As a British person, I’ve grown up knowing that girls with names like Sharon and Tracy, were usually stereo-typed as blonde bimbettes, who wear white PVC stiletto heels, short mini skirts, and sported big hair.
Thus a lot of people in England will not saddle their kids with those names anymore.
So why can’t American blacks do the same?
Every time I watch any Ricki Lake-type shows, it seems to be full of people who have similar names to the following:
Toniqua
Shaniqa
Shononda
Latisha
WTF? Don’t black American parents realise that they’re saddling their children with names that will ensure that they are discriminated against before their characters are even determined?
Naming your child is an important job. F*cking take it seriously. Don’t make it a reason for your child to be refused for a job later on in life. Resume discrimination exists, and it’s been proven time and time again.
I’m not interested in hearing shit about principles, heritage, not selling out, blah blah fucking blah. In my opinion, giving your child a ghettoised name is cruel, and unless they go to a school where every other child is black with similarly ridiculous names, you’re setting them up to be treated differently. Isn’t it hard enough just being black?
It may be unfair, and in an ideal world, people would judge you on the ‘content of your character’, rather than the number of q’s in your name, but until we reach that desired utopia, why make life harder than it needs to be for your kids?
Sheesh.
Eve Vaughn
November 9
3:04 pm
It’s really sad but true, people do judge based on the name of the child, and while I think parents have the right to name their children what they want, some people do tend to go overboard. Tasha, Keisha, Tamika, Tanisha, Terrell,Jamal, Malik are all considered AA names, but I think they’re fine. Now it’s when you start getting creative with the names is when you go too far. My husband is a teacher and I’ve looked through his student list. Naming your child Squirreleesha is just plain wrong.
Sharon
November 9
3:09 pm
LOL a blond bimbo. I kind of fancy that. I wonder if I could carry off that look. Im thinking not.
And as for names, you would be amazed at some of the names I’ve come across. When I was a teenager, I worked summers in a hospital and we’d get all the paperwork on the new babies. Very eye opening.
Some of the more memorable.
Shithead (I kid you not! It was pronounced SHA teed but still, it’s spelled Shit head! wtf?
Pajama (prononced Padge A ma)
I could go on, but the list is long. I always wondered what the parents were smoking or if they were just complete dumbasses. I kind of vote for the latter.
Jenn
November 9
3:13 pm
Thank you Karen I have been saying this for years.
I agree Eve. Squirreleesha is really really wrong. So is the name Uasaline who attends school with my grandaughter.
I believe names Tasha, Keisha, Tamika, Tanisha, Terrell,Jamal, Malik will also sterotype your child.
There are other awful made up names.
Sam
November 9
4:31 pm
I also have a pet peeve against creative spelling.
It’s like – Patrysha instead of Patricia. When I autograph books I never assume the kid’s name is spelled like I think it’s spelled, lol. But it means the poor kid spends her entire life saying “It’s Trysha with a ‘y’ and an ‘sh’.”
Rosie
November 9
5:09 pm
Sam hit on my name peeve. I work in an industry where people have to register. My favorite is when someone a little more…how shall I say it…mature in years comes in and spells their name creatively because they didn’t like “Julie” that they’ve been using the last 55 years so they now spell it Jewelee. I’m not kidding! Drives me crazy.
Their printed checks will have the “new” name but the drivers license is still the original name. Cuckoo isn’t it?
Anne
November 9
5:28 pm
Well, I agree with each and every point every single one of you made and I’ve got one more to add. What about the fact that white people are naming their kids screwed up names like Apple? WTF is that about? Give me a break! Can you imagine what that little girl is going ot have to endure by way of ridicule? Apple being juicy, taking a bite of the Apple, etc. UGH. Get with the program folks! Don’t TORTURE your kids by naming them some f*cked up!
Eve Vaughn
November 9
5:43 pm
LMAO!! Ann you have a point, celebrities are naming their kids some pretty f**ked up things:
Gweneth Paltrow: Apple
Courtney Cox: Coco
Julia Roberts: Finius (that kid is going to get his ass kicked so many times)
Jason Lee: Pilot Inspektor
Has all their money gone to their heads? LOL
And Sam you are so right about people giving traditional names funky spellings. I’ve seen Fillis for Phyllis, Aneetah for Anita, Rockssannah for Roxanna, Daffknee for Daphne and Jewdee for Judy. LMAO!!!
Chantelle Shakira Honeyblossom
November 9
5:51 pm
I don’t see why people can’t name their kids what the hell they want. Isn’t your post just perpetuatin the hate?
