# Quvenzhane and made up black people's names **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2013, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948 "2013-01-12T08:55:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/21 "2013-01-12T14:59:07Z")
I don’t mind “made-up names” as long as they have some forethought. For example: Gaylord. If you name your child this, it will be hard for them. Or Rayon. I’ve met a Rayon, he seems like a nice kid, but really? You have the right to name your kid what you please, just don’t be a fucking moron about it. I’m sure there’s some poor kid named “Olestra”. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/22 "2013-01-12T15:11:14Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I hope that you also gave her a middle name that is not creatively spelled. Or at least, make sure the name is easy to pronounce. Sure did. Have also let her know that this way is how _I_ like to spell it, because it looks pretty to me, but if she’d like to spell it another way, or change it to something else, that’s cool, too. My subculture is very fluid with names, and they’re considered very personal, so she has many close role models whose names aren’t what their mothers gave them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/23 "2013-01-12T15:13:33Z")
“Gaylord” isn’t a made-up name, or at least not a recently made-up name. It’s certainly older than the modern meaning of “gay”. And **elbows** , most names are “not made-up” in the sense that the name is actually a word with preexisting meaning, or at least closely related to a word with preexisting meaning, in some language or another. To take my name as an example, “Daniel” doesn’t mean anything in English, but in Hebrew, it’s something like “The Lord is my judge”. > [@](#): > > You want to be creative? Do it in the kid’s middle name, so s/he can choose it if s/he likes it. This is my feeling, too. Go nuts with the middle name, but give the child a normal first name. Though I hasten to add that I’m not going to tell anyone specifically that they’re doing it wrong, for going against that advice. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/24 "2013-01-12T15:18:57Z")
There are names, made-up or otherwise, that I simply cannot make myself like and no amount of cutesy explanation will change that. But made-up/unique names, in general, are cool with me. I’ve worked with so many Mike’s, John’s, and Amy’s that you’d think we are having shortage of names or something. We need brave folks in society who aren’t afraid to turn out some different names just to shake things up. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/25 "2013-01-12T15:19:02Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Almost, but, when you get used to black names, you don’t ever say, “zane” when you see ‘zhane’. You say, ‘Juh-nay’, with the J being a soft, frenchy J. Pseudo-French (or -Spanish or -Italian) seems to be a long-favored tradition— phonetic approximations, at least. Not hard to figure out the motivation there, though: it sounds so _qu’laçé_! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/26 "2013-01-12T15:30:32Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > We need brave folks in society who aren’t afraid to turn out some different names just to shake things up. There’s no shortage of such “bravery”. If only more of them could spell. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/27 "2013-01-12T15:33:38Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > How are all names not just ‘made up’? Aren’t we just familiar with the ones we know, and so don’t consider them ‘made up’? In a way, in the sense that the culturally conventional names were adopted centuries ago and by now are ‘just names’ for most people. Part of the thinking is an unspoken assumption that a name _should_ “mean” something in a root language – since a lot of the root-language names did start as descriptive or allegorical phrases – but really hardly anyone really names a kid José or Joseph thinking to evoke that “God will increase”; it’s usually just to evoke the memory of old Granddad. It’s not a mandatory rule. Around here in PR there is something of a mild pushback regarding “creative names” from some quarters (besides the purely made up and the reverse-spelled, unusually compounded or gender-switched names, and the merely imported ones, we also have a minor trend of English names rendered in Spanish phonetics or vice-versa) but it doesn’t seem to be stopping anyone, and why should it? We’ve got more than enough Marías and Franciscos hanging around. The biggest pitfall of it is that if the creative name is too complex – or too subtle – you may end up with some official records that don’t match your Birth Certificate, but that can be dealt with by being conscientious about making sure the forms are properly filled out. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/28 "2013-01-12T15:35:29Z")
I’ll take a made-up name any day over a name based on, or chosen because of, a modern pop-culture sensation. Madison? Shudder. I’ll make an exception for Wendy, but only because I’m a hypocrite. Also, I dislike last names moved into the first name position, no matter the grand tradition of doing so. No Taylors, please. These are totally my problem, not anybody else’s. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/29 "2013-01-12T15:50:11Z")
I think a parent’s only responsibility about naming is to not pick a name that is easily mocked or turned into an insult. Sure you can bury your head and think most kids are sweet innocent angels. But in reality they are vile feral creatures when in the wild (playground, schoolyard etc). Don’t send your kids out into the world and paint a target on their back. Of course life is tough and they will run into problems, but as a parent you don’t want to be the cause. If you are a conscientious parent you should also do a little research and find out what the trendy names are at that time. That way your kid isn’t one of 10 Heathers in her class. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/30 "2013-01-12T16:12:49Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Right away, I knew how to pronounce it, without ever having heard it before. I looked at it carefully and still have no idea how the combination “Quv” is supposed to be pronounced. Or the “Nz” in your username. I’m white. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/31 "2013-01-12T16:14:15Z")
