So, What’s In a Name?
by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson
Growing up as a Latoya, I used to be a bit annoyed with people asking me about my name and what it meant. Luckily, I was an 80s Latoya, which means I just had to respond to a lot of lame Jackson family jokes. As I grew older, I met more and more Latoyas, and felt a bit disappointed. My name was no longer unique, depending on the area. When I was a senior in high school, I knew four other Latoyas (and LaToyas) personally, and knew of a few more. At my job now, there was a LaToya working before me, so I am now and forever Latoya P. or LP. These days, my name is fairly normal, so unless I am calling across the pond* I don’t have to deal with much fuss.
Generally, the reception to my name has been pretty positive.** The only person who seems to regret it is my Mom. And while I toyed with the idea of changing my name, it was always to make it something more “cool” and less normal.***
So, I must admit, I was fairly pleased to see a piece in the New York Times backing up what I’ve known all along: People with unique names generally turn out fine. The article “A Boy Names Sue, and a Theory of Names” breaks it down:
During his 1969 concert at San Quentin prison, Johnny Cash proposed a paradigm shift in the field of developmental psychology. He used “A Boy Named Sue” to present two hypotheses:
1. A child with an awful name might grow up to be a relatively normal adult.
2. The parent who inflicted the name does not deserve to be executed.
I immediately welcomed the Boy Named Sue paradigm, although I realized that I might be biased by my middle name (Marion). Cash and his ambiguously named male collaborator, the lyricist Shel Silverstein, could offer only anecdotal evidence against decades of research suggesting that children with weird names were destined for places like San Quentin.
Studies showed that children with odd names got worse grades and were less popular than other classmates in elementary school. In college they were more likely to flunk out or become “psychoneurotic.” Prospective bosses spurned their résumés. They were overrepresented among emotionally disturbed children and psychiatric patients.
[…]
Today, though, the case for Mr. Cash’s theory looks much stronger, and I say this even after learning about Emma Royd and Post Office in a new book, “Bad Baby Names,” by Michael Sherrod and Matthew Rayback.
By scouring census records from 1790 to 1930, Mr. Sherrod and Mr. Rayback discovered Garage Empty, Hysteria Johnson, King Arthur, Infinity Hubbard, Please Cope, Major Slaughter, Helen Troy, several Satans and a host of colleagues to the famed Ima Hogg (including Ima Pigg, Ima Muskrat, Ima Nut and Ima Hooker).
The authors also interviewed adults today who had survived names like Candy Stohr, Cash Guy, Mary Christmas, River Jordan and Rasp Berry. All of them, even Happy Day, seemed untraumatized.
“They were very proud of their names, almost overly proud,” Mr. Sherrod said. “We asked if that was a reaction to getting pummeled when they were little, but they said they didn’t get that much ribbing. They did get a little tired of hearing the same jokes, but they liked having an unusual name because it made them stand out.”
My personal favorite paragraphs are these two:
Other researchers found that children with unusual names were more likely to have poorer and less educated parents, handicaps that explained their problems in school. Martin Ford and other psychologists reported, after controlling for race and ethnicity, that children with unusual names did as well as others in school. The economists Roland Fryer and Steven Levitt reached a similar conclusion after controlling for socioeconomic variables in a study of black children with distinctive names.
“Names only have a significant influence when that is the only thing you know about the person,” said Dr. Ford, a developmental psychologist at George Mason University. “Add a picture, and the impact of the name recedes. Add information about personality, motivation and ability, and the impact of the name shrinks to minimal significance.”
I remember that chapter in Freakonomics quite well, and not just because it directly applies to me. What I found were people trying to explain away my name based on the Freakonomics theory without paying attention to (1) the conclusion that the authors come to in the chapter and (2) that Freakonomics is a book applying economic theory to random events in real life. Just because Levitt and Freyer came up with a conclusion that does not make their results fact.
If you check out Levitt and Freyer’s original research paper, you see their conclusion clear as day in the first paragraph:
We find, however, no negative relationship between having a distinctively Black name and later life outcomes after controlling for a child’s circumstances at birth.
So research suggests there is no negative relationship.
