Kinds of names that African Americans often give their daughters

where are you from?

This seems like a big stereotype though, I've never met a black girl named Shaniqua or LaToya actually.

They settled on Erin, it was a girl.

She wasn't black though, she was French-Canadian. LOVED Tom Cruise.

We were watching some bad makeover program earlier this week where a MIDDLE-AGED (this is an important detail) black woman was going to get some major pampering combined with a wardrobe overhaul.

The woman's name? LEVITRA

To take care of any other threads of this nature in one fell swoop:

The Indians at the company were named Pamela and...Pamela, she was it. I think there's now a dude called Raj, too.

The Hispanics at the company were named Vanessa, Albert, Lucy, and Ally.

The Jews were Neil, Candice, Steve, Corey, and Mark.

The Asians were Joyce and Noelle.

The rest of the company was 700 white people named Cheyenne.

There was a Slate article a while back fretting about how -- thanks to racism and classism, I suppose -- names like these might work against a person; when Susan and Tamika send in the same resume, Susan get the call-back, etc. Hopefully it's obvious why this doesn't seem like a reasonable argument for why certain black people shouldn't have their own culture of naming if they want to.

I also really like the class spread within this kind of name. I mean, some of them have totally mainstreamed and middle-classed themselves; being named Keisha or Latrice is pretty natural. Then you shoot out toward a little too "creative" or just plain kinda ghetto, and a few more bells ring for Shaquisha and LaHonda and -- I swear to God -- Lasagna, this girl who I'm told went around clarifying that it was supposed to be pronounce "La-SANE-ya."

that wasn't the argument. the author of that article was saying that the kind of parent who would name the child tamika (which is tame compared to some of the more ridiculous names) instead of susan is
more likely to be from a diffeent economic/educational background.

"If two black boys, Jake Williams and DeShawn Williams, are born in the same neighborhood and into the same familial and economic circumstances, they would likely have similar life outcomes. But the kind of parents who name their son Jake don't tend to live in the same neighborhoods or share economic circumstances with the kind of parents who name their son DeShawn. And that's why, on average, a boy named Jake will tend to earn more money and get more education than a boy named DeShawn. DeShawn's name is an indicator—but not a cause—of his life path."

HI!

I'm not black, and unfortunately, I was hired anyway.

historically you can find such things (i.e. try to pin down blind willie mctell's "actual" family name) but i think a lot of that had to do with a culture where a lot of people weren't literate, and so there would be many spellings and mild variations in pronunciation concerning what was basically the same name (descended from the same slaveowner, probably).

since most people in america are literate now, i think it's fair to say that the existence of variations in spelling owes to... what exactly? a deep-seated cultural favoring (or tolerance) of such variations or creativity in naming children? i mean, among jewish children for example, creativity in naming is *not* prized, better just to use an old testament name: joshua, david, etc. but i can easily see a context in which you *woudln't* want your child to have precisely the same name as 1,000,000 other children. and hence something like "m'lissa" instead of "melissa" (that's an actual example drawn from my own experience).

and even the hiring/bias issues nabisco mentions rhyme with the concerns that if you "legitimate" black english (as james baldwin called it) then those who use it will be at a disadvantage later in life etc. etc.

have you ever met a white ivory is the question!!

People want their kid to have a "unique" name but they don't want a weird name so they pick a common name and just tweak the spelling a bit.

see: ARYAN JUSTICE

Yes, that was the butt-obvious portion of the article -- good thing Slate is free! But if I remember right the thing started off by raising the question of outcome -- jumping off from a naming study and the Freakonomics thing -- and then wound up by arguing that no, apart from the racism/classism resume-response thing, it was just the obvious fact that someone named Uniqua is probably coming from a low-income background to begin with. I guess you could describe this as something other than fretting -- like basically putting a cap on the fretting -- but when your article raises the question for fretting purposes and then handily disproves it with a fact that should be generally obvious, that still strikes me as some form of "fretting."

i'm named after my great-grandmother yetta. but my parents didn't want to name me "yetta" (for obvious reasons) and they didn't like any of the other names that started with y.

real names:

Sockarocka (no idea on spelling)
Pharmacy (far-MAY-see)
Clittoria

the thing is, lots of whitey americans have funny names too. Like all those WASPy types whose parents gave them surnames for their first names. Duh.

I once worked in a spot with both a Shaniqua and a Shaneesha. Boy did they not like it when you called one by the other's name. They were also two of the only three black women working there. The third was Diamond, middle name Unique. She has a sister named Precious Jewel.

Also, I'm glad the fact that boys get these kinds of names was brought up, too. Dude named LaPrince worked there as well.

I like when people have names that stand out a bit. I've met enough Mikes and Brads and Kristins and Jennifers for a dozen lifetimes.

We've got a new guy at work whose name I thought was Joseph - I got on the IT guy's case when it was spelled Joesph in the contact list, but that's how his mom spelled it.