I do a lot of cooking, and during pregnancy I floated a lot of excellent food-related ideas for my son’s name, like Fennel or Prawn. Nothing doing; we ended up with a name from the Top 100. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/32 "2013-01-12T16:44:47Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > I looked at it carefully and still have no idea how the combination “Quv” is supposed to be pronounced. Or the “Nz” in your username. I’m white. IME (and yes, I really have met a couple Nzingas), the N in Nzinga is silent, it’s just pronounced Zinga. But [Nzinga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nzinga) is a forrealz historical African name, not a modern African-American one. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/33 "2013-01-12T16:48:24Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] If you are a conscientious parent you should also do a little research and find out what the trendy names are at that time. That way your kid isn’t one of 10 Heathers in her class. [/QUOTE] Or any of the -ayden variants like Aiden, Aydan, Braden, Jayden, etc. that have popped up in the past few years. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/34 "2013-01-12T16:52:39Z")
If you’re going to create a new name or just creatively spell an existing one for your new bundle o’ joy, write it down and check a dictionary and ask a few literate friends what they think of it first. A few that I’ve seen that may have been avoided that way are Chimera (pronounced sha-Mare-uh), Maleria (Mallory), Euretha, and Lavoris. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/35 "2013-01-12T16:55:30Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > IME (and yes, I really have met a couple Nzingas), the N in Nzinga is silent, it’s just pronounced Zinga… Both “Nzingas” that I know personally (one an adult who adopted the name in adulthood, the other a child) pronounce their names with the ‘n’ sound, before sayin ‘zinga’. That is how I pronounce it too. It is common in many African languages to go from ‘n’ or ‘m’ to another consonant with no vowel in between. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/36 "2013-01-12T17:08:20Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I do a lot of cooking, and during pregnancy I floated a lot of excellent food-related ideas for my son’s name, like Fennel or Prawn. Nothing doing; we ended up with a name from the Top 100. 🆒 Prawn would be an excellent fetal nickname. ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/37 "2013-01-12T17:09:12Z")
FWIW: I deliberately gave my children simple well known names so they wouldn’t have to go through life telling people how to spell and pronounce their names. Why burden children with that lifelong irritant. They aren’t pets, they’re people. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/38 "2013-01-12T17:26:27Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > How are all names not just ‘made up’? Aren’t we just familiar with the ones we know, and so don’t consider them ‘made up’? > [@Chronos](#): > > And **elbows** , most names are “not made-up” in the sense that the name is actually a word with preexisting meaning, or at least closely related to a word with preexisting meaning, in some language or another. To take my name as an example, “Daniel” doesn’t mean anything in English, but in Hebrew, it’s something like “The Lord is my judge”. Yup. I think, in the USA, most people are only familiar with hearing Native American names like “Dances With Wolves” 😛 and thinking that kind of naming is/was something unique to NA names. They don’t realize that that’s simply the person’s name being literally translated into English, and that pretty much every “traditional name” in any language started out the same way. This is one reason, if you’re reading the Bible’s Old Testament, or any other ancient text, so many of the names seem so complicated, what with having 14 syllables and all that. They weren’t necessarily one-word names in the original language. What you’re seeing is actually a descriptive phrase that _evolved_ into a name. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/39 "2013-01-12T17:35:46Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I think a parent’s only responsibility about naming is to not pick a name that is easily mocked or turned into an insult. Sure you can bury your head and think most kids are sweet innocent angels. But in reality they are vile feral creatures when in the wild (playground, schoolyard etc). Don’t send your kids out into the world and paint a target on their back. Of course life is tough and they will run into problems, but as a parent you don’t want to be the cause. > > If you are a conscientious parent you should also do a little research and find out what the trendy names are at that time. That way your kid isn’t one of 10 Heathers in her class. Exactly. I’m aware that “Gaylord” is a name that predates the modern meaning of “gay.” On the other hand, maybe giving a kid a name like that will toughen 'em up. Look at [Gaylord Silly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_Silly). Poor guy. And if you ARE gonna go Biblical, be creative. Name your daughter Rahab or your son Barabbas. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948/40 "2013-01-12T17:41:18Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > . . .We don’t name our kids Oranjello and Lemonjello, regardless of your friend’s sister being a teacher who had Oranjello in her class.. . . .. Maybe you don’t, [but someone](http://www.facebook.com/#!/lemonjello.washington?fref=ts) [somewhere](http://www.facebook.com/#!/oranjello.washingtongrey?fref=ts) did. Even if it was just made up for facebook! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quvenzhane-and-made-up-black-peoples-names/646948.md?page=3)