However, there is a social penalty, which we discovered in Wendi’s post Sumpin’ Turrrble. There are still many people who will place a value judgement on your name, which does have an impact on one very key area of life. Let’s revisit the second paragraph from the Times’ article:
“Names only have a significant influence when that is the only thing you know about the person,” said Dr. Ford, a developmental psychologist at George Mason University. “Add a picture, and the impact of the name recedes. Add information about personality, motivation and ability, and the impact of the name shrinks to minimal significance.”
So, where in life does it occur when someone is in the position to make a value judgement about you based only on your name?
In the hiring process.
The only time in my adult life when I have ever considered using a different version of my name was a couple years ago, when I was on the border of being an administrative assistant and getting a job with a new title. I noticed that the amount of callbacks I received did not reflect my qualifications. In many cases, I was overqualified in the right ways for the position (i.e., they asked for three years and I had four; they asked for MS Office and I had that plus bookkeeping, etc.) but still did not get the call back. My time based in recruiting positions also fed my name based-paranoia because I remember seeing things like that happen. People would look at the name on the resume and make a value judgement, regardless of skills. So ethnic names (and I mean any ethnic name - last or first) were often assumed to be accompanied by an accent and therefore deemed inappropriate for reception duties. Sometimes it was the recruiter making this judgement call, sometimes it was the client, but a lot of people with adequate to excellent resumes never got the chance to present themselves in an interview.
Ultimately, I decided that having my name potentially work against me in hiring might be a positive thing. I doubt I would want to work for a company who would use a name as means to select a candidate. So it works out.
Also, in Wendi’s post, a few of the commenters brought up some excellent points. EvilAngelFish’s post (number 73) shows how bias factors into areas like housing and recruitment. And commenter Wanna provides the other side of this perspective:
Wanna wrote:
Interesting discussion and points made by all.
My first name is Tawanna. When I was a child, people of all colors used to have a lot of trouble with it. But I haven’t had an issue with it in decades, and I have not personally felt any stigma with having such an ethnic sounding name.
Except from other blacks.
My husband told me once that when he and I were getting to know each other in college, he “was surprised at how intelligent I was for a Tawanna”. *wrinkles nose* And when I met his mother, she was blunt enough to comment on the poor choice of name my parents gave me. Since then, the only other negative experiences I have had with my name have been from other blacks on message boards.
I thought of Wanna’s comment when I was reading the Stuff Black People Hate Blog.**** In Admiral Furious’ latest post, he takes on what he calls “Stupid Names:”
At a Kenneth Cole in Bethesda a few months back, I had the pleasure of meeting a very attractive young black woman working the sales floor. Very tall, very well-built, assertive yet soft-spoken, and ambitious enough to be pursuing an advanced degree without being a dick about it. I was damn near ready to marry this girl on the spot.
Then she told me her name. “La La.”
This was her actual fucking name. It wasn’t a nickname. It wasn’t her middle name. It wasn’t her name in Sanskrit. I’m sorry to say it, but the conversation pretty much ended there. Assuming things got serious, there’s no way I’m introducing to my mother a chick whose name doubles as a drug-induced slur. I’d rather be keelhauled.
The incident got me thinking about all the ridiculous names of black people I’ve come across in my lifetime, and exactly why the fuck these childrens’ parents would do something so socially damning as to name their child something like ‘Sugar’ or ‘Heaven’ or ‘Knoshawn’.
Any parent who gives their child a ridiculous name is dooming that child to failure in more ways than they could possibly fathom. It will inhibit your life professionally, socially, romantically, and even physically […]
In analyzing this cultural disease, it became apparent that stupid black names fall under four major categories (listed in decreasing order of popularity):
1. Swahili Bastardizations
2. Megalomaniacal Descriptors
3. Luxury Latch-Ons
4. The Unfathomably RidiculousI will address these in turn.
He goes on to provide an indepth analysis/rant against each of the four groups.
My take from all this is that it is the perceptions of names that need to change, and not the names themselves.
Your thoughts?
—
*However, if I do call the UK, I always find myself in the same conversation. “Your name is Victoria? No? Oh, La-toya? Well, that is certainly unique. Very pretty. What does your name mean? No meaning? Well, you’re parents were certainly creative!”
**My friend Rob actually came down with a case of name envy. He thought his name was boring, and he said he wanted to be a “La.” So we just renamed him “LaRob.” We called him that the entire year we worked together.
*** Which is why I am thankful they make you wait until you are 18 to change your name. You could be reading pieces by “Rosetta Stardust” if my 11 year old self had her way.