Ann Wesley Hardin
November 9
6:48 pm
I don’t even like agressively feminine or masculine names (outside of romance novels, that is). Imagine Flint for President! Or Candy for Prime Minister!
*ggg*
I named my girls classical English royal names that’ve been around for hundreds of years, if not a thousand even, simply because I wanted them to have enduring, strong identities that wouldn’t bias anyone.
Their names are well-known, but not part of a pop-culture that will date them, either.
There *are* ways to let kids stand out and give a nod to their heritage without saddling them with weirdo inventions and spellings.
And yes, white folks are every bit as guilty. “Apple” says it all.
Jenn
November 9
6:49 pm
Chantelle Shakira Honeyblossom said…
“I don’t see why people can’t name their kids what the hell they want. Isn’t your post just perpetuatin the hate?{”
It is not hatin, Karen or any of us are putting out there. It is the truth. It is a fact(well documented) that people who are in postions of making decisions on who to hire or not to hire look at these names and don’t call. Of course there are a few exceptions..ie..a rapper..50 cents(gangsta/criminal) or Buffy (mentally challenged)or Pussy Galore( name your daughter that and you are just asking for it). Prejudice sure…but hard to prove. You do get a mental impression when you see a wierd or certain names. Also a name says a lot about a person. It is the first information your receive about a person.
Sure it would be great if we could have President Squirreleesha Smith…but hey with that name it is not likely.
Karen is making a point that if you want your child to at least start life out on the right path to being successful a name is important.
Good point about the celebrities Eve. Wanting to be different or stand out is not a sufficent reason to label a child with names like that. Getting through childhood is hard enough in todays world with competition from foreign workers.
In regards to the names Fillis for Phyllis, Aneetah for Anita, Rockssannah for Roxanna, Daffknee for Daphne and Jewdee for Judy
Sometimes people just don’t know how to spell the names and that is another subject entirely.
Hey! my grandson(6) last week decided that instead of being called Michael he wants to be called Jack-O-Lantern. So say he does not grow out of this desire and changes his name legally would you hire him or would you think he had mental issues if you saw his name on an application for employment(g).
Ann Wesley Hardin
November 9
7:00 pm
Jack-O-Lantern, OBGYN.
Yeah. I am so spread.
*ggggggg*
Liz
November 9
7:04 pm
Jenn, you are so right. If Beyonce hadn’t been a great singer, her name would have caused her problems when applying for jobs, and I’d bet that P Diddy or whatever the fuck he’s called these days would have stuck to Sean Coombs when applying for jobs.
Gettofabulous names only benefit those who are in the public domain, if you’re a normal Joe Schmo, you got no chance.
Chantelle Shakira Honeyblossom
November 9
7:08 pm
Highlighting it and poking fun just makes it an issue for people who look for excuses to discriminate. Nothing is achieved.
Ann Wesley Hardin
November 9
7:17 pm
Honestly, if you were a headhunter for the law firm, Blippy, BlahBlah and Bluster you might give Daffknee Smythe a call back.
But what are the odds of poor Daffknee getting a leg over the bar otherwise?
It’s a practical issue. Nothing more.
Jenn
November 9
7:29 pm
Lets come into the real world. Your name, color or whatever makes no difference to me but to deny the truth of society as it is today is like sticking your head in the mud. Although I do get a chuckle and what the “f**k when I see an absurb name. I am a bad person. Sue me.
Discrimination is there…people who have prejudices have just learned how to be more successful at hiding it.
It would be great if this was a perfect world where who you date, what you look like, color, name, your education, how you dress, talk, where you live does not matter but it is not a perfect world and we were just pointing out the truth. Some things are getting better depending on where in this country you live.
What I love about cultures is all the differences we have from each other and I think we should take joy from it but I am not a fool to think that it is how the people in cooperate America thinks.
My young son wears baggy jeans but he is not going to get hired dressed liked that.He knows he has to go the nice slacks and dress shirt route to make a good impression but he does not think it should make a difference. It does. Just like the names makes a difference.
byrdloves2read
November 9
7:52 pm
In reference to what Jenn said, making a good impression is what it’s all about. I still remember having to get dressed up to go shopping with my mother. She said we’d get better service if we were dressed well. LOL (40 years ago clerks actually helped customers.) At the time I thought that was just so wrong. Of course, it is, but it is also the “way of the world” and we all have to deal with it as best we can.
Jenn
November 9
7:59 pm
Ann Wesley Hardin said…
Jack-O-Lantern, OBGYN.
