How White People Subtly Reinforce White Supremacy When They Laugh at Black Names

[gollygee]

I haven't heard anyone make a joke like this for quite a while, so either it's not as common as it used to be, or I'm better about choosing who I hang out with than I was when I was young. Have you heard this kind of thing? Recently?

http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09/white-people-black-names/

Make no mistake. This is racist behavior. We are emphasizing the otherness of an entire group of people to put ourselves over and above them.

It’s bigoted, discriminatory, prejudicial, and just plain not cool.

What’s wrong with black names anyway? What about them is so unacceptable?

We act as if only European and Anglicized names are reasonable. But I don’t have to go far down my rosters to find white kids with names like Braelyn, Declyn, Jaydon, Jaxon, Gunner, or Hunter. I’ve never heard white folks yucking it up over those names.

[Scootaloo]

1. You've never heard a white person laugh at a white kid getting saddled with "Aeshlynne"?

Maybe you don't know us as well as you presume to

[gollygee]

3. I didn't write this

but I know the unusual spelling name trend you're talking about.

Edit: I also recall a few threads making fun of Sarah Palin's kids' names.

[SusanCalvin]

2. OMG, what idiots was that article about?

You ask them, you do your best, and you ask them to continue to correct you until you've got it. What's hard?

Which is what the author was actually saying, I think, upon further perusal.

You call people what they want to be called. You want to spell it "Smith" and pronounce it "Jones," I'm in.

[hfojvt]

18. almost nobody calls me what I want to be called

it kinda irks me, and there seems to be nothing I can do about it.

People are probably NOT trying to be rude or disrespectful, but I really just do not get it.

Who knows, I probably do the same thing myself. When somebody is David, it is hard to not call them Dave. When they are William, they become Will or Bill.

My name is Thomas. It says so right on the birth certificate. I introduce myself "hello, my name is Thomas" It's on my name tag.

They come right back with - TOM.

Uhm, hello, do you not suppose that IF I wanted to be called TOM, that I could have introduced myself AS Tom? Ya think?

But people do not seem to think. I recently got a message on my facebook page. The one where I am listed as Thomas. It began "Are you the Tom ..." Again, people, if I wanted you to call me Tom, I could have written that on my facebook page.

I guess I am going to have to start chopping off the end of everybody else's name. Call me Tom and I am taking off the last syllable of your name. It's only fair.

Probably Mr. Brady is right though, the name works better with a little bit less air in it.

Oh, and my last name only has 4 letters in it, but almost nobody can pronounce it right, especially now.

[SusanCalvin]

21. I completely understand. Call people what they want to be called. Period. nt

[roguevalley]

39. I know someone actually named Allison Wonderland. Some parents are

crazy. That being said, I don't laugh at anyone's name. Laughing at black names is racism. I think people who don't have much want their kids to have grand names, names that are their own choosing and design. I don't understand people who mock others. Been on the receiving end and I don't like it.

[SusanCalvin]

42. Completely agree about the reason, IMHO, for some of the names.

Refuse to take the parent out on the kid, agreed. Or vice versa, if that's what I mean. It's bed and I wanna go to tired.

[snort]

61. I knew a Park Street.

[meaculpa2011]

98. An old friend, Bob Alexander, named his...

daughter Brandy. My last name is Martini. Have fun with that one.

Krystal Ball is a hoot, as well.

[WillowTree]

146. I knew a Candy Kane when I was a kid.

Wanna guess if she took her husband's last name when she got married?

[AngryAmish]

104. In my hometown the was a Crystal Clear.

Stage mother.

[brer cat]

131. I met a woman who named her daughter

Merrijuana. Don't know whether she couldn't spell or just was being cute. I didn't laugh but I did roll my eyes. She was white, btw.

[Starboard Tack]

159. I love Allison

Been to see her play several times in Austin. Brilliant name she has. I didn't know it was her real name. Are you sure?

[AtomicKitten]

80. I get that.

My first name is Elizabeth. I marvel at the variations people feel free to use - Liz, Lizzy, Beth. I go by none of those and nobody ever asks.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

107. I have a

friend named Thomas but he prefers Tom now because in school the kids teased him by calling him 'Dumbass'.
What was worse is his last name is Deppensmith so they would call him "Dumbass Stepinshit".
Edit: I recall they also used "Dippinshit" it has been a few decades since I thought about it.

Kids can be cruel.

But anyway, Thank You for reminding me to give him a call since I haven't talked to him in awhile.

[libodem]

127. People should respect what name you prefer

I have different friends with derivations of Jennifer.
Some are Jenn's, some are, Jenny's and some are Jennifer's.

I knew a Judith who definitely was NOT a Judy. It happens.

[arcane1]

152. My last name is two common English words mashed together, and it ALWAYS mispronounced

My going theory is that they can't believe it would really be pronounced that way

[Humanist_Activist]

176. While doing customer service, I ran into this last name: Bookstore.

Yes, pronounced and spelled exactly like that, I really want to know how that became a last name.

[arcane1]

178. At least those words make sense together :)

[Humanist_Activist]

184. True, now allow me to go on a mini-rant about my last name, Scots-Irish, starts with Mc,

no one seems to understand that there are no spaces in it, yet yes, the third letter is capitalized, thank you very much. Never any consistency, on my Birth Certificate, there's no space, on my driver's license, there's no space between "Mc" and the rest, yet half the mail I get and any time people put it in a computer, it has a space in it. Or no capitalization after the M, its annoying.

Oh, and while on the subject, computers and names with apostrophes in them, oh my fucking god. See, in the past, apostrophes caused computer conniption fits, so were avoided, this means "O'Brien" becomes "Obrien" or "O Brien", etc. Well, nowadays, computers are smarter, and we supposedly don't have these issues any more, but I still come across the names entered in incorrectly. Its just more work for me. Not to mention sometimes, when many of these people entered this country, their name's were changed to something "off" from the traditional spellings, which adds more confusion.

[RedRocco]

167. well at least they don't call you Tommy

[aikoaiko]

4. White people have been mocking creative white children's names since Moon Unit

But I won't deny that the chuckling over different black children's names has an air of otherness or outright racism.

I teach in high ed in Georgia and I meet a white student whose name was Krystal Kristen Karloff (not her real last name, but you get the gist). I assure you there was much eye rolling by faculty.

[gollygee]

8. I agree that people make fun of white kids' names too

but only ones that are just plain unusual. Fairly common African American names get made fun of. Names as common as Skyler certainly, but Skyler isn't a more "normal" or common name than DeShaun. It's just more white sounding.