**** WARNING - This is not a blog for casual readers. Rude, mean, occassionally racist commentary from a bitter and astute black man. If you follow this link start here. And then go here. And then read the blog.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Cynthia wrote:
I think a more recognizable or “proper” name certainly helps. My legal name was Cindy for a very long time. While I was Cindy, I made mediocre/average grades, though I was popular. Cindy is associated with ditzy cheerleader with loads of friends. When I assumed (and later, legally changed to) Cynthia, my grades soared as I felt more confident academically.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 9:04 am ¶
j wrote:
I’m black but have an ambiguous sounding name - both my first and last names are European ethnic names of two different ethnicities - the last name a result of slavery, the first of my mom’s ‘creativity’ but her not realizing that it was a real name in Sweden. So I’ve had the opposite job experience where I’ve been called in for interviews only to be confronted with a frankly stunned interviewer who likely expected to meet a blond Scandinavian. I even once had a potential landlord slam the door in my face when I came to view an apartment and another gentlemen threaten libel when I showed up to look at a house I was considering buying. In both cases I also spoke with the people over the phone and my ’sounding white’ also reinforced their sense of being deceived by me. On occasion in my youth I wished that I had a more black sounding name but now I just roll with it.
Clearly, the names aren’t the issue but rather the perception of names. It’s funny how threatened some folks can feel by those perceptions.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 9:13 am ¶
Eva wrote:
This is funny; I have one of the most WASPish sounding names ever and it’s funny when people meet me in real life and say stuff like, “I thought you were a blonde chick from some farm in Iowa.”
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 9:33 am ¶
Lisa wrote:
Oh man. My name is Jalisa, that’s not the spelling but that’s the way it’s pronounced. The name itself isn’t bad but the way my mom chose to spell it is very ‘ghetto’. I don’t think anyone’s ever pronounced my name right on the first try. I love it but I’ve thought about changing it so many times. To ‘J. Smith’ or ‘Lisa’.
I don’t think my obviously black name hinders me though. I’ve always made great grades, had lots of friends, and every job I’ve ever interviewed for, I’ve gotten.
Most people tell my what a pretty name it is or ask what it means. I just tell them my mom’s favorite show was ‘A Different World’. And I actually know about 3 other Jalisa’s who were named because of the that show.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 9:45 am ¶
Mickey wrote:
My real name is…different and hard to pronounce, but it doesn’t sound…ethnic. Combined with my white sounding last name and you can imagine the fun someone could have trying to figure out how to say it and what race I am.
I worked at a phone company and we once had a customer named Vagina (pronounced Va-geena). That was truly a case were reading is fun-damental.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 10:47 am ¶
Thea wrote:
This post is really interesting! My name is pronounced Tay-ah which causes endless confusion, esp. after the release of the early 90’s sitcom “Thea”, where the main character’s name is said “Thee-ah”.
I’m very proud of my unusual name! And I think it probably forces me to be more assertive than I might normally be, as people usually have to ask a few times before they commit the pronounciation to mind.
Another thing I like about my name is that it allows me to side-step the old “where are you really from?” question. People will often ask me where my name comes from, which I suspect is sometimes a more innocuous version of “where are you really from?” I tell them it is a Greek word pronounced the Scandinavian way. This of course prompts the old “So you’re Greek? Scandinavian?” I’m neither, and we have to continue playing the ethnic guessing game until they realise that I’m just not that comfortable with them demanding to know where my parents are from.
Though of course sometimes it doesn’t go that way and just prolongs the painful “no really, where are you from?’ convo…
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 11:07 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
You know, there are certain times when the “where are you from” question is not that nasty. As I went to a university where most of the students were NOT commuters, it was quite normal. Many of the students at Queen’s University were from Toronto or Ottawa, so naturally, people would want to know if you know so-and-so.
“Where are you from?” is usually followed by “Which high school?” followed by “OMG! So-and-so was in your class, right? I went to camp with her!”
*back to our regularly scheduled program*
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 11:29 am ¶
Abu Sinan wrote:
We have two little boys. We named them Arabic names.
Sinan, almost three, gets Americans who cannot say his name right and Arabs who want to kid him and call him “Sanoon” meaning “tooth”.
Sayf, almost 2, gets it a little easier on the Arabic side. It is an old fashioned, but well respected name meaning “Sword”. Although, once again, Americans slaughter it.