Yeah. I am so spread.
Heyyyyyyyyyyyy
He is just six
LOL
So he may have to be his own employer with a name like that but he will get laid a lot?
Sheesh
Praying he never ever learns that
Ann Wesley Hardin
November 9
8:24 pm
Oops. Sorry. That came out wrong, Jen. I meant NOT spreading for a GYN exam by a Dr. named Jack-O-Lantern. Just a lame joke. Like not hiring Daffknee Smythe, Esq.
*going back under the desk*
Jenn
November 9
9:25 pm
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And here I was thinking you were lusting after my grandson.
LOL
Ann Wesley Hardin
November 9
9:43 pm
Ahahahahahahaha! Too funny! Still, glad you came back. I hate inadvertently offending people. Worries me unendingly.
Lauren Dane
November 9
10:04 pm
People don’t take it seriously no matter what their background is. Nick Cage just named his kid Ka Lel (superman’s real name).
We put a lot of thought into naming our kids. We certainly wanted special but I tell you, when we had our daughter there were a lot of, “hell no! You want her to be a stripper?” comments from me.
I went to college with a lot of hippie types. Loads of their kids are Harvest and Sunshine and such. I don’t think nuclear physicist when I hear Sunshine. I’m sure that’s my own bias, but our world is what it is.
You don’t have to name your kid John and Sally but I think it’s unhelpful to name him Pirate, even if you are a rock star.
Monica
November 10
12:05 am
What?! Apple is taken? Damn, now I’ll have to use Banana. And at least Orange is still free.
There has been a study that applicants who sent in resumes with demonstratably black names got called for interviews with significantly less frequency.
What would you do if your parents named you Latiquisha Uniqua?
Tara Marie
November 10
3:13 am
Superman has a real name??
Indida
November 10
3:55 am
Looks like I missed all the fun. I think chantelle shakira honeyblossom is just mad because she knows her name fits the category.
People have been torturing their children for years. The famous actor Rip Torn?
I went to school with a girl named Crystal Glass. I actually liked her name.
I went to school with another girl, a good friend of mine, named Twyisha. She was proud of her ghetto name because it was “unique”.
Black folks have just taken it to another level. They know the names are ghetto and they love it. They wallow in the ghettoness and compete for the worst sounding names on the block.
They get around the social teasing by giving their kids false pride in their horrible names.
Jennifer Macaire
November 10
7:17 am
I remember when my son Sebastian decided he wanted to be called Michalangelo, (like the ninja turtle, not the artist, lol) It was also around the time he said to me, sticking his little arm out. “Mom, am I always going to be this color?”
I looked at him, not quite sure what he meant, and said, “Yes, give or take a little tan. What color did you want to be?”
He frowned and said, “I was hoping for something a little Brighter.”
Dawn
November 10
11:04 am
LOL! When I looked at this title, I knew that it would generate a lot of comments.
Naming your child is important, not just the name you choose, but you also have to think how the initials look and how the first and last name will sound together.
There was a piece in the paper recently about a couple, Mr & Mrs Peacock, who named their newborn son Drew. Say it out loud.
I have a natural aversion to the “typical” Black American names. The first thing I think when hearing Shaniqua is she’s American and Black. 9 out of 10 times I’m right. And my immediate thought is that she’ll be of the obnoxious I’ll-make-a-prat-of-myself-on-Ricki-Lake type. Unfortunate, but that’s what I think.
They just issued a list of the most popular baby names in the UK for the past year and thankfully, it’s still the traditional Emily/James types. But people are giving their children ridiculus names. Ikea (maybe not pronounced that way) and Chardonnay.
We named our daughter Jade – just a little unusual but not so way out there.
Sam
November 10
12:51 pm
Droopy Cock!!!!!!!!!!
I get it, lol.
Took me a minute of saying it to myself.
Oh my. Poor Kid.
I can just imagine the reaction of the class when the teacher first says, “Will Drew Peacock please stand up?”
Lauren Dane
November 10
7:07 pm
Not only does Superman have a real name other than Clark Kent, but I know it. I think this says something sad about me but I’m going to pretend it just makes me cool
Ann Wesley Hardin
November 10
9:07 pm
It does make you cool, Lauren. You are so cool to me at this moment my fingers have frostbite.
So, what is it?
~Ann, who has no life beyond this blog.
Kate R
November 10
9:10 pm
What I think is cool about names is as a generation of Amy and Olivias and Thomases grow old, the names grow unfashionable. Then, once those guys die out, the names come back again.