So I guess I agree with both of your points. Yes, people do make fun of some white kids' names too. But I agree also that the way black kids' names are made fun of is different, as you said "an air of otherness or outright racism."

[Igel]

105. What's "common"?

My kid finds eating chicken feet to be weird and unusual. So do his friends.

Many hundreds of millions of people don't find it weird or unusual.

Thing is, the two groups of people don't interact.

"Skyler" is more common and DeShaun rare among the group of people that makes fun of "DeShaun" (although that one I haven't heard mocked, AFAIK). People can't be expected to know what's common among other communities, just what's uncommon among their own.

Names that are mocked among the Skyler-common/DeShaun-uncommon crowd include, usually, things like Moon Child, Ima Hogg, Aeh'nne, Joe-Pete, but also "white trash" names that aren't "Joe-Pete" like but much more AA-sounding. (The AA tradition isn't AA; it's rural Southern, and the tradition is alive and well among poor whites. In stressing the "otherness" of AA customs, traditions, and speech, one usually misses the commonalities it had with the whites that were similar in SES and geography with post-Civil-War free blacks.)

[Frustratedlady]

207. We had a set of twins who had beautifully sounding names, but you'd be surprised at the origin.

One was called Lemonjello and the brother was Orangejello. The teacher didn't point out the source and the students didn't make fun of them.

[lumberjack_jeff]

141. "Creative names". How about knitting a sweater instead? It's a lower-stakes expression of creativity

[aikoaiko]

144. I must confess that I wanted to name my son Bronco.

But my wife overruled and chose Julian.

It was a tough pregnancy and she earned naming rights.

[ScreamingMeemie]

222. Awww... I always wanted to name a son Julian...

But, my husband overruled and we ended up with a James.

[WinkyDink]

149. Dweezil!

[hifiguy]

157. The hospital wouldn't let Frank and Gail legally name him Dweezil

so they borrowed the first names of guys in the Mothers at the time and a couple of Frank's business associates. So his legal name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. When he found out at about age 10 or so that his name wasn't legally Dweezil he demanded that his parents go to court and change itand they did.

True story, per The Real Frank Zappa Book.

[WinkyDink]

199. That's one arrogant hospital!

[Daninmo]

5. i dunno

I have heard plenty of redneck jokes about billy bob or jimmy joe rob bob, etc.

[gollygee]

10. Well that's a kind of class based discrimination

so it's really the same thing, but just a different type of oppression - classism rather than racism.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. Watch this substitute teacher turn it around:

[dilby]

9. Just what I was thinking off.

I laughed.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

11. Oh you done messed up now Dil-beyh!!!! nt

[valerief]

29. A-A-Ron! This was hilarious. Thanks.

[SusanCalvin]

64. If you get this you get it. Period.

Obviously I need to go watch this series.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

83. I had a teacher rename me for all time just like in that sketch.

A school computer abbreviated my name from Joseph to Jos. and I had a teacher who insisted on calling me Jos. because that is what the printout said. By the end of the semester and for the last thirty years I have been Jos. (pronounced Joss).

[treestar]

88. Those skits are funny

Especially when the kids start to answer to his pronunciation.

[Bucky]

139. Hah!! Love this. Something similar happened to me a couple years back.

As a classroom teacher I love this. In anglo culture, the name "Joel" is pronounced with one syllable. First time I had hispanic student with that name, he corrected me after a couple of weeks of taking role. "It's 'Joe-El'," he said.

I saw the name on my attendance roster the next couple of years and started to say it right. Then last year I had a black kid named Joel. First day I called role, all the kids at his table giggled and he got this pouty look on his face. "It'd pronounced 'Jole'," he said. I assume it'd been a problem with other teachers in the past.

[RiffRandell]

175. Was going to post but you beat me to it.

Fucking hysterical! Have you seen the racist zombies skit?

Love them!

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/mkon4c/key-and-peele-white-zombies

[randys1]

180. These two guys, that show, is gonna go down in comedy history and royalty

THere is simply nothing funnier since Richard

[dilby]

7. Key and Peele

Did a reverse skit of this, black teacher saying white kids names, I laughed.

[Codeine]

12. We mock those names mercilessly.

In our home Jayden, Hunter, and Dakota are the source of much mirth and convenient shorthand for the suburban soccer mom set.

Admittedly we also mock some black names. My babe and I are kinda dicks to everyone, in all honesty.

[X_Digger]

16. A teacher friend of my wife's always shares funny new students' names.

Khym, Kyym, Kymberly are the three that come to mind. Pretentious suburban soccer parents, of all races.

"My special snowflake is super duper special, as denoted by the creative spelling of her name!!!11!!"

[SusanCalvin]

22. It's not the kid's fault.

Call them by their names and leave opinion out of it. Reserve opinion for behavior.

[X_Digger]

25. Whoosh. Perhaps you missed the context, but we're poking fun at pretentious parents, not kids. n/t

[SusanCalvin]

26. If you're sharing funny kid's names,

You are at least indirectly making fun of the kids, or at least not seeing them for themselves.

Whoosh yourself.

And I think your teacher friend should find a new profession.

[meaculpa2011]

99. I don't make fun of kids' names, but...

other kids do.

Some of these suburban white parents might as well name their children TeezMe.

[SusanCalvin]

108. Oh, I totally agree with the lack of judgment of the parents.

But I'm not going to express that with regard to a specific kid, and I'm not going to let kids do it either, at least within my hearing.

[X_Digger]

187. Oh my gosh, an indirect mocking! How shocking!

My teacher friend has been a teacher for 20+ years, I doubt she's going to give up her career because of your bunched undies.

[SusanCalvin]

188. Well, there's all kinds.

That's not the kind I respect.

[notadmblnd]

194. When I was considering what to name my child

one of the questions I asked myself was- what would/could someone who was reading his name on a resume take from it?

[SusanCalvin]

195. Reasonable.

[Freddie]

205. And will he/she spend his whole life spelling and pronouncing it

I think I did good with my kids Laurie and Thomas (a family name, he's fine with Tom).

[MADem]

52. I feel sorry for the kids who are named HEAVEN spelled backwards.

How in hell does one pronounce NEVAEH? A Bette Davis "Nevah!" followed by a whining "Eh?"

Who would be so cruel to a child?

[SusanCalvin]

59. Pronounce it the way the kid tells you to.

And don't blame them for their idiot parents.

[MADem]

201. Well...DUH. But at some point you're going to have to ERR if you're, say,

reading from a list or calling a roll, n'est pas?

