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Help[Opinions] I think I should say
in reply to a message by Tippins
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
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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Replies
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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