Right now the names are dowdy, but I bet our great grandchildren will get names like Martha and Ethel and Barbara.
I wonder how some of the 80s trendy names like Madison (my least favorite white girl name. I mean it’s from a Disney movie!) and Brittney and Brandy will fare in a few decades — not to mention Shaniqua. All we need is one Nobel Prize winning Shaniqua and it’s in the mainstream for good.
BTW,when I was a kid, I knew a blonde blue-eyed Latisha. She’s got to be in her 50s now.
Ann Wesley Hardin
November 10
9:48 pm
Only you, Kate. But yeah, Rose and Grace have made a huge comeback! OKay. I’ll tell my kid’s names. Caroline and Marjorie.
Ya’ll know those names, right? But lemme tell you they’re still rare around these parts.
A few years ago I was in a park and I heard a father call out “Marjorie!” I looked over and said that was my daughter’s name. Immediately the wife said, “When was she born?” Like it was a competition. It was. But my daughter was born first by a year. *gggg* The small pleasures…
Karen Scott
November 10
10:53 pm
Erm… you’ll forgive me if I don’t respond to all your comments, but I do agree with most of them, with some notable exceptions.
CHANTELLE SHAKIRA HONEYBLOSSOM? WTF?
I’m seriously hoping that’s not your real name chuck.
Oh yeah, Dawn, it took me a while to get Droop Cock too, but once I did, I nearly peed my pants!!
Rosario
November 11
2:11 pm
There has been a study that applicants who sent in resumes with demonstratably black names got called for interviews with significantly less frequency.
Yup, http://www.nber.org/papers/w9873
Karen Scott
November 11
2:15 pm
Rosario, I’m not surprised by this, if I had a more ethnically identifiable name, I wonder how many interviews I would have made it to…?
Lauren Dane
November 12
9:15 pm
Ann, LOL!! It’s Kal-el. Nicholas Cage named his baby son that. (shakes head)
Desiree Erotique
November 13
7:09 am
If we lived by such reasoning, we’d all have to be very careful whom we marry in order to spare children from every conceivable trivial dose of cruelty the world has to offer.
“No, sorry, Bob, I can’t marry you.”
“But Angela, we love one another. You are the only one for me!”
“Nope Bob, how could I put our children through the torment of living with the last name of Butz*?”
*(Or just substitute Reams, Dicks, Buttafuco, Bobit, Brownwhole, Laize, or my all-time favorite- Johnnyhouse…only because I had a friend named Annie Johnnyhouse. She survived childhood, by the way, and married a guy named Martin Hands. From last I hear their kids are pretty happy!)
Rosario
November 13
12:01 pm
True story, I swear. I know a guy whose last name is Verga… “cock” in Spanish, and a pretty rude way of saying it, too. He recently married a woman whose last name is “de León”. Since the custom here is that children’s names are [First name][father’s last name][mother’s last name], their kids will be called [Something] Verga de León… which translates literally as “Lion’s Cock”!
Karen Scott
November 13
1:32 pm
Des, my point is simply that although it would be great to be able to name your kids whatever you want, I personally think it’s hugely thoughtless to give them a name that will mean they are prejudged before people get to even know them.
Rosario, Lion Cock? I would have to ask somebody to put me out of my misery! That’s just wrong, lol!
SmartBlkWoman
December 11
9:46 am
I believe people have the right to name their children whatever they want to name them. I don’t believe we should be telling parents to change the names that they choose, but society needs to be told not to discriminate based on peoples names.
A black person who gives their child a non-European name should not be punished because the name that they picked out is long or just because others don’t understand its meaning.
Society needs to change, not the parents.
Has anyone noticed that only black people are told they need to make their names more palatable to white people? Europeans with long, complicated ethnic names are not being told that they need to change their names to satisfy black people are they? Nope, they just tell black folks they need to learn these names and we do. I think its only fair that they do the same for us.
Karen Scott
December 11
7:44 pm
“I believe people have the right to name their children whatever they want to name them.”
Very true, but then again we should live in a world where people don’t commit racist/hate crimes, but as we all know, that’s not how life is.
“A black person who gives their child a non-European name should not be punished because the name that they picked out is long or just because others don’t understand its meaning.”
I’m assuming when you say Eurpoean, you mean white people? In which case, you might want to consider that names such as Anya, Anuska, Vlachko, Chiquita, Guadelupe are also considered European names. I suspect you presumed that I was advocating calling your child Elizabeth and Jane hmmm?
I never said you had to give your child a stereotypical English/white name, just don’t saddle them with names that are (whether you admit or not) going to make sure they are prejudged before people ever get to know them.