Or is it preferable to ostentatiously spell it and demand a pronunciation, then write down the phonetic pronunciation for future reference?

FWIW, I've heard multiple pronunciations of that ghastly collection of letters. And yeah, I DO feel sorry for kids with that horrible name, and I of course don't blame them but I do blame their parents. That's a visible representation of selfishness if not cruelty, IMO.

[SusanCalvin]

210. After a while, if you continue to ask for correction,

and they trust that you are sincere, you will have it right. Are you saying you don't get to know them after a while?

N'est-ce pas?

http://m.

Marni Nixon:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marni_Nixon

[MADem]

212. Not if it's a one-off....not everyone is a teacher. nt

[SusanCalvin]

213. If it's a one-off,

You do your best in the circumstances, of course.

Never said otherwise.

And everyone is a teacher in some sense.

[kentauros]

84. In some of my writing, I use Persian names quite often.

Whenever I see this particular "name" I am momentarily confused. It looks Persian, but the closest in spelling is the girl's name Navideh (meaning "Good news.&quot

It's too bad parents don't know how to look up names online. There are some excellent resources out there for that, and they give people the history of the name, too. If you want unusual, go to the names of other cultures, instead of re-spelling existing names. Then it just looks like you're trying to win at Scrabble.

[MADem]

200. It ain't Navideh or Parisah or Farah....it's word salad!!!

I've met a couple of kids with genuinely AWFUL names who went to court the second they hit age 18 and changed them. The kids, in some cases, are smarter than the parents!

[kentauros]

203. I know; I was just making a comparison :)

And it's great when the kids realize what awful mistakes their parents made and work to change them. Makes me wonder how the parents react when they do that...

[MADem]

204. One person I know just didn't mention it...

He still ran around his neighborhood with an awful nickname based on the awful name, anyway, so there was no need to get the parents all upset. They probably figured his "work" name was an alias or a mistake!!

[SusanCalvin]

28. I hope you are not a teacher. nt

[cheapdate]

69. Guilty. To that list, add "stripper names". We mock those too.

I have some very racist family members from my wife's side. They mock names, but in a completely different spirit.

My teenage daughter occasionally insists she identifies as "plantkin" and insists we address her by the appropriate personal pronouns of her choosing. I occasionally insist my family address me only as "El Conquistador" or some such.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

102. I have, in the past,

filled out forms that ask for aliases or other names with 'Zarkon, Lord of Space and Time'.

[babylonsister]

13. I resent this. I'm white, and I don't make fun of anyone. Or names. nt

[SusanCalvin]

23. Exactly. nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

14. I find stupid white-person names to be hilarious

Jayden, Brayden, etc, they all make me think of Raiden (a character from the "Mortal Kombat" video game) for some reason; creative spellings of existing names are kind of hilarious as well, honestly--my favourite is all of the godawful illiterate idiot butcherings of "Michaela", which is a perfectly fine name, but, NO, we have to spell it "Mikayla" or "Makayla" or "McKayla" or something, apparently. Protip: don't give your kids a name you don't know how to spell. "Skyler" is pretty bad, too; it's "Schuyler", and it's a Dutch surname. Whenever I see someone called "Skyler" I can only think "oh, you poor unfortunate child, I'm so sorry your parents were morons". (And don't get me started on "Neveah".)

[SusanCalvin]

24. Yep, it's the parents.

I'm not real happy when a traditional spelling is mangled due to ignorance, but it's pretty low on my list.

[jberryhill]

31. Stripper names were big for a while

There was a plague of Tiffanies and Ashleys a while back.

And then a rash of Old Testament prophets.

Actually, I think those were both about the same time.

Kinda makes sense I guess.

[SusanCalvin]

37. Goes to prove a lot of people are parents who shouldn't be.

What are ya gonna do.

A) It's not the kids' fault. B) Global warming is gonna wipe this planet clean of humans soon, probably within my lifetime, and I'm old.

[1939]

118. You wonder

One of my great-grandkids is named Jeremiah (a good Old Testament name). He was born shortly after my brother Gerald (Jerry) passed from cancer. When I was holding him, I called him Jerry which my grand daughter quickly corrected me on with "His name is Jeremiah, not Jerry". Down that he is 2-1/2 years old, she and the rest of the family all call him Jay rather than Jeremiah. |

[jberryhill]

119. You can call your great grandchild anything you want

[SusanCalvin]

211. Call me picky, but I don't agree.

Each individual human being gets to say what s/he should be called. If s/he is not yet speaking, it's the parents' call.

[jberryhill]

214. You know what my great granddad called me?

Nothing.

He was dead long before I was born.

Edit to add: You're picky.

[Maeve]

96. In my daughter's school, there were 14 different spellings of Caitlin

Kaytlynne, Caitlyn, Khaytlinn....we stuck with the more original Irish version and that was "unusual". The name was very popular for that crop of girls. My own name was similarly popular in the '50's--I was never in a class with fewer than two other girls named Cathy/Kathy.

I vetoed naming that daughter Sheena Galadriel and she wishes I hadn't!

[Spider Jerusalem]

133. I bet none of them pronounces it "Cathleen" though (n/t)

[Maeve]

150. No, but I think one called herself 'Cat-a-leen'

Our daughter is sometimes "Cait" (pronounced like Kate) for family; rarely, I use the Irish pronunciation which is "Cawtch" just to mess around.

[smirkymonkey]

192. Yes, I believe in Irish the name spelled "Caitlin" is actually pronounced "Kathleen"

or I think more correctly "Kaitleen" or "Coitleen". The "lin" at the end of an Irish female name is pronounced "een". So Roisin is pronounced "Rosheen".

Seriously, there are few ethnic names more butchered than Irish names.

[Freddie]

206. My granddaughter is Makayla

My daughter and hub liked the name and wrote down all 49 spelling variants and liked that one best, I agreed. They were kicking around a couple really weird names so I was delighted they settled on a pretty normal one. She now has a little brother Weston, a wonderful name and easy to spell and pronounce.

[Nye Bevan]

15. I see much more making fun of weird white names. Example:

That’s right, Kharringtyn-McKhynleigh is heading to khindergarten where she’ll learn precisely how diffikhult her name is to spell, whether it’s kharefully written on a sheet of wide-lined paper, inskhribed in a kholoring book, or skhribbled on the backh of a plate displaying makharoni art. Ohhh, how Kharringtyn-McKhynleigh Khaybryn Sparks’s elementary school teachers are going to revere her parents. Talk about two intelligent people who know what’s up with the future! They gave BOTH of their daughters names that’ll take them well into the 2030s and beyond, which is pretty smart considering so much of the workforce is soon going to be replaced by robots.

http://www.stfuparentsblog.com/post/89388599392/yoonique-names-mid-year-baby-names-dump-edition#0ctehQIbjhIIDqb5.99

[Hassin Bin Sober]

50. That reads like a fucking eye chart.

[hifiguy]

154. That is an abomination unto the FSM.

What the fuck were they (not) thinking?

