Stupid "black" names...why?

[DrFaroohk]

There's lots of dumbass white trash names around here. What makes it both amusing and dumbass is the ignorance: "Logyn" was thusly named because his mother actually thinks it's spelled like that.

A lot of them are soap opera names too. There's not many Joes and Mikes and Johns and Bills in soap operas...it's Garrett and Gavin and Greyson and Dorian and Sky and Starling.

[IDrinkaRum]

When I was pregnant with Child Rum, I ran it past Mr. Rum that if the baby was boy, we could name him after Mr. Rum. Mr. Rum said "NO". Because of the following:

There was Grandpa B.
Then there's Uncle B (son of Grandpa B & MiL's older brother).
There's Cousin B (son of Uncle B)
Mr. Rum whose first name is B.
And last but not least: Cousin Phillip (whose first name is B).

He told me that he wouldn't wish his middle name on anyone. It starts with a "Z" and is mentioned in the Book of Judges in the Bible.

Whenever I have to spell his name to people I just say "B, as in the poet" then people get it.

As for my name? I know I've told this before. But it's only 3 letters long. I had someone spell it: Aimieey. 7 letters. WTF? I don't have any I's or E's in my name.

As for Child Rum. We gave her a unique middle name. First name is pretty common.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Kink, I would say that those kind of preconceptions do not mean the names are stupid, it just means that people are prejudiced. Yeah, that prejudice is gonna be around, but why give up your heritage and the way your family and ancestors name people just because other people are uneducated about where the naming comes from?

Well, I would totally agree with you except for one thing: most of the time the names I'm talking about have nothing to do with heritage. And the excuse I hear as to why it's done is "because I wanted something that sounded African."

Why not embrace the heritage instead of playing at it? Why not find a bona fide African name that means something powerful? To me, it just seems lazy and half assed to make up something that "sounds" African because someone can't be bothered to find something that IS African. Either do it right or don't do it at all, is what I'm saying.

I respect names that come out of history and heritage and pride. Not so much names that came out of someone's ass.

And honestly, I'm gonna say this and some folks aren't going to like it. But here it is. When I worked, I worked in an office, in a marketing department, with my husband in IT down the hall, and the executive wing around the corner. I live in the south, and black folks are not rare here. so it's pretty even in the workplace here. Black women in the executive offices (one of whom was the grand mucky muck in charge), Marketing department, and IT department (again, one of whom was my husband's boss) all had traditional names. The most "ethnic" we got was maybe Tonya and Kesha, and those hardly rate as particularly ethnic, in my opinion. No, for all the names of the sort we're talking about here you had to go over to the call center.

This is the same call center some of you have heard me grousing about over at CS, when I was doing my "Ho Of The Week" project.

To put it bluntly, the Karens and Elaines were wearing business attire and working on my end of the building. the LaShondas and Mo'Niquas were all dressed like strippers and hookers and working in the call center, where evidently the dress code was not being enforced.

Now, why is that? I don't have an easy answer. My husband has this theory that names partially form a person's psyche. Maybe tthat's true. I don't know. Maybe the two groups are facing different expectations from their families, and were named accordingly. I'm sure this is a whole 'nother conversation. It's just something I have observed.

However, I will say that it certainly does tend to feed a professional belief that women with these sorts of names (and men, really) face obstacles that other people don't.

Am I against different names? No. Not even in the least little bit. I like unusual names. But I like meaningful names that dont' burden the person who bears them.

[Andara Bledin]

As for my name? I know I've told this before. But it's only 3 letters long. I had someone spell it: Aimieey. 7 letters. WTF? I don't have any I's or E's in my name.

There's a buyer for one of my work's customers that's named Aimee.

And color me surprised to know there's more than two ways to spell Anne/Ann. I really wish I could remember how that person tried to spell it, but I think my mind flushed the information so as not to corrupt the rest of the stored data.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

What makes it both amusing and dumbass is the ignorance: "Logyn" was thusly named because his mother actually thinks it's spelled like that

Even aside from the spelling, who the blank names their kid for what you first do upon turning on your computer?

