# Who was the first Shaniqua? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660 "2007-05-03T20:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/61 "2007-05-07T15:47:06Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Shi-thead. [/QUOTE] Since that one is the subject of a common urban legend, I think it calls for a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/62 "2007-05-07T15:56:00Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Since that one is the subject of a common urban legend, I think it calls for a cite. [/QUOTE] All I can say is that Lewis Black swear’s it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/63 "2007-05-07T15:57:16Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] The Latino culture is my own… [/QUOTE] As for cites, I was hoping for some examples. In most cases, you described types of names, without giving examples. I was also hoping for references, like a link to a webpage actually mentioning someone named Usmail or Usnavy. As to unique names and spellings, a close relative of mine has named her kid Kaemon Alekzandr. She said she doesn’t want her kid to have any of the sterotypes associated with “normal” names. :smack: :smack: :smack: -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/64 "2007-05-07T16:06:10Z")
The obligatory SNL site: [Os-wee-pay](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/92/92ababynames.phtml). ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/65 "2007-05-07T16:46:47Z")
_If_ Chenequa and Shaniqua are related then the name may very well have been around for a long time. > [@](#): > > The name “Chenequa” comes from the Potawatomi Indian word for “pine”, referring to a rare Southern Wisconsin grove of white pine. This same stand of white pine can be seen along the Eastern Shore of Pine Lake. From the official [Chenequa, WI](http://www.chenequa.wi.us/) website, backed up by various other sites if you run a search on Chenequa and Potawatomi. It seems possible to me that the name could have been borrowed from Native Americans. Maybe not because of a fondness of pine, but simply because it’s a pleasing and–until recently–fairly unusual name. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/66 "2007-05-07T17:10:25Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] As for cites, I was hoping for some examples. In most cases, you described types of names, without giving examples. I was also hoping for references, like a link to a webpage actually mentioning someone named Usmail or Usnavy. As to unique names and spellings, a close relative of mine has named her kid Kaemon Alekzandr. She said she doesn’t want her kid to have any of the sterotypes associated with “normal” names. :smack: :smack: :smack: -FrL- [/QUOTE] Believe me, her kid will have to deal with a ton of stereotypes because of that name. Sorry for not including lists of names. You could sit punching your keyboard and make your own. Here go some from people I personally know: Mashups: Ailicec (Cecilia backwards) Ilce (Ilgora and Cesar) Nelinda (Nelson and Melinda) Girls with Y’s in their names: Yanet (reads as Jeanette) Yamilet Yajayra (why have one Y when you can have two?) Yuritzenaida (also a mashup and with room for 3 Y’s for enterprising parents) Names with non-standard pronunciations: Sajayra (standard read sah-HI-rah, parents insist on sah-JIE-rah) Alecxavier (a mashup, unreadable in spanish, parents say it with no C) Boys with A\*iel: Agdiel Adniel Yaniel (they all piss me off because my name is Daniel and makes me turn when they are called) As for links to the life and deed of the Washington’s and Usnavy’s, they are mostly limited to the police blotter of regional newspapers, I am afraid. There is a book by a Puerto Rican author (Pedro Juan Soto) named “Usmail” about a woman who names her kid so as she waits for letters from the father (I believe, my wife gave it to my dad before I got the chance to read it, so all I have are their conversations and spoilers). You know a name has gone mainstream when it becomes the title of a book. Usmail, btw, is read ooze-mah-EEL ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/67 "2007-05-07T18:15:23Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] All I can say is that Lewis Black swear’s it’s true. [/QUOTE] My friend’s mother, who is a delivery nurse (or whatever you call them), also swears it’s true. However, the more I hear this story, the more I assume his mother is just relaying a story she heard circulating around the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/68 "2007-05-07T18:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Believe me, her kid will have to deal with a ton of stereotypes because of that name. [/quote] Really? Personally speaking, the name “Kaemon” is entirely new to me, and it doesn’t seem to follow any pattern of “those people’s names” that I am aware of, so I don’t know of any relevant stereotypes. > [@](#): > > Usmail, btw, is read ooze-mah-EEL Could it have originated as a variant of Ismail? ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/69 "2007-05-07T19:15:15Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] I don’t think any other culture is as unkind to their offspring as the Latino when it comes to inflicting names on them. [/QUOTE] Although it’s fallen out of favor (thank goodness), those zany Brits once inflicted “Beauchamp” and “Chalmondeley” as names upon _their_ offspring: an unkindness beyond the pale, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/70 "2007-05-08T00:09:33Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Could it have originated as a variant of Ismail? [/QUOTE] One would hope 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/71 "2007-05-08T04:21:55Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] I cacn find a women named _Shaniqua Rene Johnson_ as being the (adult, probably) daughter of a 47-year-old lady who’s obituary appeared in the _Port Arthur(TX) News_ in 1975. [/QUOTE] From the Texas birth index: Shaniqua Renee Johnson, born 15 July 1966, Jefferson County, Texas. Parents: Harold Lee Johnson, Lenora Anderson. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/72 "2007-06-21T12:54:46Z")