Hideously awful and "creative" names transcend racial boundaries.

[smirkymonkey]

193. Oh that poor child.

Her parents should be sterilized.

[RufusTFirefly]

17. "We act as if only European and Anglicized names are reasonable."

Totally. It bugs me when people who should know better roll their eyes at unusual Black names and seem oblivious to the underlying racism behind it. Sure, it occasionally happens with other names, but it seems the threshold for making fun of unconventional names is lowered when they're AA names.

Lady in Car: What are you gonna name it?
Alison Bradbury: What?
Lady in Car: The baby.
Alison Bradbury: (realizing she's faking being pregnant) Oh, the baby. Well, if it's a girl, Cynthia, and if it's a boy, Elliot.
Lady in Car: Those are lovely names.
Walter (Gib) Gibson: Elliot? You're gonna name the kid Elliot? No, you can't name the kid Elliot. Elliot is a fat kid with glasses who eats paste. You're not gonna name the kid Elliot. You gotta give him a real name. Give him a name. Like Nick.
Alison Bradbury: Nick?
Walter (Gib) Gibson: Yeah, Nick. Nick's a real name. Nick's your buddy. Nick's the kind of guy you can trust, the kind of guy you can drink a beer with, the kind of guy who doesn't mind if you puke in his car, Nick!
(Alison looks disgusted)
Walter (Gib) Gibson: (to Lady in Car) Oh, vomit. I'm sorry. Vomit.

[SusanCalvin]

60. Exactly.

Why is a table called a table? Because. I'm sure there's history behind it, but basically we call it what it's agreed to be called.

[treestar]

90. I don't think that's true

We accept a lot of names that are non-English and even pick up on them. I think "we" are getting falsely accused here.

[lumberjack_jeff]

19. If I need a scrabble game to invent a name for my child, I'm doing it wrong.

Of the tens of thousands of common (or at least phonetically plausible) names available, surely one of them captures your own sense of novelty and oh-so-uniqueness.

I don't think this a black phenomenon.

I have a nephew whose middle name is that of a very well known '90s band because he was born in the passenger seat of their car, and when the nurse at the emergency room entrance picked him up, that CD case was adhered to his back.

Sadly, his first name is that of a state, so now that he's an adult he can't even fall back to his middle name for credibility.

[jberryhill]

32. I think I know your nephew

Vermont Culture Club Jones! Yeah, I used to work with him.

[alcibiades_mystery]

47. I thought it was my old boss, Dakota Toad the Wet Sprocket Macintyre

A real sonovabitch.

[jberryhill]

51. I thought you worked for Guam Radiohead Johnson

[Art_from_Ark]

55. Idaho Lit Marlboro

[yodermon]

58. Wyoming Nirvana Jennings

This subthread has possibilities

[SusanCalvin]

63. Whatever the name,

I will call it as it is and pronounce it as requested.

[Bettie]

103. And never, ever

smile at the absurdity in private?

There are some names that later on I shake my head and laugh about, but I am polite to the people who bear these names.

My own oldest child is Conrad. I assure you he takes no end of crap for his "unusual" and "weird" name. He shrugs it off, because that's the kid of kid he is. No one even blinks at Devonni, Huntyr, Carlynne, Maddysyn, Kharli, Espn (yes, there's one of those in our school), and a bunch of others. There are about three named after some character in The Neverending Story, which was apparently a movie.

But the point is that I do sometimes smile at things that seem silly to me and that includes names at times. I'm not rude to anyone, I certainly don't comment to the name holder about it and I generally call people what they ask to be called.

[SusanCalvin]

112. Of course I smile at the absurdity in private.

I do many things in private that I would not do in public.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

68. Didn't he marry Kentucky Kansas Washington?

[jberryhill]

87. He might as well just tell us his nephew's name

We're bound to hit it sooner or later. It's like picking a lock here.

[lumberjack_jeff]

134. Jesus. The poor kid has enough problems.

But no, it's not "culture club"

[redwitch]

198. Wyoming Weezer Wishniak?

If I guess right will you PM me?

[treestar]

89. Minnesota Nirvana Walker

was his right hand man, also a total jerk!

[gollygee]

91. Culture Club is from the 80s

I'm going with Nirvana.

Hopefully not Toad the Wet Sprocket.

[jberryhill]

92. Yes, but they were ahead of their time

[gollygee]

94. ROFL

!+1

I loved Culture Club.

[redwitch]

196. New Jersey Jimmy Eat World Jones?

This is such fun!

[Generic Other]

218. Oh, I guessed it for sure!

Indiana Hootie and the Blowfish Jones

[LittleBlue]

20. That is one way dominant cultures integrate minorities. It happens in every country.

Little Matteo and Giovanni from Sicily hopped a boat to NYC and got picked on for their names circa 1900. Wanting their sons to have more social mobility, they name their sons Matthew and John. Chinese- and Japanese-Americans had to adopt names that were incomprehensible in their own languages.

Without integration a minority culture is doomed to be separatist, which hinders social and economic progress for that group. It's not a pleasant thing, being coerced into integration, but it has happened to every group from non Anglophone countries.

[Humanist_Activist]

35. Honestly, this could be a short term issue, I could imagine, in the future, that "black names" and..

"white names" would be further indistinguishable as attempts at being unique and creative are emphasized.

My best friend is named Lanetra, and she comes from a multi generational white American family, however they are a minority in one aspect, they are Mormon.

ON EDIT: But the point is that she has experienced, many times, people who only heard or saw her name, and they immediately think she's a black woman. Even on job interviews.

[LittleBlue]

45. Yeah I've seen that too occasionally

Good point. The names people find attractive seem to stick around, either Anglicized or in original form.

[alcibiades_mystery]

44. ROFL

I knew fourth generation Italians in NYC named Salvatore and Massimo.

[LittleBlue]

46. I feel sorry for them

The number of Mafia jokes they must have endured

[alcibiades_mystery]

49. In Queens?

You didn't make mafia jokes. besides, there's no such thing as the mafia.