If I were to have children, and had sole responsibility for naming them, I might well go with something unusual. Not by drawing Scrabble tiles out of the bag, or finding creative spellings of normal names, or using brand names or anything like that, but by going back to my grandparents' and great grandparents' generations within the family. One of my grandfathers, for instance, was named Goethals, after somebody who had something to do with building the Panama Canal, which was new about the time he was born. I've never met another Goethals. Or Grandma's sister Esteline (have to look up the spelling first), or their aunt Bertha... perhaps it's good that I won't be naming anybody, but they're almost as unusual as newly-made names, they're "real," and it's normally acceptable to name children after their ancestors.

[DrFaroohk]

Even aside from the spelling, who the blank names their kid for what you first do upon turning on your computer?

LOL! Logan, not login.

[Gravekeeper]

Fact of the matter is a really unique name will drive your child crazy later in life 9 times out of 10. That said, the names in question are pretty stupid, yes and I am not sure I have encountered them outside of Jerry Springer. Around here, black people are typically first or second generation immigrants and have names that reflect that heritage. Of which I assure you none of them are "La'Quisha".

But I live in a city where I am just as use to saying "Sukhjit" as I am "Steve".

The only time I can recall hearing an out there name for a black person was actually a few days ago when some dude at the bus stop was yelling at his kid. Whom he had named "Justice". Gah.

Justice? Really? Now you're wandering into Palin territory.

I have a resoundingly boring name despite my own heritage. If I had been named for my heritage.....yeah I wouldn't even be able to pronounce it mself. ;p

[lobo94]

I've decided that if I ever have kids, my first two sons will be named and reverse named after my brothers-an archangel and a giant-killer, later king. A daughter, I would like to have my mother's name, Juanita, as a middle name at least. Unusual names, I'll save for the cats.

One time, I clarified the spelling of Juanita, and the Juanita in question commended me for getting it right off the bat.

[Boozy]

A lot of them are soap opera names too. ...it's Garrett and Gavin and Greyson and Dorian and Sky and Starling.

I'm killing myself laughing here, because my husband AND his sister's name are both in that list.

They still got off easy. These were the "scaled back" choices.

I could name my child anything, and my mother-in-law would not blink. She's a bit eccentric.

[IDrinkaRum]

When people were pestering us for the names we had picked out before Child Rum was born, it drove me crazy! I came up with this answer:

"If it's a boy, I'm naming him Obadiah Farthingblitz Rum. And if it's a girl, I'm naming her Obadiah Farthingblitz Rum."

My MiL would give me dirty looks. Because you know, she was supposed to be able to accept or reject the names we picked out.

I wanted Child Rum's middle name to be her first name and have a different middle name. Mr. Rum vetoed it because: 1. he didn't like the middle name I picked out, and 2. he thought the now-middle name was too hard for people to pronounce and/or she'd get grief when she was older.

As for more than one spelling name, I didn't realize Ian could also be spelled Iain.

[Ree]

My daughter had a friend named "Candy", and I just assumed it was a short form for "Candice". One day I referred to her as "Candice".
My daughter corrected me.

The girl's mother had called her "Candida"!
Who the hell names their kid after a yeast infection?

When she came to my house after school, I had noticed "Candida" written on her notebook, but I thought it was a joke.
(The girl is white, BTW.)

My granddaughter's father has another daughter named "Elektra". (Now there's a stripper name!)

[blas87]

Elektra is a...super hero though, too? Any consolation to you at all, Ree?

Well, I tried

[Gravekeeper]

Elektra is a...super hero though, too?

A super hero that apparently looks like stripper. ><

[Dreamstalker]

Iain is a Scottish spelling IIRC (I had a Stagecraft teacher named Iain, he was a really cool guy). Mom tells me that my name could have been Thor if I was a boy (and here I'd been thinking that was dad's idea). I don't think anyone in my family would have been able to pronounce or spell a truly ethnic first name (Slovak/Irish/Polish/something else).

I see the Scrabble-esque names around here too. One of the local news channels seems to have a thing for finding bystanders with the weirdest names...I'm all for the names that have a bonafide cultural explanation, but the ones borne from ignorance/wanting to be "unique"? Please. Every once in awhile when I complain about a bizarre one, mom likes to torture me with the examples of what my name could have been if she was the "unique" sort.

[Ree]

Well, here's an idea: