The Politics of Giving Your Child a Black Name

Politic365 ^ | December 30, 2011 | Jeneba Ghatt

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Yes! And as someone who used to watch the “Young and the Restless” there were NO Ashley’s til Ashley (sister of Jack) showed up. Oh...and she was smart (a perfume chemist)!

[Alberta's Child]

What the author of this article doesn't mention is that the employer is often making hiring decisions based on the needs, preferences and attitudes of their customers and clients.

I can't speak for anyone else here ... but for many of my clients, the first time I send someone named Mubreesha to meet the client will be the last time I get to do business with them.

The real issue here has nothing to do with race, and it has everything to do with upbringing. Call me old-fashioned and closed-minded, but "Mubreesha" just strikes me as a name for someone who doesn't expect to be taken seriously.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Top 60 Ghetto Black Names
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCdmiZyyGjQ

[Cloverfarm]

My kids told me some of the logic behind the names ... you make a combination from names of your favorite people.

We could’ve named DD Jay’lain’isa for Jaynee, Elaine and Lisa ... but didn’t.

One of my co-workers’ kids all have his initials, but, since there are two or three baby-mamas involved, I think that’s how they show the connections. The girls are Jaylin DeShon and Jayna DeNise.

[Flag_This]

What happened to the classic names like LeMonjuhlo and Oranjuhlo?

[EinNYC]

The black students’ names I read off of the attendance roster in high school are almost without exception NOT names like Katherine, Priscilla, Susan, etc. They are LaShanda, Quaneesha, Imani, Taneesha, Quateesha, Daniece, etc. I have always thought that the newly-delivered mother must have looked out the window for inspiration, like reading what was written on the side of a delivery truck and deciding what a cool name it would be for the baby. It seems so long as there’s a Qu- in there somewhere, -sha or -ee- and it ends in an “a”, it’s OK. They don’t seem to have any correlation to actual “African” names coming from Africa.

[ilovesarah2012]

Map: Six Decades of the Most Popular Names for Girls, State-by-State

http://jezebel.com/map-sixty-years-of-the-most-popular-names-for-girls-s-1443501909

[Dr. Sivana]

the number one name Black parents applied to their baby girls was Madison, a name historically and traditionally given by White parents.
"Traditionally", names like Madison were handed down as surnames or middle names, NOT first names. To the degree that names like Madison were used as a first name, they were given to boys.

Morgan is another popular girls' name. But as recently as the '70s, it was a man's name. Here is the 1970s comic book character Morgan Edge:



And right now, the black version sporting this "girls'" name.


Stories about frequency of naming are pretty much obsolete, as so many mothers, especially black OR white unwed mothers are just pulling names out of the Scrabble bag:

LaQeeshah

D'whanna
Jusstiss
etc.

In California, some massive number of names (more than 20% despite a large Hispanic community that doen't do this) have one of a kind names.

[Dr. Sivana]

Le-a (pronounced “Ledasha” ‘cause the dash don’t be silent)

Well, that's worse than what some British have, going the opposite direction. P.G. Wodehouse had a character named Featherstonehaugh, pronounced 'Fanshaw'. As it turns out, it is a real name.

[Shimmer1]

And of course Antwon. Some people can’t spell and their kids’ names show their ignorance.

[workerbee]

There are white women named Tamieka and Keesha.

Extremely rare. Years ago I worked with a (white) guy whose wife was pregnant and they were considering Keesha because they like the sound of it with their Russian last name. They ended up with Jennifer, LOL.

[Tax-chick]

Good Russian name.

[Dr. Sivana]

Virtually no one named their daughter that prior to 1984 when the movie "Splash" came out. After that, there was an explosion of "Madisons."

Yup, just like the name Ariel had a big uptick a few years later with "The Little Mermaid". Tough thing for a girl to aspire to be.

I remember being in a Staples in 1998, noticing the clerk's name was "Rhiannon", the gears in my mind started turning. "Rhiannon", number one song for Fleetwood Mac ... off of the big selling "Rumours" LP ... 1977 or so. Yup.

[Dr. Sivana]

Okay, it didn’t make #1, it just seemed to based on airplay.

[DaveA37]

“Jeneba”.......

Pretty well sums up the intent of that article!

Jeneba doesn’t sound Caucasian.

[Molon Labbie]

Further, it is important to note that may black citizens changed their last names as well so not to be associated with the white roots of the name.

And don’t get me started on the faux royalty hypen craze by those few that do get married...

[manc]

you’re experience is very rare then , as most names are like Katisha,Keesha , Mubreesha, Tahisha, Tanisha , Labreesha etc.\\Funny thing is that they think their names are unique.

[John O]

If the black culture wasn’t turning out such perfect examples of hard workers as Saint Trayvon and the knock out game players, and the people with their pants around their knees and the hordes of girls whose dream is to be knocked up every year collecting welfare for the new baby then maybe businesses would be more interested in hiring them.

Act like a thug, get treated ike a thug and live in poverty.

I worked very hard to be non-racist prior to obama being elected. Am I racist now? You bet I am. It’s just not safe to be otherwise.

[manc]

LOL

Hanging out with her elitist circle gave her this massive , detailed survey. sarc.

[manc]

exactly