Then there’s always 4real: [http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/21/name.child.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/21/name.child.ap/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![melvin\_coznowski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@melvin\_coznowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melvin_coznowski)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/73 "2007-06-21T13:31:52Z")
In a (fictional) related development to Elendil’s Heir cite about ‘4real’, Charles Schultz introduced the character of ‘5’ in Peanuts. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5\_(Peanuts)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_(Peanuts)) I named my children normal Anglo names for the very reasons outlined in this thread: why should someone be saddled with a name that might be cute in childhood, but is horrible by adult standards? (Or vice-versa? Names like Bertha and Gladys are old women’s names, IMO. I can’t imagine a 6-year old girl named ‘Bertha’.) ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/74 "2007-06-21T14:08:23Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Then there’s always 4real: [http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/21/name.child.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/21/name.child.ap/index.html) [/QUOTE] Are you for real? No, I am John, he is the one in the red shirt, over there. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/75 "2007-06-21T14:21:14Z")
[QUOTE=melvin coznowski] In a (fictional) related development to Elendil’s Heir cite about ‘4real’, Charles Schultz introduced the character of ‘5’ in Peanuts. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5\_(Peanuts)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_(Peanuts))… [/QUOTE] Linky no worky. ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/76 "2007-06-21T15:28:44Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] The book _Freakonomics_ explains this phenomona. A name gains popularity with the rich and middle class strata (say, Britney or Ansley) and then a few years later, those same names are adopted by poorer folks, usually with modified spellings. [/QUOTE] Elian was also a made up name, but it’s very popular in Cuba now, I have two(!) cousins named Elian. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/77 "2007-06-21T15:52:26Z")
[QUOTE=melvin coznowski] In a (fictional) related development to Elendil’s Heir cite about ‘4real’, Charles Schultz introduced the character of ‘5’ in Peanuts. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5\_(Peanuts)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_(Peanuts)) I named my children normal Anglo names for the very reasons outlined in this thread: why should someone be saddled with a name that might be cute in childhood, but is horrible by adult standards? (Or vice-versa? Names like Bertha and Gladys are old women’s names, IMO. I can’t imagine a 6-year old girl named ‘Bertha’.) [/QUOTE] So that idea, of a character named “5,” including the backstory as to why it came to be that way and so on… That’s kind of funny. So did Peanuts used to be funny then? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Themenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Themenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themenin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/78 "2007-06-21T16:36:51Z")
[QUOTE=lalenin] Elian was also a made up name, but it’s very popular in Cuba now, I have two(!) cousins named Elian. [/QUOTE] I don’t know that I’d call it ‘made up’. It’s a somewhat common name in France (goes back to the middle-ages), though more common in the feminine Eliane. I always think it sounds too much like ‘alien’, but that’s another story. We had a wave of American ‘soap-opera names’ over here a few years back - French kids called Brandon and Tiffany (US spelling) and so forth. There’s a French comic, Elie Semoun who does a routine with a girl called Kevina. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/79 "2007-06-21T17:48:50Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Mashups are common for [creating names in Utah](http://wesclark.com/ubn/), too. [/QUOTE] Hm. There are a lot of Mormons in Alberta, too. This may explain one of the more truly horrendous names I found in the Alberta baby names register for 2006: “Fredvieve.” > [@erie774](#): > > Little boys in Toronto named Peeyair? I have seen a number of innovative spellings of French names in Québec, along the lines of “Véronik” for Véronique and the like. There also seems to be a peculiar trend for English names: “William” was the most popular boy’s name in Quebec last year. They haven’t quite reached the excesses of Britnee and Maddysin, though; most of the French-named young people I know spell their names conventionally. > [@](#): > > Drifting off topic but is anybody else noticing a rash of little Reagans over the past few years, as a girl’s name? That seems like such a cruel thing to do to a child. Also considering the other possible allusion for “Regan” as a girl’s name. (Not too many young ladies running around named “Goneril,” I notice.) > [@](#): > > I think these kinds of laws are pretty common in Western Europe – France and Denmark also have name laws. As does Quebec - we don’t have a list, but the registrar of civil status has veto power over obviously idiotic name (like the Macarthur winners who tried to name their kid “Spatule” (cooking spatula or spoonbill bird) a few years ago). ---
**Author:** ![melvin\_coznowski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@melvin\_coznowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melvin_coznowski)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660/80 "2007-06-21T18:04:51Z")
> [@](#): > > So did Peanuts used to be funny then? I thought it was…humorous enough to own several books, but it wasn’t gut-busting hilarious. Remember also, that Linda Blair’s character in The Exorcist was named Regan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-shaniqua/402660.md?page=5)