Stupid "black" names...why?

[the_std]

Quillen Elisabeth

Zella Mae

I mean absolutely zero disrespect by what I'm going to say, as I like those names. But I don't see the difference between white/"acceptable" names like Quillen or Zella and Shonika or LaShonda. They're both non-traditional but I see nothing offensive about any of them. If white girls can be named Mason and Suri and Apple, it's very hard for me to see anything ridiculous about the names we seem to be arguing about here.

[Rageaholic]

None of those names sound nearly as stupid as "snooki". I know it's a nickname, but come on, snooki?!

[Tanasi]

I mean absolutely zero disrespect by what I'm going to say, as I like those names. But I don't see the difference between white/"acceptable" names like Quillen or Zella and Shonika or LaShonda. They're both non-traditional but I see nothing offensive about any of them. If white girls can be named Mason and Suri and Apple, it's very hard for me to see anything ridiculous about the names we seem to be arguing about here.

Around here Quillen is a common last name, but as a first name her's is the only one I'm aware of. Zella is a comman German/Dutch name (or so I've been told) my daughter is the third generation to wear that name. Beyond my family I've not heard it again in this country but I've seen it in Germany.

[HYHYBT]

It's not uncommon for a last name to be given as a first or middle name. My cousin's middle name, for instance, and the name he goes by, is Baker. That was our Grandma's maiden name.

[Food Lady]

I agree with whoever said the problem with the names in the OP is that they identify the bearer as belonging to the black community. The only thing that's difficult for me is that some names (names with unusual spellings or created names or whatever) are not phoenetically spelled. If the new spelling changes the pronunciation from what you desire it to be, don't use that spelling. The poor kid will be correcting people forever. Also, I generally think name meanings are a moot point nowadays. That being said, I once asked my mom why she named me as she did. She said, "You looked like one." Yeah, my name literally means white.

[DrFaroohk]

Reminds me of a girl I know named Ryan - while it can be a girls name I know way more guys named Ryan - she said her mom chose that name to help battle sexism she might have to face in the future.

[Lace Neil Singer]

^Sounds like the song "A Boy Named Sue".

I'm not seeing the logic here.

[Rebel]

Reminds me of a girl I know named Ryan - while it can be a girls name I know way more guys named Ryan - she said her mom chose that name to help battle sexism she might have to face in the future.

Having a unisex name or a traditionally 'male' name does work against sexism in small ways.

I have a unisex name. Most people automatically think I'm a boy when they hear my name (obviously before they see me). Because of this, I think it has helped me a little bit in the job market. It's very unlikely that my resume will be discarded due to my gender.

On the flip side, when I was little, I was told by one of my friends that I couldn't go to her sleepover. Because her mum didn't want boys at the sleepover. My mum actually had to ring her up to inform her that I was a little girl.

[DGoddess]

I don't know that they do. I will gladly cede the point if I'm proven wrong, but I always saw the term "African-American" as an invention of the white media, rarely used in real life.

However, I'm Canadian, so naturally no one here uses that term. I have never heard anyone, in the media or elsewhere, say "African-Canadian".

Most of the "African Americans" we have in my neck of the woods still refer to themselves as "Black." Not sure why . . . . but that's just how it is down here.

And speaking of "unisex" names, my first name is more associated with a guy than girls (even though it's been used for girls, only most of the time with an "ie" at the end instead of "y" like mine is.)

I used to be picked on incessantly when I was small b/c I was told I was a boy. One day (I think I may have been around 5 ish) I finally got tired of it and pulled my pants down and showed them what equipment I didn't have.

Never heard one peep out of those kids since.

Mom's reaction to that was pretty much "Well, that should shut 'em up then."

Of course, it came back to haunt me when I was 17 and got a letter from Selective Service requesting me to sign up, as it was addressed to Mr. DGoddess.

One phone call from my Mom to explain that I was, in fact, female and therefore not required to sign up for Selective Service and we never heard back from that.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't know that they do. I will gladly cede the point if I'm proven wrong, but I always saw the term "African-American" as an invention of the white media, rarely used in real life.