[Alittleliberal]

62. Well played

[SusanCalvin]

65. .

[Chitown Kev]

71. LOL, good answer.

[LittleBlue]

79. ....

[hifiguy]

155. That's what Tony, Tony and Tony

all told me.

[RiffRandell]

182. Remember all the names in Goodfellas?

Several weren't too flattering, and that was based on a true story.

[GummyBearz]

73. Question

What exactly counts as an Anglophone country? I am a mutt of 3 main western European countries, and all 3 of those last names were changed from the original. So, I'd like to double check your claim that only non Anglophone countries have had people change their family names. I just need your list of what is an Anglophone country.

[LittleBlue]

81. Anywhere English is predominantly spoken

British Isles, US, Australia, those of British descent in South Africa, etc. Many Irish names were already Anglicized by English influence in Ireland before the great waves of Irish migration. Surnames are less often Anglicized than given names. Dwight Eisenhower's family Anglicized their name from Eisenhauer, for instance. Obviously they completely ditched German given names.

I was referring to given names.in my first post, though.

[gollygee]

85. African Americans are not immigrants

They have on average been here longer than white people.

[Freddie]

208. Ukrainian guy at work

Wife also Ukranian, they both use nicknames because their names are pretty unpronounceable in English. They have 3 boys: Andrew, Timothy and Jason.

[jberryhill]

27. I didn't realize the Palins were black

[JHB]

162. Or the Romneys...

Like children's games for the speech impaired.

Tagg! You're Mitt!

[Orrex]

30. Can we still mock names like Boehner and Dick Swett?

Because those are comedy gold.

[Cheese Sandwich]

34. You haven't seen the last of Dick Swett

I dunno maybe

[SusanCalvin]

38. If it's because of their behavior, absolutely.

Last edited Fri Sep 25, 2015, 08:08 PM - Edit history (1)

And if they are adults.

[zentrum]

33. It's true.

I remember many years ago seeing a skit on SNL about black names for kids. And nobody said a word of criticism in the media, afterwards. Must have been pre-facebook etc.

Thanks for posting the issue.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

129. I remember it. One of the Wayans brothers was hosting and played a driver picking up daycamp kids.

[zentrum]

170. Yes. That's it! Good memory.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

36. I stumbled on this the other night....

[Orrex]

40. Years ago, one particular commentator mocked names like "Shaniqua" and "Shaligua"

Odd to reflect on the words of that moral paragon with the benefit of hindsight...

[Capt. Obvious]

125. He's cool with the name Rophenol though

[lbrtbell]

41. No, giving kids stupid names is subtle child abuse

Everybody knows that there's a fine line between a unique name, and a name that's just going to get your kid laughed at by his/her peers and interfere with his/her job prospects later in life.

If I named a kid Beulah, she's going to have an awful time of it. And be honest, if Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa weren't in Hollyweird, neither one of them could even get a job at McDonald's. It was one thing when Don Adams named a daughter Beige, but a lot of these showbiz types are (rightfully) mocked for saddling their innocent children with horrid names. Yes, these people are white, and yes, these parents deserve all the derision for being so inconsiderate to their offspring.

And I don't care what race a person is, if you name your kid "La-a" and pronounce it LA-DASH-A, you need to stop being a douche to your kid and to everyone around that poor kid.

This isn't racism, it's being sick and tired of parents of any race foisting awful names on their kids. There are enough examples of REAL racism around, without people making a mockery of racial problems with stupid articles like this.

[SusanCalvin]

66. Yep, parents need to think. nt

[alarimer]

101. Someone actually named their kid ESPN.

I don't know if it was in all caps. But it was pronounced Espen.

[alcibiades_mystery]

43. I agree with the article, but Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is universally funny

[cheapdate]

74. One of Alabama's best defensive backs in years. Roll Tide!

[GummyBearz]

75. haha

Tide got rolled last weekend

[cheapdate]

77. It's only a game...(sigh)

[1monster]

48. Let me assure you that names that once were considered "black" have

crossed the color lines. One cannot assume that an unusual name belongs to a black person.

The thing that causes me headaches is the spelling and pronounciation of names. I know a white girl whose name is Xhastitie (or something like that). Then there are names like Tamara (which also has multiple spellings) and Tania that have at least three different pronounciations... And there is no color line on those names either.

On Edit: I often tell the kids "I'm probably going to really mess up on this name, so help me out, okay?"

[Humanist_Activist]

67. Yeah, many names do cross the color lines, and it gets more difficult if you have an influx...

of recent immigrants in the area from a non-English speaking part of the world.

To be honest, I don't think we should be encouraged to distinguish between them, because chances are you are wrong.

Not to mention multi-ethnic, multi-racial kids, then all bets are off.

[npk]

53. My brother went out with a white girl named Candy Lane

People would laugh when she introduced herself but it was more of a chuckle and not a mocking type of laugh if that makes sense. I think people make fun of other people's name, height, weight, too big, too short, fat or skinny. It usually indicates that the person is themselves insecure about something

[Gore1FL]

54. I wanted to name a kid Grogopolus but my right hand never got pregnant. n/t

[Thespian2]

56. Simple procedure on the first day of class in elementary and middle...

Have each student introduce themselves by pronouncing her or his name for you...be creative...make learning new names interesting and fun...White teacher learns new names without appearing ignorant...

How to pronounce Pajama? PAH_JAH_MAH, accent each syllable...A young girl in my class many years ago...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

57. There's a hockey player named (last name) Satan.

We had a couple of married women teachers in my high school named Violet Lavender and Olive Apple. They actually changed their names when they got married!


However, I can't beat this one: The guy named Stanes. He'd been in the Navy so he was ........... you got it.

[Humanist_Activist]

72. Is it pronounced "Sateen"?

[GummyBearz]

76. No

Its pronounced "sh-eye-tan" (shy - tan)

My attempt at phonetic spelling probably sucked..

[Monk06]

106. That's Miroslav Šatan and it's pronounced shuh-TAN. He's a Slovak

I didn't know how to pronounce Cenk Ughur until sounded it out on his show lol

[McCamy Taylor]

70. It isn't "subtle." It's overtly nasty.

[akbacchus_BC]

78. I will like to share my opinion with you. As far as Blacks are reclaiming their names, it

is wonderful and I really do not think that Whites are laughing at those names. Some White people
have black names too, it is universal and people choose names for their children based on what they believe in.
Here in Canada, we have a favourite news Announcer whose name is Asha, Asha is an Indian name and the CBC announcer is Black.
So please, let us not create another controversy regarding names.

