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Help[Facts] Re: Thanks (and a related question about French names)
in reply to a message by overtheclouds
Creole and Haitian influence is a possibility, but the main factor seems to be that White Americans avoid male names which are accented on the second syllable in American English while Black Americans do not.
It isn't just French male names like Andre and Antoine which are more common in the Black community. Demetrius (originally Greek) and Tyrone (originally an Irish place name) are also much more common among Blacks than Whites. Bernard and Maurice, which are usually accented on the second syllable in the USA, are also predominantly African-American.
It seems that unconsciously White Americans feel that male names accented on the second syllable don't sound "masculine", but no such prejudice exists among African-Americans. Since French names are almost all accented on the final syllable, most French male names appeal much more to African-American parents.
The female French names in -ique like Monique and Dominique are somewhat more common among African-Americans, as that sound fits in more with African-American tastes. But White Americans have no problem adopting other French female names. There are (or have been in past generations) tens of thousands of White American women with names like Michelle, Danielle, Stephanie, Renee, Marie, Natalie, Bernadette, Blanche, Christine, Claire, Corinne, Diane, Elise, Estelle, Gabrielle, Genevieve, Jacqueline, Jeanne, Julie, Louise, Lucille, Madeleine, Margot, Marguerite, Melanie, Nadine, Nicole, Noelle, Pauline, Paulette, Rosalie, Suzanne, Therese, Valerie, Yvette, and Yvonne. Many of these have been so common in the USA for so long that a lot of Americans probably don't even realize they were originally French imports.
It isn't just French male names like Andre and Antoine which are more common in the Black community. Demetrius (originally Greek) and Tyrone (originally an Irish place name) are also much more common among Blacks than Whites. Bernard and Maurice, which are usually accented on the second syllable in the USA, are also predominantly African-American.
It seems that unconsciously White Americans feel that male names accented on the second syllable don't sound "masculine", but no such prejudice exists among African-Americans. Since French names are almost all accented on the final syllable, most French male names appeal much more to African-American parents.
The female French names in -ique like Monique and Dominique are somewhat more common among African-Americans, as that sound fits in more with African-American tastes. But White Americans have no problem adopting other French female names. There are (or have been in past generations) tens of thousands of White American women with names like Michelle, Danielle, Stephanie, Renee, Marie, Natalie, Bernadette, Blanche, Christine, Claire, Corinne, Diane, Elise, Estelle, Gabrielle, Genevieve, Jacqueline, Jeanne, Julie, Louise, Lucille, Madeleine, Margot, Marguerite, Melanie, Nadine, Nicole, Noelle, Pauline, Paulette, Rosalie, Suzanne, Therese, Valerie, Yvette, and Yvonne. Many of these have been so common in the USA for so long that a lot of Americans probably don't even realize they were originally French imports.
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Replies
I wonder if this still isn't in some way a relation to the popularity of the Arabic names among Black Muslim organizations, since many male Arabic names end on the 2nd syllable -- Jamal, Jaleel, Karim, Rashad, etc. My guess is many Americans today would view those as "black" names and not realize they are even Arabic in origin.
If you think about the generations up until about 50 years ago, white American men were named Bernard, Maurice, Tyrone. Now, those are seen as black names. So I wonder if this was all started by the influence of Arabic names in the '50s - people unconsciously heard the similarity between the 2nd syllable accent names and the Arabic names, so that the white community gave them up and the black community continued to use them.
If you think about the generations up until about 50 years ago, white American men were named Bernard, Maurice, Tyrone. Now, those are seen as black names. So I wonder if this was all started by the influence of Arabic names in the '50s - people unconsciously heard the similarity between the 2nd syllable accent names and the Arabic names, so that the white community gave them up and the black community continued to use them.
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Or is it possible that names like Jamal and Rashad became popular among Black Americans because their sounds already fitted into Black naming patterns? As far as I know, neither of those names are particularly significant in Islam - why didn't the much more distinctly Muslim Muhammad and Abdullah (and Fatima and Khadija for girls) become more popular in Black communities? Maybe because they just didn't have as fashionable a sound as Jamal and the others.
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Very interesting, thanks. So it's not about African Americans being more attracted to French names, it's about White Americans avoiding male names that are stressed on the second syllable.
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