posted on May 31, 2004 03:04:09 PM new
I have a friend who is African American. No, wait, she objects to being called that because she is not from Africa. She is from America and prefers to be referred to as black. Okay, now that I have that out of the way. Her name is Karen. Her children are Mary, Jane, Suzanne and Jean. Her daughter was pregnant with her first child and planned to name that child Moesha (from the TV show). I though Karen was going to have a coronary. She put her foot down. No child or grandchild of hers will have such a name that will cause them to be discriminated against before even being seen in person. "No Moesha, no Ikea, no Nisha, Sharmi or Shakura. Period." That's just the way she is.
My children are Jennifer and Michael. If you want to pick a name that will fit your child culturally, whether it be African American or German, use it for their middle name. My boyfriend's middle name is Eldred, which is German. Can you imagine that as a first name? Would I call him El, or Dred? Hmmm, the second name fits some of the time!
posted on May 31, 2004 03:49:38 PM new
Hi Fluffy, I remember reading in a book of baby names a long time ago, that one is to picture they are calling their child in for lunch or supper and the child is outside playing with a whole bunch of kids, They suggests that you actually stand there call each name you are thinking of and see what is comfortable rolling off your tongue and the ease which you say it, most of all remember the name he/she is going to answer to is not only in front of a whole bunch of kids, but all his life and how comfortable he/she will be answering to it.
reenie
I don't get even....I get even better Jimmy Hoffa
posted on May 31, 2004 04:17:06 PM new
after the Korean war,some parents call their children Kim.
Kim is a korean or chinese surname,does that make sense??
But then chinese call themselves Roosevelt,Wilson,Humphrey,Hoffman,Lincoln,does that make sense??
We have Lincoln soo,Humphrey sit,Hoffman leung,and Wilson wong??
someone named her cat 'Moo Goo Gai Pan' which is served in chinese resturant as shredded chicken with straw mushroom!!!
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on May 31, 2004 04:30:17 PM new
The name that always makes me smile.. is the name given to the daughter of the late Governor of the State of Texas, Governor James S. Hogg. They named their daughter Ima.
Miss Ima Hogg.
posted on May 31, 2004 04:37:40 PM new
That's like a girl in my high school - Lisa Horr. Poor kid. Her brother changed his last name..not sure what ever became of Lisa.
**********************************
Sig files are too much trouble! http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards
posted on May 31, 2004 05:45:39 PM new
I'm with you on this, Fluffy. I think too many young couples look at that cute baby and want to name him/her a cute name, never thinking how it will sound when the baby is an adult.
And I can't stand the names of some of the black athletes--Priest, Lawyer, etc. It makes their parents sound ignorant, I think.
And my pet peeve is all those people (usually southerners) who name a baby Donny or Susie. If you want to call a child those names, at least make the given name Donald or Susan!
Some of the many seminars we women attended a few years ago dealt with women's "cute" names and suggested that those cute names on an adult woman makes her sound a bit frivolous and incompetent. They urged women to use their real given names, rather than the lifelong cute name, if these were more adult sounding.
And it's true, you can always find an exception to the rule--a successful woman named something like Candy or Patti. Often they're in entertainment, which is different.
___________________________________
As I've Matured...
1. I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in...
posted on May 31, 2004 06:14:09 PM new
I agree with Fluffy and Roadsmith. Names shouldn't be too cutesie. After all, the child will have that name all their life. I might have a hard time taking a 60-year-old woman named, say, Bunnie or Cookie, seriously.
Cheryl's right, too. There are some names that jump right off the page and could unfortunately cause discrimination. Better to use it as a middle name and stick to something US-society normal for the first name.
The names in my family are fairly standard. Bob, Jim, John, Kathy, Debbie, etc. The only ones that are a bit off the wall are Kathy's little girls - Kahili and Leilani. But they live in Hawaii so it works for them.
Seth - Grace, what a lovely name!
Lucy (Who knows she's in deep trouble if someone calls her Lucile. Yes, just one L at the end.)
posted on May 31, 2004 07:08:25 PM new
I LOVE the name Grace! My little girl is named Giavanna Maria. She is named after her Italian great-grandmother, Giovanna (with a little twist) and Maria just cause mom loved the name. We all call her Gia for short.
posted on May 31, 2004 07:10:57 PM new
Parents have a lot to answer for, name-wise. In college I met a woman named Bunny. She was doomed. How seriously do you think people tended to take a woman who was drop-dead gorgeous, with an incredible figure, blond hair & blue eyes whose name was Bunny?!?
