Stupid "black" names...why?

[McDreidel09]

Rummy, it's funny that you should mention the meaning of your first name. My boyfriend's first name is David, which means 'beloved' and his last name is another word for 'bullshit'. Now come to think about it, his middle name means "one who resembles God"..."Beloved One who resembles God Bullshit"...wow...

[blas87]

My boyfriend found out his name means "Little King".....ever since, he's taken that meaning quite literally.

I have a charm that one of my uncle's wives bought for me that says my name and under it, it says "Beautiful song"....I'm not so sure how accurate that is.

Oh, and in Finland, my name is a boy's name.

[Giggle Goose]

I swear, within the next few years, EVERY kindergarten class is going to have 10 or more Masons in them.

I know three women who gave birth in the past few months that named their sons Mason. I feel bad for the teachers who will have to distinguish between all of them...

As the article says, around the sixties they (I really hate referring to groups as "they") wanted more African-sounding names. I believe at this time it was actually the more educated, liberal blacks that sought this change.

You're right. This was in the "Freakonomics" movie. In it, there is a very interesting segment about how naming your child has a lot more to do with their future success then you might think. They cited one case where the mom named her daughter "Temptress" and ended up becoming promiscuous and was in jail by the time she was a young adult. But could that really be attributed to the name?

The movie talks a lot about what we're discussing here...definitely provides a lot of food for thought, even if you don't believe everything the filmakers say. Another interesting tidbit in it: the names that were popular with parents of higher socioeconomic status have migrated over to parents in lower strata as years have passed. "Ashley" and "Brittany" are noteable examples, and it's the lower-class parents that have messed with the spellling the most (Britni, Ashlee, etc.). I believe it was based on education and income level of the parents, but you'll have to refer to the film for more specifics since I can't remember off the top of my head.

[Eisa]

^Yeah, I always think of Freakonomics...

My name's Biblical. It means "princess."

[HYHYBT]

I know three women who gave birth in the past few months that named their sons Mason. I feel bad for the teachers who will have to distinguish between all of them...

Worse, when they're grown they'll be confused with the crop of female Masons ten or so years older.

[fireheart17]

Is it the little Mexican girl who walks around with a monkey?

Think "she may be teeny-tiny, diminutive, petite, but that has never stopped her, from being pretty neat"

[Eisa]

All I can think is Polly Pocket.

[IDrinkaRum]

I can only think of Angelina Ballerina!

[Rebel]

She's Madeline, she's Madeline. We hope you have it straight!
She's Madeline, she's Madeline. And inside she's great!


....and I just found out how lame I am


I love names meanings.
Just found out that my first name and 2 middle names together mean 'I love The Lady Light'.

And I have to admit, I love unusual names. My mum had a doozy of an Estonian name, but we could always recognize telemarketers because of it, coz not a single one can pronounce it properly. They would call her 'Oy' or 'Oooo'. Tut tut.

But I really only like names that have meanings behind them. Be it literal translations, family traditions, or even one that has special significance to the parents (even if it is a made up name).

[FArchivist]

Let me start off by saying I have nothing against black people and I know bad and stupid names cross all kinds of ethnic and religious boundaries.

Yet, that doesn't prevent you from making with the Klan talk.

Is it to make them sound more ethnic and african? Do some of these mothers consider it an affront to give a black person a white name?

Snark Answer: Well, you know, NEGROES. *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* I mean, Obama
, what kind of ghetto name is that?

Real Answer: 1) Because they damn well feel like it. 2) I could go into the whole thing about African-Americans and how existing on a lower socio-politico-economical scale causes inequalities in certain educational fields, grammatical knowledge, and other such items, but I have a feeling the effort would be wasted on you.

Regrettable because...people don't like them? Don't understand them? Let their prejudices color their view of them?

Thing is, they want to honor members of their family. And, no matter what they chose, there would be people saying, "What the hell kind of name is _____?!"

PREACH IT.

I really hate the phrase "that's how the world works." That phrase is used and has been used to justify so much crap, it isn't even funny.

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.

So does Chinua Achebe sound stupid to you?
Lucrezia Borgia?
Inge Nyetski?

Our names are a core part of our identity. They tell other people about us, our parents, our heritage, etc.

No, actually, my name of Andrew Ronald Michael tells you shit about me, about my parents, or my heritage. My name was specifically CHOSEN to blend in with white Protestant America. Andrew Ronald Michael is not something a Prussian or Lithuanian would even be closely named and says absolutely nothing about my heritage. Your assumption on this is frankly unscientific and unsupported by actual linguistic knowledge, thanks.

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

Except it does make logical sense. To educated people. To those who have studied the subject.

You sound just like the people I support at work. Computers are stupid because they make no logical sense. Which is wrong, because EVERYTHING a computer does is based on logic. The problem is the person in the chair, PEBCAK.

Who are we to call it ridiculous? We're people with opinions. You have your opinion, we have ours.

You are never entitled to an opinion. Yes, I can call your opinion ridiculous. Just like I can call the Klan evil. I do have the capability to judge, thank you.

[fireheart17]

She's Madeline, she's Madeline. We hope you have it straight!
She's Madeline, she's Madeline. And inside she's great!


....and I just found out how lame I am

You get bacon cookies and one free internets

For bonus internets, name the nun.

[IDrinkaRum]

Ms. Clavel!

I read Child Rum the Madeline books.

Is there actually a Madeline show?

[HotelKatz]

Is there actually a Madeline show?

There was at one point. I do remember watching it.

[lordlundar]

There was at one point. I do remember watching it.

You can find it on Jaroo.com along with a variety of shows. (I'm presently in the process of getting the Cinar version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz myself)

[Ginger Tea]

This one is more of an unfortunate combination, well it seemed like it to me at the time

Virginia Crank, I had to hand write a job letter to her and screwed it up countless times writing Vagina Crack and combinations there of each time.

and wasn't there a lengthy post inbetween these dora/matilda posts asking if eastern european names in America were not as bizzare?
well first off, they are genuine names*, just not regularly used in other countries.
Secondly, on average, how many generations down the line did eastern european first names last bearing in mind that their offspring might not stay within the community when looking for a partner, but for example a Polish-American born man marries a Polish-American born woman and they are both 1st generation with Polish names, would their children still have polish names or would they blend into the Rita, Sue and Bob too crowd?

I think it's only the Chineese communities that keep up traditional first names.

And if it was the far east that slaves came from and not Africa, would we be facing a similar situation where, unsure if they are Japanese, Chinese, Korean or one of many other nations, would they start picking names that kinda sound Japanese, but end up sounding like knock off electronic brands?

*given time alot of the more WTF inducing names will be more common place and we, or atleast the next generation, would not think twice about them