Considering both of them are half Arab/white white, but can pass for 100% white, I am sure they are sure to get lots of questions about their names and how they ended up with them.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 12:04 pm ¶
Alicia wrote:
I ended up with Alicia from my white mother, and with that spelling and being white/black, the most I tend to get is a misidentification as dominican.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 12:34 pm ¶
Kandee wrote:
[FTR-my post name is not birth name]
Interesting post. I have an modified Indian name and my husband has a common Middle Eastern name. We named our 3 boys with a Middle Eastern name, African name, and Indian/South Asian name. It’s nice when I meet people from those regions and they immediately know how to pronounce them. It’s like having a split-moment connection among strangers.
When I was younger, I wanted to be called Michelle because I was a new immigrant and I didn’t want to give kids another reason not to like me. As I got older, I identified with its uniqueness. I get lots of complements on it. Perhaps its the way I say it with confidence. My experience with my name has made me respectful of others’ names and their pronunciation.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 12:50 pm ¶
deb wrote:
My name is spelled “deborah” but I pronounce it “debra”. I should pronounce it, de-BOR-ah, the way my mom intended, but I always think I’m sounding pretentious, like, “Jack-kay” instead of “Jackie.”
I pronounce my name the correct way in order for people to spell it right. But, I hate when people say: “Oh, you mean, ‘Debra.’” No, trick. I mean de-BOR-ah. Don’t correct me!
I really need to just go with the three-syllable pronouciation.
Slate ran an article on “super-black” name a few years ago. It was pretty interesting. And I’ll never forget a name I came across in the NY Daily News eight years ago: “Glamorgucci”. Yes. That was the baby’s name. Perhaps she’s called “Gigi” these days?
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 1:01 pm ¶
momo wrote:
I like my name …Syreeta. I was named after the one hit wonder singer. I don’t get treated differently because of my name. People don’t say I thought you were ___ because of your name. Alot of people say that my name is exotic and they like it =) The only “problem” I have with my name is the fact that alot of people pronounce it wrong….but whatever I just correct them…but then correcting people becomes really annoying so now everyone just calls me Rita =( its ok I guess… but I really love my name and I looooovvvveee it when people say Syreeta (properly) … pronounced like the country Syria with a ita so its pronounced Syrita (*_*)
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 2:06 pm ¶
turtlebella wrote:
When I was a kid I was made fun of for my first name- a Latino (and generally just Romance language-y) name. When very small I pronounced as it is in Spanish which was completely impossible for white Americans to comprehend, at some point I realized this and changed to the American pronunciation. Which is fine but I, like momo/Syreeta looooooooove it when people say it right. It makes me feel at home and accepted. I went through a phase, when I was getting made fun of a lot, where I wanted to change my name. But that was a brief time- I love my name, wouldn’t change it for the world. And would never change it for something more generic/white-bred!!!! I do get questions like, “Are you Spanish?/Italian?” etc but I always proudly announce that I am Latina and if people really probe then I say that my mom is Mexican. The proud thing generally stops people from saying, “Oh but you don’t LOOK Mexican.” etc. since I’m light-skinned and don’t conform to their stereotypical Mexican image.
I liked Thea’s story too because I really want to name my future daughter Dorothea, but pronounced Doro-Taaya. But I don’t like the spelling Dorotea. She’d have to spell her name and correct pronunciation, sure. But I have to do that too and it’s not horrible, scarring experience. And having an unusual name is overall more a positive experience. I’ve never had employment/hiring issues, but that may be because of my fairly white-sounding last name (courtesy of my dad).
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 2:50 pm ¶
ambre wrote:
Name confusion - story of my life! So my first name is not all that unusual except for the fact that it’s a French spelling (and I don’t pronounce it with a French accent) so it causes tons of problems (Thea - I feel your “ethnic guessing game” pain). People constantly ask me if I’m spelling my name properly - even at age 25 (seriously). I have a Spanish last name, as my father’s family is Mexican-American, but as a mixed kid I “don’t look Mexican” so this causes even more problems. People see the last name and assume that my first name is supposed to be Spanish and ask if my parents meant to name me “hambre” (hungry) or “hombre” (man) (btw - I’m a girl) which, both of my parents being familiar with these words were not intending this at all.