As for the whole heritage and culture thing, if you can tell me that Squirreleesha has a spiritual meaning, I’ll be very surprised.
“Society needs to change, not the parents.”
I think you’ll find that it is parents who make up the majority of society. What you probably mean is that people need to change how they think, which is all very well, but I’d say that we are still a long way from reaching that desired Utopia.
“Has anyone noticed that only black people are told they need to make their names more palatable to white people?”
Well I’m black, and I feel offended every time I see a Tourquisha or a Kashaunda on the Jerry Springer show, speaking in ebonics, and boasting about her six kids, and their six daddies.
This stereotype is one of our own making, and I thoroughly resent it.
Those names are ghetto-fabricated, they don’t have a spritual meaning, they are just plain ridiculous, much like a white person saddling their kids with names like Apple or Tiger Lily.
Indians and Pakistani’s have hugely ethnic names, but I haven’t heard them giving their child ridiculous names that have nothing to do with their culture.
“Nope, they just tell black folks they need to learn these names and we do. I think its only fair that they do the same for us.”
As far as I know, Americans aren’t Europeans, if you mean white people, you need to say white people, using the term European just confuses the matter, seeing as I’m black, and a European.
Anybody can name their children whatever the hell they want, but you’ve got to be prepared to face the fact that those children will face prejudices if they are given names that are associated with the ghetto. It’s as simple as that. If I had to choose between naming my child Jada or Shaniqua, I sure wouldn’t pick the latter.
SmartBlkWoman
December 13
5:43 am
“Very true, but then again we should live in a world where people don’t commit racist/hate crimes, but as we all know, that’s not how life is.”
Whether or not racist/hate crimes are committed should have nothing to do with what you name your children.
“I suspect you presumed that I was advocating calling your child Elizabeth and Jane hmmm?”
No, I didn’t think that. I thought that you were referencing obviously made up names.
“just don’t saddle them with names that are (whether you admit or not) going to make sure they are prejudged before people ever get to know them.”
People are going to pre-judge others on their name whether they are named Jane or Liasia-Chanel. My point is that instead of saying, “its ok to judge other people based on their names thus you should not give your child a name that is ghetto” and instead I think we should be telling people “do not judge others based on their names”.
“As for the whole heritage and culture thing, if you can tell me that Squirreleesha has a spiritual meaning, I’ll be very surprised.”
I can’t tell you that it has a spiritual meaning but if the parents liked it then thats enough for me.
“Society needs to change, not the parents.”
“I think you’ll find that it is parents who make up the majority of society. What you probably mean is that people need to change how they think, which is all very well, but I’d say that we are still a long way from reaching that desired Utopia.”
The “parents” that I was referring to are the parents that choose to give their children fictitious names.
“Well I’m black, and I feel offended every time I see a Tourquisha or a Kashaunda on the Jerry Springer show, speaking in ebonics, and boasting about her six kids, and their six daddies.”
I think its interesting that some black people have been made to feel as if every other idiotic black person reflects on them. White people that see other white people acting a fool on Jerry and Maury talking about “they don’t know whether the baby is from their husband, their brother-in-law or their father-in-law don’t feel as if this white person reflects on them. If you do feel offended, I don’t know why and I don’t believe that you should feel offended.
“This stereotype is one of our own making, and I thoroughly resent it.”
There are plenty of stereotypes of white people that are of their own making. Thats the nature of stereotypes. Some fool fits the stereotype perfectly but that doesn’t mean that every single black mother is like or every black woman, period.
“As far as I know, Americans aren’t Europeans, if you mean white people, you need to say white people, using the term European just confuses the matter, seeing as I’m black, and a European.”
I apologize, I mean’t European in a racial sense.
“Anybody can name their children whatever the hell they want, but you’ve got to be prepared to face the fact that those children will face prejudices if they are given names that are associated with the ghetto. It’s as simple as that.”
I agree and I would also like to add that it doesn’t matter whether a black person is named Laura or Jane, when certain people see that they are black they will have the same negative opinion.
Anonymous
August 21
4:20 pm
We had a Sunday school teacher named Lonqueeta Leonard. She said her grandfather gave her the first name and she loved it. Her daughter was Quesqueesha (I hope that’s the right spelling). No one ever made fun of them for their names or because they were black in a predominantly white church. I guess perceptions depend on where you’re from.
Scott
Anonymous
April 20
1:27 pm
Squirreleesha wtf
Anonymous
January 4
1:41 am
ok so basically you are a self hater