tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25734096.post8363096649436206830..comments2023-10-26T02:13:03.378-07:00Comments on Acting White Acting Black: #18 Why Do Black People Get Creative In Naming Their Children?James C. Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06268279457459050826noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25734096.post-79372055123519375912015-09-28T12:29:42.689-07:002015-09-28T12:29:42.689-07:00This is prevelant in my family. All my aunts and u...This is prevelant in my family. All my aunts and uncles have beautiful names, from Ella to Oscar, Faulk and Kelly. Then something changed. My cousins ended up with names like Marquita, Mae Mae and Chace. My grandmother was extremely uneducated but at least had sense enough to name her children respectably. It's disgusting what people do to destroy their children's lives. I am a corporate attorney and the managing partner even asks me why people do this to their kids every time we go on a hiring spree. All I can do is explain that the only thing that IS the interviewees fault is not having the wherewithal to change their name (because I assure you, if I was names Shar'quandita I would change my name immediately at 18). Luckily though, my parents gave me a Jewish name to level the playing field 😏)Ikan Helpuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09677052521245787130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25734096.post-42592410013259606002014-02-07T20:39:48.116-08:002014-02-07T20:39:48.116-08:00Other languages are fine. My rule is English spell...Other languages are fine. My rule is English spelling rules, i.e. vowels and consonants, for English names, etc. Think about how it will be shortened/abbreviated and what images it conjures. Jimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25734096.post-18095412565691041562014-02-07T17:51:36.804-08:002014-02-07T17:51:36.804-08:00I always wondered if it would be looked down upon ...I always wondered if it would be looked down upon to name my child something from a different language or culture other than english or african. I've always loved japanese, chinese and greek names and even a few german names. Names like Kureha and Galatea but I probably wouldn't name her Galatea because she sounds like a warrior princess. I just feel that having to name my kids stephanie and jessica and mark just don't interest me. What do you think? Are other language names ok for a black kid or should I stick to american. Black Dragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17015409555939436145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25734096.post-58516423446484938622013-07-08T18:57:39.298-07:002013-07-08T18:57:39.298-07:00this is probably because of SINGLE MOMS naming the...this is probably because of SINGLE MOMS naming their kids<br />There hasn't been names like this UNTIL THE EARLY 70s<br />De or D-anything for guys'<br />Anything-sha for the girls<br /><br />later, white women started naming kids dakota, sierra, stuff like that also the 3 C names: Connor, Cody, CalebAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25734096.post-56310233897190307332012-12-20T05:43:37.097-08:002012-12-20T05:43:37.097-08:00White people have also been doing something like t...White people have also been doing something like this in recent decades; the whole bit about stringing random syllables together and calling it a name. (Or, sometimes they take a word and turn it into a name like "Destiny" "Sierra" or "Dakota"). The difference is that these, for boys anyhow, these often end in a a vowel followed by an "n" sound, giving the impression that it were a gerund with the "g" dropped off". Also popular are ones that give off, for lack of a better way to put it, some old West or cowboy aura (like Dakota or Sierra). My sister has three children and simply made up the names for two of them. She would have named a boy "Taden" which sounds vaguely like an action of some sort, but I can't say what exactly.<br /><br />In the black community, as you note, there is also a random assortment of syllables with an eye towards making them sound like pseudo-African languages (as a longtime student of world languages, I can assure that they don't!)like Tah'akleen or sometimes Arabic. How and when did this start I'm 30; when I was in school, black students my age had names like "James" or "Dan". Sometime in the 90s, I started to notice that younger black students had those bizarre, made up names. Now I see ones that include apostrophes and sometimes aren't remotely pronounced as they are spelled-too many examples to mention<br />. <br /><br />While I am not in favor of these trends, I suspect it has something to do with each group looking back to an idealized archetype or past/origin story; a frontier or Western for white people and African heritage for black people. Except cowboys weren't names Gilten and West Africans weren't named Tre'kwoton. Tomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25734096.post-91532107276745349502012-12-15T17:39:49.523-08:002012-12-15T17:39:49.523-08:00James. Love your blog and I would love to hear you...James. Love your blog and I would love to hear your thoughts on Jamie Foxx and his recent comments. Are you on twitter?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com