Sure, I got a fair share of teasing as “hambre” and “hombre” in school, but I had an equal share of trouble from teachers. One of the biggest incidents was in high school - I had a substitute call out my name for roll call (pronounced incorrectly as usual) and I responded - correcting her pronunciation, but then she retorted “No, I called ambre, and you cannot be ambre!” “uhh…yes I am, do you want to see my ID?” “NO, YOU’RE NOT! ambre! ambre! ok - ABSENT!” My friends were all laughing like the woman was crazy - and I was pretty shocked by the whole thing. Luckily when I told my mom about it she was furious and called the school district to complain (and we confirmed that she had in fact marked me absent). The sub was no longer allowed to teach at my school after that!
These days I still have problems, applying for jobs and whatnot. I started a new job about an month ago, and a co-worker told me “Oh, I thought you were going to be Mexican” “Well, I AM”
Throw my middle name into the mix and it just gets more complicated! I’m totally content with my name though, and I think I turned out alright….
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 2:59 pm ¶
Martinique wrote:
I’ve often had people assume I was black (I’m white) because of my name, and I love having a unique name, even though everytime I introduce myself it goes like this.
“I’m Martinique.”
“Mar—?”
“Mar-tin-nique.”
“Oh! Mart:-nique.”
sigh…
But what I find interesting, is that it’s white people that always do the awful pronunciation making it a two-syllable name and far less pretty than the correct version. All my friends that are pakistani, latino, african, black etc have always pronounced my name correctly. I’ve met two black women with my name in the past and they’ve said the same thing.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 3:22 pm ¶
macintyre wrote:
I know of at least one empirical study showing that names do matter a lot for initial job application callbacks — http://www.atypon-link.com/doi/abs/10.1257/0002828042002561. Does Freakonomics debunk that one?
There’s probably a pretty significant class vector as well as race — a “Bobbi Jo” will probably be disadvantaged as well as a “Sheniqua”.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 3:22 pm ¶
macintyre wrote:
Oops, sorry - that link was incorrect. Here’s the study showing that black names got 50% fewer callbacks:
http://www.atypon-link.com/doi/abs/10.1257/0002828042002561
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 3:23 pm ¶
B! wrote:
In first grade, my teacher did a little activity with us. We had to draw the meaning of our names on a sheet of paper, after she told us the meaning from a dictory. I remember when she got to Shaniqua, she said, “Well, that doesn’t mean anything. Just draw yourself.” And then she told me that my name means white in Italian. I left my paper blank, which made me upset. My teacher gave me a sad face because I didn’t draw anything (I still don’t know what I was supposed to draw), which made me more upset. And then I cried because I didn’t “match” my name. My mom later told me she meant no harm; I was named after Bianca Jagger, who’s pretty great.
Lots of people seem to have something to say about my name: they love it, they named their cat Bianca, they thought all Biancas were snobs.
I still feel awkward telling my people what my name means. When I visited Italy, it was *very* awkward but also became a wonderful ice breaker.
I’ve had some conversations with my students about how they think people beyond the blocks of Bed-Stuy may react to their names names. One teacher calls them “colorful”. Our students’ names seem to fall into two camps: Arabic names and then the “super-black” names with lots of apostrophes and accents and extra letters, like J’Shared, Tyawnah, Kaysuan…
I won’t lie. Three years ago, when I met a professional woman named Shanika, I was surprised. Not because I’d had assumptions about people with *those* names not being successful, but because it was the first time I realized that the higher I moved academically, the less I heard *those* names. Then I started to wonder about how names may affect opportunities for achievement.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 6:36 pm ¶
Torontonian wrote:
Of course it’s the perception of the names that need to be changed, not the names themselves.
However, I do feel that my ethnic name works against me in job applications, because people would assume that I’m an immigrant, that have an accent, and that I have poor writing skills. It seems like because of my name, people assume I’m good at math and bad at English, so I tend to get interviews for the math/science jobs rather than the English writing jobs. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle that reinforces stereotypes.
The good thing about my ethnic name is that people can’t tell what gender I am.
I don’t know about the attitude “if they’re prejudiced against certain names, I wouldn’t want to work there anyway.” It’s really a balance between multiple positive and negative factors (such as needing money to live), and it should be up to me to decide what is best for myself. It’s still discrimination that reduces my range of freedom, which other people don’t have to worry about.