We have other issues to be concerned about, not names.

[Zorra]

82. We bear our children at home, and name our children after natural occurences

that occur during births. We believe these things that occur during birth have meaning.

I'm really glad I don't have a European name.

[treestar]

86. SNL did one skit years ago

Where they made up names - the comedians who were in it were black - they announced names of kids.

Most of us are not guilty of this charge anyway.

[Dr. Strange]

202. Yup.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/camp-ujaama/n10690

[treestar]

219. thanks

I didn't know how to google that!

Can't help but

[yuiyoshida]

93. People have made fun of my name

I always kind of cringe and shake it off but it happens quite often on the internet. When I was growing up, I was in classes with many Asian kids, Chinese, Filipino, Vietamese, no one laughed at my name. In fact, some told me they wished they had a Japanese name. I asked them why and said their name was beautiful. I tried to make them feel like their name was special, and it was. Just because Anime is popular doesn't mean, a Japanese name is more special over any other but .. its amazing how many people on the interent have used Japanese anime names as their moniker. On IMVU, so many Japanese names, so many white people.

[gollygee]

95. Yeah this absolutely happens with Asian names too

Really any names identified as Other.

[yuiyoshida]

97. yup!

backatcha!

[haikugal]

114. People make fun of my name as well...

I've even had people tell me they'd change their name if it were them...but then they're homophobes. I got over it a long time ago.

[Rex]

156. Yes well try being named Rex and listening to 'oh that's my dog's name' all your life.

Yes Rex is a dog's name and is Latin for King...if I had a nickel for every time someone tells me one or the other.

[yuiyoshida]

168. you should tell them its short for ...

Tyrannosaurus Rex, grrr!
Remind them what happened to that whiny Attorney

[Rex]

169. Now that part is actually great, all my nieces and nephews call me T-Rex.

Of course some of them were scared of me as babies and thought I was Shrek from the movies. Now I am uncle T-Rex.

[alarimer]

100. Gov. Jim Hogg of Texas named his daughter Ima.

No name will ever be funnier than that to me. Did she have a sister named Ura?

I think it's funny people name their kids after places: Dallas, Austin, Houston

(Okay those places were originally peoples' names so it's full circle, I guess).

But you never see Waxahatchee or Ashtabula. Which is usually the joke I make, "Come on, little Tallahassee, time for school."

I don't know if it's entirely racist to make fun of people's names. Mostly I feel sorry for the kids who have to endure decades of teasing because their parents gave them some weird name.

[LWolf]

109. As a teacher, I do this every year, too.

Except that it has nothing at all to do with race or ethnicity.

It has to do, first of all, with parents' need to establish their baby's unique identity in a world of 7 billion or so people. So they have to take a pretty common name and spell it differently, in many cases leaving us no clue how to actually say it. Or they pick something brand new that we can say, but may need to check our mental response at the door.

This particular teacher has a clear problem with race, and the name thing is just an excuse to express it.

Names tend to come in waves.

Some that are very popular right now in my area: Madeline, Makayla, Makenna, Hailey, Finn, Tristin, Grace, Tia, Abigail, Remington, Tori...just a few, but I have multiples of all of those, and none of them are spelled the same.

The Briannas and Michaelas are dying down.

Some of the more unique names that aren't often repeated that I've seen: Genesis, Sir, Doctor, Professor, Placenta, Stetson...and of course, there are many more.

I met a kindergartener last week named Jasper, and speculated that perhaps his mom was a Twighlight fan...

If I can respect the dignity of some kid named Professor when he's in my class, this teacher can get over her discomfort with "black names."

[OldEurope]

158. In German we've got names for this phenomenon.

Kevinismus: parents name their children after sports heroes or other celebrities like actors or even fictitious characters.

Emilismus: parents chose names that are unusual or old-fashioned but not referring to popular media stars


A teacher made a(n un)famous remark when she was asked about her opinion on children with certain names "Kevin is not a name, it's a diagnose".

For Germans Kevin was very unusual until there were soccer players (Kevin Keegan), actors (Kevin Costner) and that movie "Alone at Home" wich was duped as "Kevin allein zu Haus". This name as others are considered "low class".

[GoneOffShore]

110. Presently I'm pretty much laughing at all the contemporary names

of kids today.

Lots of silliness going on.

And I would suggest that the author of the piece, which I've read, is a bit of a humorless dick.

[Prism]

111. We do both

There's no denying there's a strain of racist humor that white people engage in when it comes to black names. Even mainstream sitcoms will do it. I'm a big fan of 30 Rock, but there are several incidents where they'll poke at black names (Two examples off the top of my head include Kenneth returning to his high school reunion at an all black high school, and a black telemarketer from Time Warner cable). But they also have a go at white people ridiculousness, like when Liz and Jack tussle over the fact Liz's new boyfriend spells his name Criss. "I'm saying his name with an H and only one S!"

But white people can be merciless against other white people when a child is given what is, in their eyes, a silly name. I listen to the radio every morning during my commute, and they do a little celebrity news and gossip segment. When white celebrities have children, if the child's name is something different (Gwynneth Paltrow, I'm looking at you), it comes in for a fair bit of mockery.

It's sort of amazing how effective we can be at otherizing, often with class or social distinctions even within a racial group. Suburban soccer moms are a favorite target of other white people, usually using the child's unusual name to criticize what they see as suburban white people who coddle and elevate their children's preciousness. (Edit: Or look at the Palins. We ripped their children's names as a tidy way of calling them white trash).

And then there's the racist asshats who, when relaying an encounter with, say, a black customer service employee, will denigratingly fabricate a name. "So I got on the phone and had to deal with Sheniquonda *eye roll*"

Yeah, this kind of racism is a thing, and I hear it all the time.

[Marr]

113. This former cop describes real institutionalized racism:

This 'laughing at names' sort of complaint is so absurd and silly that it undermines real progress on a truly important, structural, societal issue. People read things like this and dismiss the whole idea of institutionalized racism.

[gollygee]

115. Racism encompasses both big and little things

And this kind of thing affects kids and their feelings of worth in school, which affects their education. It's easy for you to shrug off, but it feels horrible to the people who are the object of this.

[Marr]

117. Except it isn't necessarily even racism.

Look at this thread-- it's full of people saying they laugh at lots of names that seem unusual to them.

I'm not saying it's ok to make fun of a person's name. What I'm saying is that if you're going to hold up something like this and say 'institutionalized racism', a whole lot of people are going to just tune out when they hear that phrase in the future. It diminishes a very real, very big problem.