A friend of mine growing up was named Bobby. On his birth certificate. He changed it legally to Robert as soon as he was old enough.
As a children's librarian I've had some real doozies come my way. Actual names on birth certificates: Sweetums, Maybelline, Lecher, Precious, Autumn & Raine (twins). We see a lot of the cutesy "black" names too, poor kids.
Then there are the parents who take a perfectly ordinary name and torture the spelling to make their child "different": Stievann (Steven), Pola (Paula), Schianne (Cheyenne), Carrinnne (Karen), Amylea (Amelia),etc.
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
posted on May 31, 2004 07:27:31 PM new
My husband and I debated the name for our baby girl DUE JULY 18TH!!
What sounds good with Crowe......??
It has to be a name that sounds compatible as lattefor2 says rolls off the toungue.... She may or may NOT change it when or if she ever marries it could be her name forever.
We both liked Sara but couldn't think of a middle name for the longest time and finalized on
Sara Elizabeth Crowe
Nice, normal, she'd have nothing to be embarrased about.
Now it isn't just black folk that need to stop and think of how they name their children.
Friggin celebrities of ALL RACE AND COLOR seem to have lost their damned minds when they give birth.
Gwenyth Paltrow gave birth last week to APPLE
Demi & Bruce gave their kids weird names like Rumer, Tellulah and I forget the middle kid.
posted on May 31, 2004 07:30:18 PM new
Not SURE if this is legend or not, but my sister who works as a school teacher in inner cities of Jacksonville (hi tomwii) said that a co-teacher claimed to have a black child in their class named LeMon'jello, emphasis on second syllable ... and that his sibling's name was Oran'gejello, emphasis on second syllable .... ... .... same Jax group of teachers stating they had inner city kid who they could not quite figure out how to pronounce, who was a little girl name Shithead, with the 'th' being a consonant blend ... Oh lordy ....
however, i worked in banking industry many years ago and saw a rolodex card for a mortgage customer named, "Hugette Elefant" ... what parent would give their child THAT name??? ...
FLUFFY~!!! What in the world made you start THIS thread?!
posted on May 31, 2004 09:26:21 PM new
Lovepotions: We named our second daughter Sara, after my best friend in grade school. Puzzled, like you, over the middle name, settled on Katherine (similar to your Elizabeth in its traditional flavor). Never have regretted it.
___________________________________
As I've Matured...
1. I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in...
posted on May 31, 2004 10:06:47 PM new
I swear, there was a kid in my high school named Jack Knopf, and a girl named Candace ("Candi" Topping...no really!!
In addition, my brother went to a urologist once named Dr. Glascock....
___________________________________
When a dog howls at the moon, we call it religion. When he barks at strangers, we call it patriotism. - Edward Abbey
posted on May 31, 2004 10:24:14 PM new
I knew a girl whose last name was Green. Fairly common american name. I dont know why her mother named her Jean Green. (You know kids with rhyming stuff. She must have gotten so sick of hearing it.)
Sometimes names are associated by who you know them with, too. I always thought names like Mildred, Helen, Ida, Charlene and even Betty (and I know and love a Betty) were old lady sounding names.
posted on May 31, 2004 10:36:11 PM new
I think the best thing is to give the CHILD lots of options later in life.
Think of the numerous diminutives of Robert, Michael, Theodore, Elizabeth, Margaret, Amanda. The child can at different stages of life pick the one that suits THEM.
I tried to follow this rule when naming my kids - and they all LOVE that aspect of their names - each has been thru several
phases and diminutives, at times different ones for different people.
If you really want to read on this topic
get a copy of H.L. Mencken's "The American Language", 3rd edition is best, and there is a whole section on names. I reread it and my eyes tear from laughing so hard.
Fluffy, EXCELLENT topic, a public service to America- but those who MOST need to heed it are not likely to.
posted on May 31, 2004 11:28:26 PM new
Nothing is worse than some of the names horse breeders come up with for their "specialty" colors.
A cream color, now highly popular with those who can't see conformation but only color, buy these nasty things up and put them on the back 40 like pot guts collect vintage cars.
My fave stupid horse name: Cream Yur Genes.
A play on words for the science that goes into taking a perfectly acceptable brown horse and breeding it down to color, and adding a whopping price tag...so aging boomers can have bragging rights.