On the other hand, because of my name, perhaps it’s easier to think of myself as “outside the box”.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 7:02 pm ¶
Elton wrote:
My karate instructor is a man named Marion, and he’s a total badass who’s mastered four or five different martial arts.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 7:12 pm ¶
Orville wrote:
I remember when I was a kid I was teased about my name constantly. I hated my name for a very long time. My siblings have regular sounding names but my name is Orville. My names sounds like some Southern redneck name or something. My mother claims that in Jamaica the name Orville is very popular. I even wrote a poem about my name. I thought about changing my name for a long time. But my name is mine and so I now accept the name Orville.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 7:33 pm ¶
lunanoire wrote:
My name is Yoruba, but as a descendant of field slaves I joke that I’m an imitation Nigerian, like a fake handbag. One rude camp counselor said she’d call me whatever came out of her mouth.
My mother had the foresight to give me a male middle name for use on job applications if I choose. The one time someone suggested that I use the middle name was at a diversity job fair! However, going to an HBCU for grad school and a women’s undergrad spells out my ID if you know the schools.
As for mixed folks, if they are from 2 main backgrounds, I wonder if people ask fewer questions if their name is from their mother’s culture, or if it’s still based on appearance.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 11:32 pm ¶
RobynT wrote:
I really enjoy this conversation. I regularly read a baby name site that is mostly great conversation with intelligent folks with different perspectives, but I find myself often having to walk away cuz I don’t need to remind them AGAIN about how their perspectives are racist and classist. The stereotypically Black names definitely get it the worst.
Posted 18 Mar 2008 at 9:30 am ¶
jd wrote:
My name’s uncommon anywhere in the US outside the northeast. Even here, people often have trouble remembering it or remembering how to pronounce it. Whenever that happens, I just respond to the person calling them any random name I know isn’t theirs. Most people get the hint. (unfortunately can’t really be used with authority figures)
Posted 19 Mar 2008 at 12:18 pm ¶
Anthony wrote:
Interesting thoughts, especially the connection between name, image, and association. I wonder how Barack’s recent speech on race is impacting people’s understanding. Here’s another piece I read on naming.
Posted 19 Mar 2008 at 3:22 pm ¶
ash wrote:
@J: I hope you took action against that landlady and the (I’m suprised you call him such ) “gentleman” who threatened you with libel (was he a realtor? seller?) because discriminating against a potential tenant or home buyer due to race is illegal!
Posted 23 Mar 2008 at 11:45 am ¶
Zavijava wrote:
My name is Zavijava Sentra Smith, and I love it.
Zavijava is the arabic name of a star in the virgo constellation. It is a unisex name, I have never met another Zavijava. (I know there are others). Sentra is not after the car, its a play on the etymology of the word center, (middle name…center ha ha thanks dad) Smith is Smth.
95% of the time my name is mispronouced, so I go by Zavi (rhymes with mojave). I promised myself I would go by Zavijava after I graduated from college, but I work with kids and Zavi is eaiser.
I have a strong sense of identity with name, I would never change it, I just wish people would take the time to pronounce it correctly.
I am a black female (virgo) , and I don’t know what type of person people expect after seeing my name, its usually written out Zavi Smith, or Zavijava Smith. I don’t think it gives many clues to gender or race, but when I meet people face to face my light skin and name always leads to “oooh exotic, what are you ? where are you from ? what are you mixed with?” …I’m a human being, I’m from my mom’s uterus ,and I’m mixed with a spoon.
Posted 23 Mar 2008 at 6:33 pm ¶
lightfoot wrote:
I was born to a perfectly Irish name but wanted my name to represent my African, Euroean, and Native American ancestry. I now have a beautiful name that everyone I meet complements me on and I feel great about it.
However, as a teacher I have run across some names that students have that make me want to slap their mommas. I had a boy named “Dah ran JAID” but spelled Der’an’ged. Then HE became enraged when I didn’t pronounce his name correctly. I’m really disturbed by people who spell their names in ways that make it impossible for a person educated in American English to pronounce the way their parents tell them it’s pronounced. Angelic is not automatically thought to be pronounced Angelique. If you are going to name your child something akin to impossible to pronounce then please teach them to be pleasant to those who through no fault of their own mispronounce them.
Posted 10 May 2008 at 9:57 am ¶