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in reply to a message by IndiaLOVE
maybe it's just where I'm from, but these names are not that weird to me. I encountered names like them a lot in high school. (None like Porneshea and Chestina though.) I'm from Alabama; where are you all from?
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I think I should say
and this is really going to be the last thing I say, but I think you all should know:
These are the types of names that American black kids get. That's just the way it goes. The mindset of black naming is by and large completely different from white naming. Naming your kid Zy'Terrious is pretty much as intuitive for black america as naming a kid Thomas is for white. This doesn't apply to all black people, of course - but it does apply to a really good proportion.
Basically what I'm saying is that BrilliantBlue has not picked out a bunch of real shockers from an entire sea of available Charlottes and Joshuas. Here's some local BA's from January last year:
http://www.eamc.org/stork/month_returns/january.asp
and this is really going to be the last thing I say, but I think you all should know:
These are the types of names that American black kids get. That's just the way it goes. The mindset of black naming is by and large completely different from white naming. Naming your kid Zy'Terrious is pretty much as intuitive for black america as naming a kid Thomas is for white. This doesn't apply to all black people, of course - but it does apply to a really good proportion.
Basically what I'm saying is that BrilliantBlue has not picked out a bunch of real shockers from an entire sea of available Charlottes and Joshuas. Here's some local BA's from January last year:
http://www.eamc.org/stork/month_returns/january.asp
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True.
These are pretty typical - and it's not just African-Americans, either. It began with that community, yes, but it's spread.
These are pretty typical - and it's not just African-Americans, either. It began with that community, yes, but it's spread.
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Yeah
I actually wrote a paper for a linguistic class in college about the history of naming practices amongst Black Americans. I must say I learned some very interesting things in researching for that paper! African Americans have a unique history of naming in this country, just as they have a unique linguistic, cultural, and social history. Having grown up in and now living in an area with a strong African American presence, I have encountered these types of names my entire life, and I'm not really shocked by Zy'Terrious and the likes. I recognize that Black Americans IN GENERAL have different naming practices than White American, and understand it's just a cultural difference. So I don't feel sorry for little Zy'Terrious. He'll probably fit in well amongst his peers.
I actually wrote a paper for a linguistic class in college about the history of naming practices amongst Black Americans. I must say I learned some very interesting things in researching for that paper! African Americans have a unique history of naming in this country, just as they have a unique linguistic, cultural, and social history. Having grown up in and now living in an area with a strong African American presence, I have encountered these types of names my entire life, and I'm not really shocked by Zy'Terrious and the likes. I recognize that Black Americans IN GENERAL have different naming practices than White American, and understand it's just a cultural difference. So I don't feel sorry for little Zy'Terrious. He'll probably fit in well amongst his peers.
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First off, I really wish you wouldn't go :(
But I don't feel as though I'm personally ignorant of the naming styles of black parents, and I still honestly feel like a lot of these names are at the extreme end of the spectrum. Off the top of my head, some of the kids I went to high school with were named Antwan, Tyrone, Mario and Atlantis or Australia, Kenya, Venice (prn. VEN-eese) and Valina, and that's nothing compared to what's in these BAs.
For what it's worth, I'm from West Michigan. Maybe we Northerners are just more conservative in our naming overall?
But I don't feel as though I'm personally ignorant of the naming styles of black parents, and I still honestly feel like a lot of these names are at the extreme end of the spectrum. Off the top of my head, some of the kids I went to high school with were named Antwan, Tyrone, Mario and Atlantis or Australia, Kenya, Venice (prn. VEN-eese) and Valina, and that's nothing compared to what's in these BAs.
For what it's worth, I'm from West Michigan. Maybe we Northerners are just more conservative in our naming overall?
This message was edited 12/12/2008, 1:20 AM
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I realize this...
and as politically incorrect as it is, it's definitely true. However, being from Montana, these are still rather shocking to me. Out where I live, you are likely to come across Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zachariah, Jeremiah, Ella, Kaitlin, and Hannah.
As you can gather from the many responses, I'm not the only one for whom these names are kind of shocking.
and as politically incorrect as it is, it's definitely true. However, being from Montana, these are still rather shocking to me. Out where I live, you are likely to come across Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zachariah, Jeremiah, Ella, Kaitlin, and Hannah.
As you can gather from the many responses, I'm not the only one for whom these names are kind of shocking.
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Northern Ireland
The whole apostrophe and "uber-kreatyve speyllins ov nayymez" thing hasn't really caught on here yet.
The whole apostrophe and "uber-kreatyve speyllins ov nayymez" thing hasn't really caught on here yet.
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I'm from MA and to me those are some pretty off the wall names. The style of names around here is pretty conservative (Emily, Sarah, Emma, Sophia and Sophie in abundance, as well as quite a lot of Shea/Shaylie/Shaylins).
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I know India Love is from Northern Ireland and I very much doubt you'll see many names like the ones in the list there. I'm from England (everyone in my year at school was White British) and the strangest name I ever encountered at school was Leysa - a creative spelling of Lisa. Tia was unusual at the time but quite popular now. Otherwise everybody had boring (to me) names like Sarah, Helen, Laura, Nicola, Jennifer etc for the girls and James, Richard, Michael, Christopher and Matthew etc for boys. I didn't post under the OP but those names are very weird to me.
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Actually
I made a post the other day about Lesya after I came across it in a linguistics article I was reading (she was one of the authors), and I believe it's a diminutive of Olesya and maybe a couple of other Russian names rather than a creative form of Lisa. Just thought you might be interested to know :)
I made a post the other day about Lesya after I came across it in a linguistics article I was reading (she was one of the authors), and I believe it's a diminutive of Olesya and maybe a couple of other Russian names rather than a creative form of Lisa. Just thought you might be interested to know :)
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I saw your post and nearly replied but didn't have time. The girl in my class was Leysa not Lesya and she did pronounce it Lisa, much to everyone's confusion! Teachers thought it was prn Laysa.
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Oh!
My brain did not want that 'y' before the 's' for some reason. That is a very understandably confusing pronunciation.
My brain did not want that 'y' before the 's' for some reason. That is a very understandably confusing pronunciation.
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Ditto
Those names are very weird to me too - at my school everyone is named stuff like Jessica, Charlotte, Rachel, Rebecca, Isabelle, Sarah, etc. When I've talked to my friends about names they've all found stuff like Summer and Landon really weird, so these names are on a whole other level!
Those names are very weird to me too - at my school everyone is named stuff like Jessica, Charlotte, Rachel, Rebecca, Isabelle, Sarah, etc. When I've talked to my friends about names they've all found stuff like Summer and Landon really weird, so these names are on a whole other level!
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I was born and raised in Philadelphia, but now live in Western MD. Names with a lot of apostrophes other then the D' or La' names I haven't encountered much. It must definately be a regional thing... l
The strangest names I have seen here so far is Versace'Ana - yeah, like the designer and Kny on a boy. Not sure if its K-NYE or Kenny with out the vowels :p
The strangest names I have seen here so far is Versace'Ana - yeah, like the designer and Kny on a boy. Not sure if its K-NYE or Kenny with out the vowels :p
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I've seen a good number of them
They're pretty common in DC.
They're pretty common in DC.
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The weirdest names I have ever encountered in person are Jade', Shade', Kiki, Rustique, Nevada and Tyconda, all on girls.
I come from an extremely-predominately white-and-hispanic area of Washington state.
I come from an extremely-predominately white-and-hispanic area of Washington state.
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