# Given names these days

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-these-days/798424>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 10, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-these-days/798424 "2017-10-10T00:48:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

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**Author:** ![papaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@papaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papaw)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-names-these-days/798424/5 "2017-10-11T16:25:11Z")

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I guess I am asking the wrong question.  
Without any disrespect to African-Americans, the names I am asking about are the ones that in the last 25 years or so have surfaced with odd to me spellings and unknown origins.  
Some examples are-  
Jedeveoon, Bonquisha,Tanisha, T’a nay, Deshaun, Tayshaun, Deron, Rau’shee, Raynell, Deontay, Taraje, Jozy, Kerron, Hyleas, Chaunte, Bershawn, Lashawn, Sanya, Trevell, Sheena, Ogonna, Dremiel , and many others.  
“it is largely and profoundly the legacy of African-Americans,” writes Eliza Dinwiddie-Boyd in her baby-naming book “Proud Heritage.” Shalondra and Shaday, Jenneta and Jonelle, Michandra and Milika – in some parts of the country today, nearly a third of African-American girls are given a name belonging to no one else in the state (boys’ names tend to be somewhat more conservative).  
Why is this so ?

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