in [name_f]Africa[/name_f]/another continent/country and that the people who used them were citing their own heritage in their choice of names.
It didn’t.
If the article is correct in suggesting that African-American people wanted to branch away from ‘white’ names then why go down the road of slamming a random group of letters and punctuation together and calling it a name? Surely it would make more sense to use traditional African names? There are thousands of beautiful ones to pick from which are still easy to pronounce in English.
I Behind the Name’d a few…
Adanna
Chidimma
Dumisani
[name_f]Folami[/name_f]
[name_m]Kofi[/name_m]
etc.
The problem with this lies in the term ‘made up’. My full name is Danish for Catherine; it’s not made up, it has a root. As does Catherine and all the names that came before her in her etymology.
When I say ‘made up’ I mean:
- Names that have been plucked from the air by combining a random group of letters or sounds that otherwise have no root/meaning.
- A spelling that is not traditional.
And to some extent -though this is more about staying power-…
- A ‘smoosh’ of two or more names.
What you mean when you talk about Karen > Catherine > Ekaterine etc is a name developing over time - you even go on to cite examples yourself. Names that have roots have not just been pulled from the air.
The problem with this lies in the term ‘made up’. My full name is Danish for [name_f]Catherine[/name_f], it’s not made up, it has a root. As does [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] and all the names that came before her in her etymology.
When I say ‘made up’ I mean:
- Names that have been plucked from the air by combining a random group of letters or sounds that otherwise have no root/meaning.
- A spelling that is not traditional.
And to some extent -though this is more about staying power-…
- A ‘smoosh’ of two or more names.
What you mean when you talk about [name_f]Karen[/name_f] > [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] > [name_f]Ekaterine[/name_f] etc is a name developing over time - you even go on to cite examples yourself. Names that have roots have not just been pulled from the air.
Also – Chloe is Greek. It comes directly as a transliteration of the Greek spelling, Χλοη. Χ = ch, λ = l, ο = o, and η = e. THAT is why it’s spelled Chloe and not Klowie.
Abena is a gorgeous African name. <3
I have a question. What does the author mean by “Anglo names”? Are they names used mostly by white people? Are they names from English/Old English/Scottish/Irish origin? Surely a black person is just as entitled to use a name like Matthew, Jude, or Adam.
I think this is all a race problem. I like certain “black” names per se, and I’m not black. People want to put labels on things, and I personally think this is just silly.
[name_m]Just[/name_m] my two cents.
I think it’s a combination of things. Partly stylistic - I don’t like many names I associate with black culture, but then I wasn’t raised in that environment either. It’s not that ‘white’ names are better but that we all have different tastes in names. I also think there often IS an element of racism, absolutely.
As for why African Americans don’t choose African names - why should they? I don’t feel compelled to pick a Welsh or Scottish names (my ancestors, although I am from [name_m]New[/name_m] Zealand) and I see plenty of other berries picking names unrelated to their ethnic heritage either. If you’ve lived in the US for generations I’m not sure there is a strong connection to [name_f]Africa[/name_f] anyway (although obviously I won’t speak for people I don’t identify as). As for heritage in the US, do we even need to go there? Not sure I’d want to bestow upon my child a slavery-era name. So I think the desire to find a culturally-specific name that most likely identifies you as a black American in the modern era is quite a justifiable one. And if you want such a name, those names you hate do just that. Like 'em or not.
i just don’t understand why do ppl get so involved in other ppl’s name preferences. I mean i like a name i don’t think about if its a black, white or asian or what ever name it is. I am not bothered by roots or meanings either. If it sounds good when i say it and i can imagine shouting that name out on the playground or writing it on my kid’s books and stuff then i will use it. If i think a name sounds stupid or i would have no idea how to pronounce the name just by looking at it then i won’t be using it. But just because it doesn’t appeals to me, someone else might be in love with it. But why would i care? If you love the name [name_f]Shaniqua[/name_f] use it if you hate it don’t. end of story. ppl should just let each other be for ones.
This is a naming site. Of course a lot of us care about roots and meanings.
of course but the difference is that ppl ask your opinion on the names allowing you to tell them what do YOU think of there names but when they don’t ask you and you just judge them on it its a different thing thats what i meant.
( i don’t mean you personally by saying “you” )