I missed this the first time through, but of the few sources I could check agree that the term was coined by the community to whom it applied as something that was less usable as a pejorative as earlier terms and was seen as equal to other terms such as Irish-American or Mexican-American, et al.

Most of the "African Americans" we have in my neck of the woods still refer to themselves as "Black." Not sure why . . . . but that's just how it is down here.

Likely for much the same reason as I call myself "white" as opposed to "Finnish-American" or even just "Caucasian." It's short and contains all of the information that the longer, more formal phrase would usually be used to convey.

^-.-^

[Lace Neil Singer]

On the topic of stupid names...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...baby-girl.html

[anakhouri]

My son has the last name of my husband's favorite author. Think Polish guy who wrote in English and everyone has to read a novella of his in high school.

His middle name is Rainier. I got to pick that one. Together it sounds like an explorer or a mountaineer.

I don't really care what people call their kids, just spell it so it somewhat resembles the pronunciation. Think of the teachers, people!

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

Also a Greek tragic heroine.

[Setsunaela]

My little brother's name was the bane of his young existence during elementary school, when teachers were sure you didn't know how to spell your own name. My dad named him Syth. He came home crying his first day of first grade, because while my mom and his kindergarten teacher had taught him to spell his own name, and he had painstakingly written his own name on every single thing he had to bring to school (folders, 3-ring binders, his backpack, his pencil case, his box of markers) per the rules sent out a week before, he came home with EVERY SINGLE THING crossed out, and SETH written in a firm hand above. My mom went up and demanded that she buy him a new EVERYTHING, and she did...
he loves his name now, and has said he wouldn't change it for the world, but it was a little difficult while he was young.

I honestly don't mind a small alteration like that.. "catherine" becoming "cathryn" or something, doesn't bother me too much. However when I met my co-worker "Jezykah" (Jessica) I had to wonder why her mom chose the scrabble-bag method...

[Skunkle]

Snooki is a nickname. Not that I'm a fan - I'm not - but look it up.

Rum, "Lavendar Blue" doesn't make me think of Lavendar Brown from Harry Potter. I think, "Lavendar's blue, dilly dilly, lavendar's green..."

As for the old joke about a black woman naming her kids "Male" (molly) and "Female" (fuh-molly), same with similar jokes about names like Orangejello and Lemonjello (Or-AN-zhuh-low and lem-ON-zhuh-low) and the black woman who tries to name her girl "Vagina" (when told what that is, she says, "Tha'ss not a vagina, tha'ssa COOCHIE!") these are all BS. Their entire reason for existing is for both parties to go, "Ha ha, black people are just born stupid!")

I don't really consider most names stupid. Yes, it absolutely WILL affect others' perceptions of you and, to a lesser degree, your perceptions of yourself, but bullies will make fun of every name somehow. I do say "most". Some parents pick things they think are adorable, and never consider the child's future. Some names ARE ripe for teasing, and I don't mean those pseudo-African ones; my mom's ex-boss, Jim Benz, and his wife named their daughter Mercedes. Mercedes Benz, yeah. I still don't hate it.

The names I do hate are things like Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii, which, in my opinion, are given solely to be shocking and outrageous. That's the parent trying to make a big statement, and doing it through the unwitting kid. I also feel irate over the Adolf Hitler kid's parents, who did that to show their white supremacist ideals and try to force the kid to follow suit. In cases like this, I would hope the judge steps in and... well, doesn't force a change from square one but, first, asks, "Why are you trying to give your child that name, and do you care whether his life in school is really awful because of it?" If the answer to the latter is, "No" it should be changed.

[Ginger Tea]

Deed poll probably see's alot of 'imaginative' names being changed as soon as the person is legaly old enough to do so.

Reminds me of a joke that I just can't remember how it all goes but ...

One native American to another, "why do we name our children after the first thing we see?"
"Why do you ask two dogs fucking?"

and the Terry Pratchett twin to the joke "one man bucket" the spirit guides full name "One man throwing a bucket over two dogs fucking."

But even with an odd name or the eleventeenth flying crow to the clan, atleast they or atleast the braves got to change their name via spirit guides.