I remember going into my youngest daughter's preschool class a few years ago and be introduced to some of the kids in her class. There was a Dyquan, Jacquan, Canei, Jayron among others. I just bit my lip and thought why?
It's bad enough that Academy-award winning actress Gwenyth Paltrow named her daughter, Apple, and her son, Moses. Musician Frank Zappa named his children Weasel and Moon Unit. I know what you're thinking. I think actor Bruce Willis and his then wife, Demi Moore, take the cake when they named their kids Rumeur, Scout, and Talluah (after actress Talluah Bankhead). I get the actress reference, but the other two names sound like they are raising dogs.
Don't get me wrong I'm all for creativity and individuality, but come on. When black people start naming children crazy names, that's problem. When author Alex Haley's groundbreaking miniseries, Roots came to television in the 1970s, black people started naming their kids African or African-inspired names. I say that because some of us made up African names and didn't know what they meant. Let alone how to spell them.
The 1980s saw the emergence of the "La" factor. Did you notice that normal names like Donna, Wanda, and Cheryl all of a sudden were LaDonna, LaWanda, and LaCheryl. Why people why? Then the spellings of names changed. Denise became Dennise. Sue was Soo. Ellen was LN. Amy was Aimee.
We are in the creativity period, now. With our first black President, many are choosing to name their child after him. My children have uncommon names, but I kept it simple. Six letters and made sure they could spell their names. My oldest is named after one of my cousins and my youngest is named after two NFL football players. She is named in honor of one, but her names is spelled like the others. Bet your scratching your head on that one.
Some of the uncommon names that I'm hearing now associated with little black boys and girls I like Ava, Madison, Destiny, Portia, Caleb, Kayla, Jerel, Jordan, Maamesi, Paris, Venus, and Bailey... I like. It tells me that their parents thought long and hard before naming the newest addition to their family.
Some parents name their children in honor of family members; others have names they just always liked. Others scour through baby books for the perfect name.
A name usually says something about the individual. One of my cousin's is named Arlington Fitzgerald Forbes. When people hear his name they say he sounds rich. My aunt got major kudos for that choice.
So if your child is named Denim (singer Toni Braxton) or Sixx (singer Erkyah Badu) what does that say about them? I can only imagine how much teasing these kids will take in school? I didn't want to do that with my children.
Actually, a friend of mine said that she loves my children's names because they are deceiving. You imagine from the name that they will look one way, but who would imagine two little black girls with those names? Lucky for them, I did.
I'm not saying we shouldn't have some creativity naming our children. I'm just saying the name should mean something. It's a name they are going to have to live with all their life.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Saturday, November 14th 2009 at 11:15AM
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