It could have easily begun in the large African-American community of Milwaukee. Chenequa is in the Milwaukee metro area, so it’s very likely that anyone living there would hear the name from time to time. Someone hearing it and finding it a pleasing combination of syllables, reason enough to give their daughter that name. That’s all it would take to get a trend started. As stated above, not all African-American given names necessarily have to reflect heritage from Africa. It could simply be that people liked the sound. Then there’s Sister Winona Carr.
(For Shakina above, read Shanika.)
Well, perhaps that is the source. Or perhaps it came about from both sources (how else do you explain [k]>[kw]?).
In either case, it goes to support my point, which is that Shaniqua isn’t just a silly made-up name, it has meaning and history behind it. So stop bashing it, haters of African-American names.
It might, but Shaniqua as a black name has the “sh” and “k/qu/kw” sounds common in many made up black names.
[QUOTE=Nzinga]
Let there be more and more Shaniquas, beautiful and smart and strong, and may they be the ones owning businesses that look at applications and judge them on the skill set of the applicant.
[/QUOTE]
I love this.
We named our kid not a “made-up” name, but a simple African one with meaning. My husband is African and we liked the name. Every black person I’ve ever met is familiar with the name, whereas white people look puzzled sometimes - but it’s a good name, it was the name of a well-respected president of an African country, and there’s only one spelling that I know of. So far my son (age 4) likes his name a lot, but obviously I guess I should ask him again in 10 years. I doubt his name will engender teasing, but he may have to spell it. We gave him a common, Anglo middle name that everyone will have heard of and will know how to spell. In light of the resume stats, which we thought about at the time, I will suggest that he consider using his first initial and middle name on resumes - just to beat the blind call-back odds. I guess some people would say we should not have named him something that could possibly tip the odds - but I say, it’s pretty easy to just use his middle name if he wants to, and if he doesn’t…let there be more and more.
It’s not just a “black” thing.
One of the things that flabbergbasted me when I lived out in Utah was the number of girl’s names beginning with “La” out threre.
LaDawn
LaRae
LaVell
Utah is the only place where “Lynette” is spelled “LaNette”
I’m not the only one to notice this. This page also observes the use of “je-” in Utah girl names.
I don’t know if it’s an LDS thing or a Utah culture thing, but they can’t claim French ancestry/heritage for this (like, for instance, Haitians)*, so I don’t know where it comes from.
*actually, Haitians I’ve known have used pretty traditional French names. Although they sound much more exotic when pronounced in French.
I found this on a site labeled “Utah Baby Namer; Girl’s Names”. Brings back memories:
Well that’s it. If I ever have a kid I’m naming it LaDonnaJosephrania. Boy or girl - hardly matters, does it?
One thing that’s been a great gift about my name (I’ll out myself - Sara) although I despised it as a child is that it goes into pretty much all the other languages I’ve had to try it in. I haven’t encountered anybody from anywhere who has a hard time with any of the sounds in it, although they might say it with an accent. (And it’s almost always prettier that way anyway.) Trust me, in Japanese class it was hard not to lord it over poor Clarence.
Well, there’s “Nelson,” “Nilsson,” “Nielsen,” etc…
What’s wrong with Aidan?
My name is unusual in the US to the point where I’d be surprised if there are many American born people with my name who don’t have an Irish parent. Because of that when I tell people my name when I’ve over there I often get people thinking it is “McCormick” like the spice company.
My brother is law has a name pronounced Cole but that has 9 letters.
At least “Morona” makes sense.
That’s been supplanted by both “Gynifer” and “Ginnifer”. The first of those looks like doctor shorthand for “gynecological referral”.
Nah, that’s not a name white people would be unfamiliar with. I’m betting on Thabo, which is a cool name.
This reminded me of the old joke about the two poodles and the mutt that meet in the park one day. The mutt asks them their names.
First poodle: My name is Fifi – F-I-F-I
Second poodle: My name is Mimi – M-I-M-I
Mutt: Well, my name is Fido – P-H-Y-D-E-A-U-X
John Scalzi’s cat is named “Ghlaghghee.”
Pronounced “Fluffy”.
Yup. There are many people in the Silicon Valley whose families are from parts of East Asia or India. Even though their kids are American born, there are some parents who still give their kids names that are romanized from their Chinese, Japanese, or Korean names. I know a few of such people who would go by more recognizable English names as their preferred name, but still have their romanized ethnic names as their official name on all their important documents. Though, I think it is more common with most first generation American born Chinese/Taiwanese folks to have official English first names with their ethnic given name incorporated as their middle name. They would go by their ethnic names when conducting affairs in Asia or within their families or circle of family friends. Example: NBA player Jeremy Shu-How Lin, who is known by his Chinese name 林書豪 (Lin Shu-How) where applicable.
Lots of Indian kids have less recognizable names too, unless they are raised Catholic or something. I remember starting out in kindgergarten and finding my Indian friend’s name really strange, because it wasn’t like kids in books or on TV were called Sveta or Shivani. Nowadays maybe, but not back then. But now they are as common sounding as “John” or “Jane” to me; I would not blink twice at most Indian names and probably could spell them with no problem.
Anyway, most people in the Silicon Valley are smart and bilingual/multilingual. It would not blow their minds to learn foreign-sounding names.
I’m kinda in the school of, it’s ok to be creative but don’t go nuts. They’re little people who are going to grow into adults who will have to deal with your ‘creativity’ for their entire lives. It really makes an impression on others when they see names that instantly remind them of the ‘ghetto’ or just general low class backgrounds.
I worked in daycare a while back, and some of the names I encountered were just frightful. In the area I was, it seemed the trend at the time among the African American community was to name children after their means of conception. We had kids named things like Alize, Hennessy and Sativa. I remember asking the mother of the boy named Hennessy why she’d named him after alcohol. She just laughed and said that was how she got pregnant. Drunk on Hennessy. And all I could think of was ‘classy’. 
I can’t imagine what those kids are going to have to endure during their lives because of their parents’ ‘creativity’.
So Sativa’s parents were high?
I come from a culture where made-up names are common, although being in Spanish, even the weird combos are easy to pronounce if you see them written, and easy to understand if you hear them. They are only troublesome if you want to move from listening the name to writing the name.
I have a made up name myself, so I like it quite well and I’m accustomed to hearing made-up names. I agree that some are prettier than others, but that can be said of any name, even the common ones.
I also want to reiterate that some made-up names may mean something in another language or culture. Besides made-up names, the other fad in my culture was to give names in the native american language of the area. So if someone from other region sees the name, they may think it is invented, but they’re not at all invented, just from a language that has been dead for centuries.
I’m not a big drinker and both my husband and I grew up in non-drinking households. So that said, as a person who likes and appreciates creative names, I could easily see myself latching on to Hennessey. It’s pretty and different and I would’ve had no idea it was alcohol. Just saying that sometimes the motives are not nefarious.
On the flip side, back when I had a vague thought about having children, Allegra was a front runner. Yeah, not so much.
And Condoleeza isn’t made up, it’s a musical term used as a first name.
**
An Gadaí**, Aidan was perfectly lovely till every other boy in the US was named that. Also, Ryan seems to be a girl’s name now.
And my name is the variant spelling Gwendolen. My father spelled it that way so that none of the letters would go below the line (and there’s another en in my last name).
The musical term is con dolcezza. Condoleezza (two Zs) is a made-up variation on that.