Stupid "black" names...why?

[KnitShoni]

Because they sound so abnormal it's stupid. Seriously, it's like someone took a bunch of letters and threw them together and that's what they got.

Isn't that how words are created?

I don't really understand what's so abnormal about the names listed. If they had unnecessary punctuation, or were something like Lemonjello, I could better understand. But, Lushonna? Really? That's abnormal?

[Boozy]

Because they sound so abnormal it's stupid. Seriously, it's like someone took a bunch of letters and threw them together and that's what they got.

That's not objectively stupid, Greenday.

Just because something is not to your taste, it's stupid? No.

But that's America for you. Anything that doesn't appeal to the group in power is dismissed as ridiculous.

[IDrinkaRum]

Just curious, but does anyone shorten your name to Caroline?

Yes, I have been known to tell people to call me "Caroline for short."

[Gravekeeper]

That's not objectively stupid, Greenday.

Just because something is not to your taste, it's stupid? No.

But that's America for you. Anything that doesn't appeal to the group in power is dismissed as ridiculous.

Ok, seriously, we're going too far. Everyone's righteous indignation over this is admirable, but frankly pointless. Our names are a core part of our identity. They tell other people about us, our parents, our heritage, etc. They do influence our lives and the first impressions of others. That will not change. Ever. It's just the way the human brain works. You can rail against it being unfair all you want, but you're not going to undo thousands of years of social evolution.

So yeah, if you want to name your child some unique special snowflake name, you do run the risk of them having trouble over it later in life. That is a fact. That will not change. Period. So think carefully about what you name your child, as they're the ones that have to live with it. Not you.

Is it fair? No. Is it reality? Yes. Will it ever change? No.

Yeah...I'm missing which one of those reached that point.

Really? Any given one of those looks right at home in any given fantasy novel.

[daleduke17]

There's a lot of names at my work that just make me scratch my head and think "What the hell were the parents thinking?" One name has either two or three apostrophes in it.

Here is an interesting question, though: why is it more prevalent for black people to look at the list of US Presidents and name their kids? I've seen a lot of Roosevelts, Washingtons, Jeffersons, Clintons and even a few Lincolns. How long until we see a bunch of little Obamas running around? *gag*

When we were trying to come up with names for our daughter we had a fairly condensed list, at least for boy names. Girl names were a bit more extensive and included Alexandria, Cassandra and Caitlyn. I liked Alyssa but that would have been too close to my wife's name.

[Greenday]

That's not objectively stupid, Greenday.

Just because something is not to your taste, it's stupid? No.

But that's America for you. Anything that doesn't appeal to the group in power is dismissed as ridiculous.

No, because something just makes no logical sense it's stupid.

Maybe it's because you don't understand what stupid means anymore. Stupid doesn't always mean dumb/unintelligent/etc. anymore than fag means gay half the time or retarded means mentally handicapped. My mom has the same problem. She hasn't adapted her vocabulary to the times either.

[DrFaroohk]

With extremely regrettable results, unfortunately.

They couldn't go with "Laurina" or some other combo that wasn't one letter off from the word for a toilet?

That's my wife's name! But with an O instead of AU. I dunno why that's relevent but it is now.

[IDrinkaRum]

And don't forget throughout the centuries, names have always been considered powerful. There were those populations who believed that if you knew someone's given name, you'd have power over them. That's why, no one out of the village/tribe/whatever ever knew a person's real name, and even then, it wasn't used very often.

Names are powerful.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

They're so powerful that some cultures keep two names, one of which no one outside the family knows.

The public name is so you can blend into society. The private one is the one with power.

[Ginger Tea]

Lorina or Laurina are closer to Laura/Lora and less out of place, just as Antonio next to Anthony.
I go by Tony my middle name and have done since 99ish, only my brother, a cousin that I see infrequently and friends from oop norf still call me by my first name, I forget they are talking to me when they call out my name.
But Ive been called Toni (well that one is written), Anthony (with the th prounounced) Tonio and Tonito I don't know if Tonito is a similar pet name for the Polish equivelant, but I get called it by some of our Polish women.

Perhaps taking a name combination as sugested earlier to explain Latrina (I only ever hear Latrine meantioned in war movies etc) and then Laurina, maybe even though Laurina would combine both names more prettily, perhaps you might get someone who is adamant that their child should not get a "white mans name" so Laurina as exsotic as it is against Laura, might seem to white, again I'm just guessing here.

