<p>I don’t even want to put it here because it’s naughty, and because the kid might Google himself.</p>
<p>Ahhhh I understand! Poor kid!!! </p>
<p>These aren’t “weird” names. They’re cultural names. My name is cultural and I’m sick and tired of my 5 letter name being tied with “oh my god this is so weird” when Americans have no problem pronouncing Galafanakas (or however the hell you spell that) and Schwarzenegger. I agree with the article overall though. Even Europeans with long “weird” names are still more likely to be hired than Laquisha. </p>
<p>It’s not just racism–it’s also SES. While Laquisha will have a problem, Billy Joe or Cletus may also have a problem. High-SES African-Americans do not name their daughters Laquisha (usually).</p>
<p>Oh wow I forgot that all black women weren’t named Laquisha wow my bad wow I totally wasn’t using it to point out something wow wow (sorry im sarcastic)</p>
<p>What you forgot, Jellybae, is that everything isn’t entirely explained by racism, although racism plays a part. </p>
<p>Racism plays an integral part…</p>
<p>This is old news; a U of Chicago study showed this 12 years ago. Racism may be part of it but I’d bet that it is more likely class discrimination; employers would probably hedge on many non-black sounding names as well, such as Billy Bob or Bubba. The 2002 study:
<a href=“http://www.chicagobooth.edu/pdf/bertrand.pdf”>http://www.chicagobooth.edu/pdf/bertrand.pdf</a>
As a society we probably have a long way to go. But people should realize the stubborn reality that we are judged and classified by how we dress, speak, and make other cultural choices. Some of my European immigrant relatives in the 1920s Americanized their first names out of pragmatism.</p>
<p>“Shrinkrap, just to be clear, we didn’t believe that choosing the right name would produce a successful life for her, however that’s defined. Rather, we wanted the name to fit, no matter what she decided to do with her life.”</p>
<p>Yes, I get that. I was just thinking that parents that are thinking like that; that far into the future, when they are naming their kids, are probably going to parent differently than those that are thinking about things like how it sounds, being different, what a name means, who else has the name, etc. </p>
<p>I love that names from many cultures are also considered American.
I have two younger Korean friends who came to the US, about 6 yrs ago for college.
They took American names to better fit in.
Boris & Pablo.
( not kidding)
I took my husbands last name which is anglicized Norwegian. Our daughters have first names that are often used in the Jewish community, but they go ( I think) with our last name. ( we aren’t Jewish).</p>
<p>My older daughter uses a shortened & gender neutral version of her name.
I did not actually have a girls name picked out when she was born. I had to have weekly hormone shots to maintain my pregnancy. Although initially I thought I was having a girl, when I read that there were more detrimental effects to the female fetus, I convinced myself I was having a boy.
So when I had a section at 30weeks, I didn’t have a name picked out, so I gave her the feminized version of the boys name as I wanted her to be named as soon as she was born.</p>
<p>But for some reason it became a very popular name. She was actually the third baby in the NICU with that name and both of her sister in laws also share the same first name.
( and they are from completely different part of country & younger, I think)</p>
<p>Older names are becoming popular.
I know an Abigail and Dinah & several Leos, an Atticus and Caleb, all under 7.
Just waiting for my great aunts to return.
Eula, Wretha, Virginia, Alta & Pearl.
But I wont hold my breath for Mortici to make a resurgence.</p>
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<p>The names I judge the most harshly (rightly or wrongly) are the names the small-town folks seem to go for these days–Jayden, Kaden, Braden…Nevaeh (you know–“heaven” spelled backwards)…Bryliegh, Brytnee, Kadince…you get the idea. It’s not the kids’ fault, of course, but sometimes I get a sense that the parents must not value education when they saddle their kids with such names. </p>
<p>I also think it’s kind of funny when people name their kid something with a negative connotation, like Camden (really? have they been to Camden, NJ?). My son and I were in the doctor’s office a few years ago and we heard the nurse call for a little boy and his name was Leviathan. We looked at each other in horror, since we both knew what it meant–a monstrous sea creature. Apparently it’s getting popular, because people seem to not think “Levi” is enough.</p>
<p>
Those are small-town folks kids’ names? From where I’ve lived, those are the names of young suburbia. Not necessarily tied to those who don’t value education. More so middle class suburbs with the “white picket fence” type of house fit with a golden retriever. </p>
<p>Artemis97- I have a friend who named her dog Linnea. I have always liked the name but did find
it an odd name for a dog.</p>
<p>My name is becoming more popular, according to google .04% occurrence. it was rare, rare, rare when i was growing up. It is a family European name that was not Anglecized as most of my Ellis island family names were. I remember asking my grandfather why his name was changed and he said as they went through Ellis it was common to Anglecize the name so Johannnes became John, Amalia became Emily and so on. We no longer have that filtering process so the names tend to become more obscure as parents look for something to 'differentiate" their kids. The only caveat I told my husband when we were “naming” the kids was that I did not want a name that most people would misspell and I wanted a gender identifiable first name.</p>
<p>Linnea is Swedish, I think.
<a href=“http://www.linneaimalarenstradgard.se/en/”>http://www.linneaimalarenstradgard.se/en/</a></p>
<p>@romanigypsyeyes</p>
<p>My sister taught a class in an LA school with a girl named Sh1thead. It is thus 100% verified.</p>
<p>Ah – </p>
<p>La-a is from my fiance… told me about it while she was working as a para at a grade school.</p>
<p>Huh. Now that I’m thinking about it, we usually give human names to our cats. Margaret and Bobby are or were pretty common, Josie a little less so. Sabine isn’t in the top 1000 names in the US, but maybe a little more common in France. </p>
<p>My name is Godson so… :)) </p>
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<p>Oh sure, just like Resumé and Vinaigrette and V*Gina were born in the DC hospital where my friend’s sister worked.</p>
<p>It would be nice to see some proof of any of these. Years ago we all believed the urban myths but now we have the interwebs.</p>