Now who's laughing?
I love the name Sarah and Elizabeth goes nicely with it.
The worst two names I heard in high school belonged to two friends of mine: Prudence and Gertrude (aka Prudie and Gertie). In high school (in the '70s) they were tortured with those names. The longest name of anyone I know goes to my mother: Jeannine Charmaine MacDonald. Imagine having to sign that all the way out!
Lucy
LOL! I knew I was in trouble when someone yelled "Cheryl Lynn." Oh, usage of the middle name meant big trouble. LOL!
posted on June 1, 2004 09:33:28 AM new
Many years ago when I was in the hospital giving birth to my second son, my roommate, a very nice woman, could not think of a name for her newborn son. My husband went out to the nurses' station and got her a booklet with names for children. The booklet was furnished by and had advertisements for Enfamil which was a baby formula. The mother found the name she thought was perfect in the booklet and named her son accordingly - he was the proud owner of the name Enfamil. We tried to persuade her that she could make a better choice, but she would not change her mind. We have often wondered whatever happened to Enfamil and whether he changed his name when he got old enough. True story!
posted on June 1, 2004 08:24:15 PM new
My dad was the leader of a small band and a trumpet player that worked for him was named "Tom Katz".
Another who worked for him had red hair and the last name of "Hiney". You guessed it! He was called "Red Hiney".
I once worked in a jewelry repair shop with a black woman. Her real name was "Cherry Love". Another black girl who worked at the cashier's stand had a first name of "Craven". This was in 1980, and they were both in their twenties.
And don't forget rock star Frank Zappa named his daughter Moon Unit Zappa. Actor Donald Sutherland named his son Keifer Sutherland. (Keifer is a liquid yogurt-type product sold in health food stores.) John Travolta loves to fly and named his son "Jet".
How about stupid stage names, like Rip Torn, a supposed heart throb of movies in the 50's?
I must admit, I get exasperated when parents saddle their child with some strange new concoction, in an attempt to create a "unique" new name. From personal observation, I have found this more common in the black culture.
Some of these created names are just so unwieldy and may indicate the race of the person in advance. I believe that there is less racism than in past decades, but it still exists.
My husband's aunt named her daughter "Chyl". It is pronounced like "she'll". Even I still get it wrong. Right now, I can't even remember if it's spelled with a "C" or an "S". Every time she writes her name anywhere, she has to explain how it is pronounced.
An aquaintance in LA named her fair skinned, blonde little daughter "Asia". Confusing.
And wasn't it in the movie L.A. Story, that Steve Martin is smittem with a girl who is name is Sandee, but has to tell everyone she meets that it is spelled something like "Capital S, small A, small N, capital D, capital E, small E"?
posted on June 1, 2004 09:48:30 PM new
From a recent article titled:
Stars Give Babies Weirdest Names
(I'll skip the names already posted)
Geena Davis twin boys Kian & Kaiis
Jon Bon Jovi Romeo
Kate Hudson Ryder
Debra Messing Roman
Christie Brinkley Sailor Lee (girl)
Bob Geldorf Fifi, Trixiebelle, Peaches, Pixie
Mia Farrow Satchel
Michael Jackson Prince Michael, Prince Michael ll, Paris Machael Katherine
Larry King Chance, Cannon
Frank Zappa Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan,
Moon Unit, Diva
Elle MacPherson Arpad Flynn, Aurelius Cy
Uma Thurmen (That's an ugly name itself)Roan
Jane Leeves Finn
Reese Whitherspoon Deacon
And the winner is: Already mentioned, but here they are again.
Demi Moore Rumer Glenn, Scout Larue,
Tallullah Belle
posted on June 1, 2004 10:27:06 PM new
Bought a car from a black man named Ivory White, once. Went to school with Ty Knotts. yall brainwashed into conformity.
posted on June 1, 2004 11:20:07 PM new
I'm surprised no one has seen the obvious soultion yet. Each of us spent a lot of time and mental effort to choose our names when we registered with Vendio. Instead of duplicating the effort, the logical thing to do would be to assign our screen names to our children when they are born. Imagine the attention a child named Neglus will get when they enter kindergarten. Fenix03 and
Stopwhining will be the hits of preschool. And Fluffy, your child will be destined for a major Hollywood contract
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
Yes, just one L at the end.) 
Topping...no really!! 