Barak I would not have taken for a name, its a typeo of barracks (which I might have miss spelt myself) and untill the presidential campaign, I would never have thought of it as a name for a person.
Morgan seems more like a last name than a first and I can only think of Morgan Freeman having the name.
Leeroy, this name aside from Leeroy Jenkins, I've only ever encountered with black men, Lee and Roy by themselves both.

One of the guys at work goes by either his middle name, or a totally different name altogether than his first name of Royden, I've not asked or I can not remember asking why he goes by the name he does instead as I would have no qualms calling him by that name.

But most if not all names brought up in this thread aside from Laurina would automatically have be thinking the man or woman in question was black, yet few if any having a grounding in african names themselves.

Mind you there are a lot of names that give you the impression they belong to white Chav's more than any one else, so it swings both ways.

[KnitShoni]

I guess my question is, why are only white names, or non-white names from other races, acceptable to you all? Why do you care what black people name their children? You don't have to like the names. But automatically calling them stupid because they don't fit into your idea of what normal is? If you haven't found people with stereotypically "black" names that don't fit into the supposed stereotype, you all need to find a better class of black people to associate with. There are more of us than you think. We're not that hard to find. I have Johns, Shirleys, Joanns, Mildreds, Monicas, Jonathans, Pauls, Bobbys, Cheryls, Roses, Jameses, Angelas, Lances, and more "normal" names in my family. They ALL dealt with that. I have Tanikas, Lashawns, Serenas, Aubreys, Demarcuses, and all those "abnormal" names in my family as well. Guess what. There are more people from the former group than the latter that fit the stereotype.

Going back to Karen, mentioned earlier: How do you think it would affect her to have people see her resume, think she was white because of her name, then come interview time, they find out she's black and hedge on hiring her? Having a "normal" name wouldn't help in her situation. And, if you don't think there are a lot of black people with "normal" names who go through THAT every day, you all have your heads in the sand.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Did you read my post at all? If so, then why lump my post in with "you all"? I personally think that stupid names are stupid names, no matter what race the person is who chose them. There's a lot of chavs with stupid names round where I live; usually mispellings of proper names; for example, names like Madysyn or Kaytlyn, which chavs call their kids cuz they want their kids to be "yoonick" but have very little imagination. Poor kids are doomed to spend the rest of their lives telling people how to spell their names.

My own name; I hated it when I was a kid. I grew up in a place full of Lauras, Louises, Sarahs, Emmas and Katies. My name was old fashioned, and didn't fit. Now tho, I love my name. It's still old fashioned, but it's unique without being ridiculous and I'm glad to stand out in the crowd.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Actually, Karen told me herself that the only real racism she's had to deal with came from a black owned and operated newspaper, who sent a black salesman to harass her every week about placing ads in their unread rag (it's her job to place ads). It came to a head when he told her that the only reason the company had hired her was so that they could pretend not to be racist when she told them "no."

I'm not saying racism does not happen. It totally does, and all the time. My friend, by her own admission, has lived a sheltered life.

Being a professional white collar woman with uncommon skills and excellent references, she so far hasn't encountered what you're describing. But she does get a huge charge out of it when she'd meet clients she'd been talking to on the phone for months for the first time and they clearly were expecting a white woman to get out of the car.

I actually do have another friend with the opposite problem: She was all set to take a job and then found out she'd been hired BECAUSE she was black. She'd been hired to fill a quota. This is another professional person who would rather be hired on her credentials. She ended up declining the job offer for that reason. Yvette, in case you're wondering. Which is pretty neutral a name.

I think the title of this thread is fairly inaccurate. I think we're fixating on "black" names when what we really ought to be fixating on is "arguably burdensome" names. Personally, everyone ought to probably avoid naming their kid something burdensome no matter what demographic they fall into.

[KnitShoni]

Your post was included because your post had the implication that if black people wanted to name their kids African sounding names, then why not just find a list of actual African names, as that would be "acceptable" to others. Never mind they'd get the SAME crap for having an "African" first name and an "American" last name (ask me how I know) because they "aren't really African."

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yes, cuz your interpretation of what I said is final as far as what I really meant. For your information, what I meant was that if you wanted to name your child an African name, it was better to search for a REAL ONE as opposed to one you just made up. The same would go for a Celtic name, or a Japanese name, or whatever. Please don't make assumptions of what I mean; it's really insulting when I mean nothing of the sort.