Wednesday, February 27, 2008

11. Creative Names

Whether it's naming your daughter Clamydia or your son Krayon Goatse, black people have an affinity for finding new names for their kids. Rather than flipping through a baby book or handing down family names, they like to break free of traditional roles by naming each child with an individual label sure to never been seen on any keychain or mini-license plate.
Their two biggest inspirations seem to be brand names (like Hennesy or Mercedes) and altered words from Webster's. For example, taking the word "dynamic" and spelling it Dienamique. Viola! A new baby name!

For all the fresh excitement over unique names (or even naming your daughter Youneeq), black people have been seperating themselves through their namesakes for quite some time. Back in the 60s and 70s it was a "return to the motherland" phase which had people dropping their "slave names" (read: the names their parents gave them) and adopting the personas of Maliki and Umbutu. Same deal, new wrapper.

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