I do find the naming of kids after prestigious consumer brands irritating though. I suppose I'd prefer it if the reach of that practice was a little further reaching. Why have twins named Bentley and Chaundon when they could be called Daimler and Laphroaig?

I think Paloma is Spanish for "pigeon" or some kind of bird.

xp Because before those were companies, they were family surnames. Not nec brand-related.

I mean unless we're talking about Nivea.

I don't know any Niveas, but I've met a few Lexuses. Lexii. Whatever.

Knaishia
Kanishia

"frankly, ladonica, you have not been real helpful."

all these silly names were in the top 100 baby girls' for 2005 (U.S. edition)

Hannah
Madison
Alexis
Taylor
Brianna
Kayla
Olivia
Abigail
Emma
Victoria
Morgan
Haley
Chloe
Jasmine
Savannah
Kaitlyn
Mackenzie
Sophia
Hailey
Katelyn
Isabella
Madeline
Sierra
Kaylee
Allison
Faith
Gabrielle
Cheyenne
Jenna
Makayla
Paige
Kelsey
Alexandira
Briana
Kylie
Trinity
Jada
Mia
Bailey
Angel
Brittney
Claire
Mariah
Miranda
Sabrina
Autumn
Marissa
Zoe
Jade
Jocelyn

with apologies to emma, caitlin and marissa

My cashier's name today was Tijuana.

dangerous... slightly exotic... smelly...

my wife had a coworker named shadonna who was an enormous alan alda fan

Prentiss Benjamin

Trivia

Daughter of Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss

My cashier's name today was Tijuana.

-- svend, Saturday, November 3, 2007 4:11 PM (Saturday, November 3, 2007 4:11 PM) Bookmark Link

I used to work with a woman named Tijuana. Everyone called her T.J.

We are thinking of calling out daughter Tequila.

have you ever met a white 3b0ny?

Hell yeah. I know a couple of grown-up white 'ebony's, and someone I know just called their daughter ebony. They didn't seem to be aware of the meaning of 'ebony' though. Not as bad as the couple in the congregation of a reverend friend of mine who called their daughter Coriolanus - they hadn't read the play. But a name is a name, I guess.

If they are twins, the other one will be called Champagne.

If it is a boy, we will call him Frank.

My other idea is to have a girl, then a boy, then a girl. The two girls will be called Scylla and Charybdis. The boy will be called Frank. He will be able to say, 'I'm the middle child, between Scylla and Charybdis.'

middle name furter?

WOWOWOWOWOWOW

BRILLIANT!

I got saddled with a funky, weird name, but eventually decided I hated it and started going by my first name instead.

Not as funky as "Yourhighness", though.

Jermajesty

oliver klothsoff

I once had an African customer named Pr1ncess K1ng.

According to my mother, I was going to be named Layla, but my dad said it was "too black". First of all, fuck you dad!!!! I would have loved to be named Layla. Secondly, I don't think Layla is much of a "black" name, is it? More Middle Eastern I think.

Layla is a pretty girl name.

(as in, all the Laylas I've known have been goodlooking.)

I don't undertstand that, do you think some parents are like, "Uh oh, our baby is gonna grow up ugly, better not give her a pretty girl name"?

The name's cultural connotations have all been stolen and burnt by Eric Clapton IMO. Durn-a-nurn-a-nurn-anern chung-ching-chung-chung-chung-cha-chung LAYLA! DARLIN WON'T YOU EASE MY WORRIED MI-HEEEND!

xp

My main black buddy is name T1m Nels0n and he says he includes something about growing up in Compton & later getting a PhD in his cover letters so when he goes to the interview they don't get 'zomg this guy is BLACK???" shockah.

If you ask me Musically is way more the 'black name' stereotype than LAAAAY-LA yougotmeonmyknees LAY-LA.

The only black girls I've met with those names were from the projects of like ... Paterson, Passaic, Newark, and Jersey City, New Jersey. LaTisha and Ty-ria lived across from me in college and they BLASTED the most god awful reggaeton, even through finals.

I've only known black girls from the ghetto with names like that, but most of them have normal ones. The black girls from the middle class I've known have never had them.

I don't think it's racism since an obviously African name like Mbete would probably get a shrug "weird" kinda thing, but LaShonda would get an immediate delete for being "ghetto".

I wish that American culture would revert back to its ultra-Puritan 17th century historical roots in terms of baby names and so we'd have lots of friends with names like Jubilation and Repentance.

i think corporate sponsorship is the route to go: my kid would definitely be 'starbucks pinkberry' for 5k toward the college fund.

You hope. What if all you can get is "Vagisil Pepsodent"?

for $50000 i'd happily be anusol rogaine

make that $500000

'anusol rogaine' pronounced 'bill'

armand hammer really was a pioneer

"Yourhighness" pronounced "uranus"

I think I'd go by "Ness", or "Nus" as it may be.

I knew a Janelle, here in Ireland. She only ever heard it attached to others on Ricki Lake

Janelle is my sister's middle name.