[gollygee]

128. Names can be made fun of for a number of reasons

Such as, the spelling is pretentious, it's the same as the name of someone funny, etc. They can also be made fun of because they sound African American, or because they are Asian, etc. It can be mean in either case, but it's only racist if people are being made fun of because of their race.

[brer cat]

132. + a million, gollygee.

*This* is the point. It is cruel and abusive to the child.

[TacoD]

116. Can I still make fun of Tagg and Tripp? (nt)

[Bucky]

140. Anti-Alasquism is a horrible prejudice that too many DUers tolerate.

Oh wait, those are Romney's idiotic kid names, not Palin's idiotic kid names. I get all those people confused.

[TacoD]

147. Actually one is Romney one is Palin :-) (nt)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

120. You know about the lady that is a reporter on MSNBC?

Her name is Zerlina.

Zerlina is one of the three women that Don Giovanni seduces in the opera by Mozart. The three women are Donna Anna, Donna Elvira and Zerlina. Written in Austria. Generally, but not always, Mozart operas are performed by white people.

The Zerlina on MSNBC is black.

Maybe her momma was an opera fan? Or just liked the sound of the name?

I once met a black lady who was named Rise. That's pronounced Ree-suh. As in Rise Stevens, who was a huge star at the Metropolitan Opera for many years. Her recording of Carmen is still listened to today.

[Throd]

121. How can you not enjoy K&P's East/West College Bowl series?

[cwydro]

122. Oh please.

White people make fun of other white people's names all the damn time.

I have an unusual nickname and I've taken crap for it my whole life.

Life requires a thick skin for a number of reasons.

[mythology]

123. The author obviously didn't grow up with my then last name

It was very German and easy to twist into something "funny" to kids and I'm very clearly white. As a result I don't often make fun of people's name, at least not in a mean spirited way.

People make fun of different, but that isn't inherently racist. Is the cause animus against blacks or is it our natural inclination against different?

[wordpix]

124. when I worked in low income city schools, I was joking with an Afr. American student whose name

is John. He was an older student who had a great sense of humor. I said, John, your name is John but all these other students are Taneisha, Tanika, Rayona, Rayeisha, Lonika, Malika, Deonte, Keonte, Keyana, etc. How did you get a name like John? He laughed and added more names of students he knows. We were about to walk into a classroom and there was another student at the door. We introduced ourselves and asked the student's name. She replied, "Keyoneisha." John and I burst out laughing and then explained to the other student why. She did not appear to take offense and laughed along with us.

Was that a racist conversation? We were laughing at the incongruity between John's name and the other students' names. We weren't making fun of anyone or anyone's name.

[gollygee]

126. It's possible, if you're talking to people who know you as a friend

that they would take that conversation differently than they would from people who are not friendly and are not being friendly. Have you heard African American names being made fun of in a mocking way?

[jberryhill]

136. It's as old as John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt

We've got a rich mix of names in the US, which has always inspired amusement.

[1939]

164. Ich bin Heinrich Schnibble

The Saturday Evening Post humor page used to have a running set of short columns of Heinrich Schnibble speaking fractured English and the other person in the story (usually a policeman, government employee, or store clerk trying to understand him and in the end speaking fractured English themselves.

[jberryhill]

165. My name is Yon Yohnson, I work in Wisconsin, I work in a lumber mill there..

[TipTok]

130. I make fun of all stupid names...

My maternity nurse mother's most recent favorite... Couple thought they were having a son and were going for Khaos...

Bam... girl...

Walked out with Khaotika on her birth certificate...

One of my peers has two sons... Furious and Ransom... Ugh... I hope they end up as bowtie wearing CPAs instead of the bikers their parents assume they will be.

[Duppers]

135. Ha! Me too.

I even make fun of my own stupid southern name. Mom wasn't the brightest bulb.

[Sunlei]

137. Gollygee are you making fun of me?

I think it's human nature to 'make fun' of what's around them. Some more mean/vicious than others.

[Bucky]

138. If we pretend it's only white people doing this, then that's an important point.

Of course the two instances I can recall people actually doing that, it was both times African American stand up comics doing riffs on stereotypical African-American names. When people put that out into the culture, it heightens racial sensitivities of all Americans. It's wrong to make fun of other cultures, but it's a fiction to assert that there are absolutely separate black and white cultures in America. So to say "when white people do it" it's misleading, because when anybody does it, it promotes disrespect of the black aspects and contributions to American culture.

So, I agree with most of the point the writer made, but I gotta call out the Apartheid like assumptions underpinning his main idea.

When we share the same language, the same broadcast airwaves, the same geography, it's inaccurate--and in fact supportive of racial discrimination--to pretend that it can ever be all white people doing one thing and all black people doing something else, or even to assert that racial designations are more important than behaviors that individuals (of any race) do.

[romanic]

142. What kind of black names are we talking about?

Names like Jamal and Keisha? Or Jay'quan and Sharkeisha?

Me personally, I side-eye the hell out of parents who give their kids shitty ass names that are either the common names of strippers (Amber, Crystal), designer names (Chanel), wonky spelling names (Kymberlee, Jaysen), obviously redneck names (Bubba) or just straight up idiotic names that celebrities give their children (I will never understand naming your kid "Apple" or "Pilot INspektor" ). Names are important, you can't just give your kid something stupid that will follow them for the first 18 years of their live - until they can legally change it. Like c'mon. :I

[hedgehog]

143. When I hear doctor friends laughing over black names,

I have to wonder what kind of care they give black patients. Then, there's this:

The other, however, suggests a black-sounding name remains an impediment to getting a job. After responding to 1,300 classified ads with dummy resumes, the authors found black-sounding names were 50 percent less likely to get a callback than white-sounding names with comparable resumes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-names-a-resume-burden/

[Adrahil]

145. I get ya, but....

I heard some doozies back in the day.

I had a young woman working for me who's given name was Syphyllus (supposed to be pronounced Psi-phyllis). She went by Phyllis.

I work now with an awesome guy named Princewilliam. Pronounced, of course, Prince William. He goes by just William.

Just sayin'....

[WinkyDink]

148. IDK. My mother was just laughing at the names "Dustin" and "Zach." (Johnsons, golfers)

[cwydro]

151. Who named their kid Apple?

Moon Unit?

Sorry, we get to make fun of names, no matter their color.

[frogmarch]

153. In the 1950s in my hometown,

a dentist and his wife whose surname was Winkler named their daughters Twinkle and Star Baby. The girls must be in their sixties now. I wonder if they kept their given names.

