::: ducks and runs, twirling his evil moustache::::
Curses!! Foiled Again!!
…but not really. You sayin’ all black people look alike? 
Well, of course not. Black people, as I keep saying, are just like white people–poor and rich, educated and ignorant, cool and uncool. The only reason that race is even in this discussion is becuase o f the OP and the jerk Tarpal. Black kids named Shaniqua and white kids named Britney annoy me in equal amounts.
I say the hell with it, let’s just give kids binary codes and be done with it.
You know, I think it seems like Gobear was generalizing, when I don’t think his original intent was to. I think gobear was making the statement that if a black person, or any person, chose to name their kid something ridiculous and then justify it by saying it was from their race’s culture of origin, when in fact it wasn’t, is a bit lazy. For example, say I’m white, I name my kid Joeyna Shakespeare, and then justify it by saying that it was a cultural thing, then you have the right to call me lazy.
However, I think people are interpreting gobear’s posts as though he spoke about all black people, saying in effect that they only chose their names because they think it has some sort of cultural significance. I don’t think this is what his intent was… But then again, I will concede if I’m wrong.
Stupid, yes. But lazy?
My mother and father gave my twin sister and I unusual names (especially my sister). I don’t think they were lazy. I think they were smoking crack!
[font=2]Please don’t tell my momma I said that!**
I’m guessing Carrot-Top.
Hmmm…Okay, I see your point. I think lazy might but the improper word.
I don’t mean to keep harping on you, gobear, and I’m sorry if it appears so.
I agree race is starting to play too much into this discussion - but even if we went to binary numbers, the 1’s would look down on the 0’s. It seems to be how humans behave. My aim is to point out and help change that behavior.
Binary? It’s not all black and white, you know. There’s red and yellow, too.
Where is Tarpal? Show yourself, lurker!
I’m sure tarpal is off with Br’er Rabbit somewhere.
I have to give it a shot …
Sean/Shawn (sp?), Antoine (sp?), Ivan, and Sterling?
gobear – I agree that some people give their children African-American names mistakenly believing them to be of African origin.
But what you said was “Do the research and give your kids real African names”. You didn’t say, “If you would like your kids’ names to reflect a specifically African heritage, do the research. If you would like them to reflect their African-American heritage, which includes slave-names and many other cultural influences, such as a tradition of inventing names and name-parts, then by all means go ahead and use Shaniqua, or LaKeisha, or LaQuwanna.”
Nowhere in this thread have I seen you post any acknowledgement that traditional African-American names are the result of anything other than ignorance and laziness. These names do have a cultural significance because they reflect current African-American culture. The very fact that we recognize them as distinctively African-American shows that they are part of specific tradition.
If it was your intent only to criticize people for not knowing the meanings and origins of their names (which, by the way, is common among non African-Americans as well), that certainly wasn’t clear to me.
I still maintain that unusual and diverse names make the world a cooler place.
Meatros is right. I’m not talking about all black people. If I were, I would say “all”.
Exactly, thank you.
Frankly, I don’t want to focus on long, unwieldy African-American names; that’s only one example of a phenomenon. Dweezil and Moon Unit are equally ridiculous names to give your children. Or naming girls with two last names and no first name–Harrison Kensington.
As someone with a non-English name, I take offense at the idea that soemone might think me less qualified to work in a given position, just because my moniker isn’t something like “Jennifer.”
So far, I haven’t had anyone mis-guess the ethnic background of my name. That’s because, while people don’t usually recognize that my first name is Hebrew, my last name makes it pretty clear that I’m a Yid.
I nearly got married to a guy whose last name was “Johns.” That would have made me <my same first name> Johns, rather than <my same first name><last name as Jewish as “Goldberg.”> When I was talking about what it would be like to have this new last name, people told me, “You know…you might want to keep your original last name. If you took his name, people would think you’re black.” People who said that to me seemed to be genuinely concerned about my future–especially my prospects on the job market. They either implied or told me outright that having a name that sounded more likely to belong to an African-American than to a non-black could make life more difficult for me.
I’m genuinely saddened to know that the people who advised me to keep my name for my well-being actually had some rational reason–i.e., I could find it harder to get hired–for doing so.
I do have to say-and no offense to anyone with the name, or anyone who named their child that-but if I see ONE more little girl named “Madison”, I’m going to spew.
I know of a young Swazilander man and his sister. His name is Lucky and his sister’s name is Fortunate. Apparently, when their family emigrated to Canada, their mother didn’t want to have them burdened with Swazi names, so she had their names changed.
I don’t understand why there should be any objection to unconventional names. I do know that one of the ways that I remember names is by association with a previous Tom Dick or Harry. But how can you forget a Moesha.
Easily. That show sucks.
You just reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Saturday Night Live skits. Nicholas Cage was hosting the show, and he did a sketch with Victoria Jackson where they were prospective parents trying to pick a name for their soon-to-arrive baby boy …
Jackson: “How about Jack? That’s a good name!”
Cage: "Jack. Sure, Jack’s a great name. And while we’re at it, lets make his middle name O’Lantern, since that’s what everybody will call him anyway!
Jackson: “OK, OK. Um … how about Peter? Oh!”
Cage: “Look! No Peter, no Dick, no Willy, got it?!”
They went through about twenty names, with Cage coming up with more and more convoluted ways to mock them … Somewhere in the middle, they have this exchange:
Jackson: “Honey, did the other kids tease you a lot when you were little?”
Cage: “No! It’s just … well, kids can be cruel, you know? I just don’t want to expose him …”
And, of course, the payoff at the end:
(Doorbell rings. Cage opens the door to find a deliveryman.)
Deliveryman: “I have a package here for an, um, Asswipe Johnson.”
Cage: “It’s pronounced ‘Oz-wee-pay’!!”
It would be fun to have a contentious poster continue to post, wouldn’t it? But I don’t think that’s going to happen when fifty people violently attack the guy in a space of about two seconds. Isn’t this like biting off your nose to spite your face? (To coin a phrase.)
Maybe if you toned down the virulence a notch you could keep him posting and prolong your own enjoyment? And please don’t try to tell me you don’t enjoy it, bigots are like pearls around here.
My mother claims to have gone to school with a girl named Ophelia Rasse.