Many of the Black names I've heard sound musical and beautiful. Names that make me roll my eyes a little are ones that sound as if the mother named their kids after soap opera characters or pop stars.

[DonCoquixote]

160. It's not like you cannot buy a book of baby names

and find names in EVERY culture that sound either odd, or lovely. Mother England has more than a few names that would earn a joke or two. But yet, because the Anglo culture reins, it gets to focus on names not like itself, even though the American variant of Anglo culture is often ignorant of it's own roots. If a kid walked into school with a name like "Alister" or "Siobahn", they would get picked on too, even though those names would not bat an eyelash in the UK or Australia.

The only slight reason to wonder at the names is that that were often obvious creations of the parent, but hey, America tried it's best to sever connection with Africa, so if people get creative, why not? Also, we know know that even well established African names like "Barack" or "Hussein" would still get pilloried, so to Hell with the people who half the time cannot even know if their names are Hebrew derivative or Celtic.

[DonCoquixote]

161. by the way

since the article mentioned pronunciation:

Siobahn. An Irish name, but often shows up in Dixie as an anglicized form Chevonne. Pronounced Chev-on.

Just as the treatment of the Celts at the hands of the English was a preview of what they would do to Africans, the English often mangle the Celtic Spellings. For example. "Chas" was a Celtic word for Fire, specifically ritual fire used in religion. Knowing that history is often a hell of a lot more complicated and interesting than the history books, some bunch of Irish Americans in New Orleans must have seen Voodoo, another religion that uses fire, and started calling the music made by African Americans "Chas" which of course, got pronounced "Jazz."

But then, to quote Chuck D, we do not get taught History, we get taught HIS story, his being the Dominant White Anglo Saxon Protestant that we are taught to serve in school.

[smirkymonkey]

197. I met this person in San Francisco who went by the name of Siobhan (that's how it was spelled)

She was in one of my classes, but when the professor called on her by the correct Irish pronunciation, she corrected her and said "It's "See-Oh-Bahn". She pronounced it phonetically.

[oberliner]

209. What's the correct Irish pronunication?

Is that not how one would say it usually?

[smirkymonkey]

215. It's pronounced "SHIVawn"

The "bh" in Irish is pronounced as a "v". There are a lot of consonant clusters like that in Irish where a consonant followed by an "h" is pronounced as a "v", such a Niamh which is pronounced as "Neeve" or Caoimhe is pronounced "Kweevah".

[oberliner]

217. Thanks for the info

Learn something new every day!

[1939]

216. Even traditional Anglo-Saxon names can be "bad"

Can you imagine a kid going off to school with a name like "Cuthbert" or "Winifred"?

[nadine_mn]

163. I think there is a difference between laughing at parents who saddle their kids

with a name that will only cause them problems, vs mocking a race.

Like those parents who named named their kid Adolf Hitler - c'mon.

There are times when I just shake my head at parents - it seems they are more considered what their child's name says about them, than what their child is going to have to endure.

Kids are cruel and if you name your kid Sandwich, Uranus, or Volkswagen; school is going to be hell.

I was born in the 70's and I was almost named Sunshine...dear god, I am so not a Sunshine.

But if you are laughing because the name "sounds" black, Hispanic, or Asian - well you are just an asshole.

[gollygee]

174. I think that's exactly right

There are lots of reasons someone might make fun of someone's name. Because it sounds pretentious, because it is a word that doesn't sound like a name, or sounds like the parents were hippies or hipsters, or whatever. And those reasons might be mean. But to make fun of a name simply because it sounds black, or Asian, or whatever other race or ethnicity, is racist, and reinforces white supremacy. And I'd say making fun of a name for sounding "redneck" is wrong too because that's classist, which is another form of oppression.

[SusanCalvin]

190. Yep.

But I don't agree that the majority of kids are cruel naturally, and I further think that the *vast* majority are *not* - given guidance.

[hifiguy]

166. When is Praisegod Barebone

gonna make a comeback?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praise-God_Barebone

[phleshdef]

171. As a native of Appalachia, I've been known to mock plenty of 'redneck' names.

Jimmidale, Cletus, Hansferd, Denville, Ansel, etc

[struggle4progress]

172. We obviously need legislation limiting allowable baby names: all boys should be named

Algar Brun Colby Daegal Eidwyn Faran Gar Holt Ivor Jarvis Kipp Leng Magen Nodin Ody Piers Ro Sever Tolan Upton Verge Ware

[hifiguy]

189. No Aethelred?

It was good enough for an English king.

[struggle4progress]

191. We don't really like toremind the public of King Aethelred

And discussion of Edgar Atheling is best reserved for those times when one needs to whip up a crowd of angry Anglo-Saxons chanting "French go back to France!"

[llmart]

173. I yuk it up all the time..............

about Honey Boo Boo.

[gollygee]

177. That's a nick name

i just googled and I see her name is Alana.

[llmart]

181. Yeah, but nobody knows that about her....

She's just Honey Boo Boo to most of us

I was trying to be funny.

[gollygee]

183. No problem

and yeah I had to google.

[RiffRandell]

185. I laugh at a ton of white names.

I admit I'm a name snob and it has nothing to do with race.

I don't even like my full name which is why I go by the short version.

Horseshit article. Jeez, one day I woke up and couldn't come up with anything to rail about so I decided to make up an article about how black names are persecuted.

Our daughter has a male name that is very uncommon for a girl and when someone refers to her as a boy over the phone to confirm doctor appts. and other things I don't freak out.

I simply, kindly say it's 'her' not 'him', but I guess that's too easy.

[MineralMan]

186. My mother's name is Lawanda.

She has a twin brother named Lavaugn. When I was growing up, many people thought my mother must have been a black woman. There were some pretty odd things connected with that in my childhood.

My mother is a five foot two blonde lady, with British ancestry. Well, she has white hair now, but she has always loved the confusion about her name. Apparently, her mother just liked the sound of Lavaughn and Lawanda for her tow-headed twins

They graduated from high school in 1941, and both are still pretty lively for their 91 years.

[Shankapotomus]

220. sounds more like culturalism

than racism.

[DonCoquixote]

221. since mot mentioned

I did nto realize there IS a whole subset of Mormon names.

http://www.ldsliving.com/Does-giving-your-children-Mormon-names-affect-their-future-/s/68224

"Some parents also give their children unique Mormon names to point them in a positive direction. Perhaps if a couple names their child Moroni, he will grow to be strong and courageous like Captain Moroni, or Ammon will become spiritually powerful and an enormously successful missionary.