simply horrified

[arbus.livejournal.com]

so i have a job where i travel between schools a lot, varying all the way from head start to college. and i hate to say this, but, does anyone else seem to notice that the worst names come in the poorest communities? and i am not talking racial, because this area is pretty un-diverse, unfortunately, in that department.

i was at a school this week that is in the poorest part of the town i was in, and these were just a few of the names...

taurus
sheylimar
donavin
kihara
amiel
doohan
shonna
izaya
saDonte
kierston (boy)
daivon
macey

when i go to one of the other elementary schools in the same town, in a more middle class neighborhood, its a string of grace and elizabeth and catherine and max and lucas... normal, dignified names.

dont people GET that little sheylimar is going to grow up? and dont they want them to at least try to be a respected member of society? or are they just setting her stripper fate in stone?

wdyt?

Comments

[jenufa.livejournal.com]

Sadly... around here, I run into a lot of adults with those sort of deranged names. It's a very poor city (at least the parts I've been to, maybe there's a magical rich area that's hiding) and the people have no class whatsoever, and I guess the generations have just accepted stupid names to make them 'unique', since they will never amount to much anything else, than a 'cool' name. :(

I am not from here, nor do I plan on raising my baby here either. And he/she is going to get a name that people can frickin pronounce/spell. :P

[arbus.livejournal.com]

really? see, i have yet to see it on (many) adults and thought it was more of a recent fad, so it was mostly little kids.

[jenufa.livejournal.com]

I think the majority are in their late teens or early 20s, but so many young girls don't dress their age around here (see:teenage hooker-wannabes :(!!!!) it's sometimes hard to peg their ages. Maybe they're really not 'adults', but egads, but I do worry. It's not just kindergarten kids, at the least.

[arbus.livejournal.com]

i completely agree with you, and the stripper thing was just sort of a joke. personally, i was born into a lower income home, and raised by a single mother, and my brother and i both have normal, dignified names. i happen to think that i would be a bit of a different person today had my mother decided to name me precious or diamond or something else godawful.

[kittyvegas.livejournal.com]

I loved that chapter in Freakonomics, so interesting.

[sykotropic.livejournal.com]

I work in a city/public hospital. In the maternity ward. Most names I run into are relatively normal. And I will always praise the couple (not English speakers) who wanted to name their son Michael, but didn't know how to spell it and asked. And thank whom-ever-is-in-charge that I was there and spelled it correctly. The clerk had spelled it "Michel"

[a-minor-third.livejournal.com]

Interesting post. It's hard to make a negative comment without sounding too racist or something. But I think it definitely has a lot to do with their whole mindset and culture. It's like they're expected to have these kinds of names, just like how the middle class families are given traditional sounding names. It's pretty much mainstream now...

[twitchywoman.livejournal.com]

I should ask my mom what some of her students' names are. I asked her if she had any Nevaehs or Jaydens and she said she had a lot of kids with really obscure names like Sofonda (she doesn't have a student named that, that was just a name that someone at my former university would use for the annual drag show, and he'd use the last name Cox ;-) ). Anyway, my mom works with kids who have parents, usually single moms, who are recovering addicts, most of whom live in the organizations apartments free of rent until they can get back on their feet.

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

There are definite dividing lines within class when it comes to naming your children. Race does not seem to play a part as much as economic status does.

Spelling is hit or miss, regardless of economic status. It just seems that upper middle class is more likely to spell Madison, Aidan, or MacKenzie wrong while lower SES is likely to spell a random word like Princess, Immaculate, or Precious wrong.

I've been in a lot of schools at a lot of different economic levels. These are the patterns that I see. Heck, the other day they put a new student in my class named Jazmyne. I'm an ESOL class. I know damn well that ESOL parents spell their children's names correctly. Sure enough, it was a mistake and that student did not belong in my class. She belonged in the regular ed, which in this neighborhood is low SES.

[brodius257.livejournal.com]

While some of these names don't sound all that appealing, this list does not convince me of your point. Some of these names actually seem fairly enlightened and sound like they have various origins. While some are obviously different spellings (or misspellings) of names we may be familiar with, I find absolutely nothing wrong with that. Who's to say that a name has to be spelled a particular way? Someone may simply like the sound of a name but want to make it nontraditional through the spelling (though this may or may not be the case here.) I think a lot of the bias in this case may simply be your own personal preference, as only a few of these names sound outright stupid or offensive to the ears.

I'd also like to ask, why should ANYONE have to name their child a "normal, dignified name"? If everyone named their child from that book of names, we'd all be John, Steve, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Bob. I personally don't think that would be very interesting at all.

[arbus.livejournal.com]

first of all, i never said anyone HAS to name their child a "normal, dignified name" nor do i think that. the simple reality of the world is that the child who grows up with the name elisabeth just has a better shot at success in certain ventures of life than one named, say, precious. so no, it is not a case of my own personal preference. i dont really care what people name their kid, i just wish people would give more thought to it, and realize that their child isnt going to be baby precious their entire lives. someday, they will grow up. and go on job interviews. and meet a significant others parents. and grow old and shake someones hand and be proud of their name.

i have my fair share of non-traditional names on my list, most of which i will likely use.

and, i have plenty of other outrageous examples, which i have posted in the (recent) past.

[countesscain.livejournal.com]

The only names I'm okay with on that list are Donavin (I know it's spelled differently, but I like Donavon.), and Macey.

Doohan is the worst in my opinion, and I wish people could think of naming their kid something other than the type of car they have. D:

[mrs-slats.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell it's nothing new, if you look at poorer people in older cultures they also name their child odd names. Unfortunately there is usually not as much record of the names of poor folks in older cultures, but those I have found can be pretty bizarre. I wonder if it has to do with illiteracy? Perhaps also to do with people having babies younger (less mature decisions regarding names)?
Perhaps even resentment toward having another mouth to feed, where middle class and upper class do not have as much of a burden?

[singhappy02.livejournal.com]

I don't mind Macey, but I'd probably leave out the e and just to Macy,

*sadface*

[in-the-starlite.livejournal.com]

Eww to seeing my name spelled with an O. And on a boy! Poor kid.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're suggesting anything here that people don't already imply every day in this community: that little children born to poorer people have less "normal" names than those born to wealthier folks.

Whenever you hear the urban legend of Lemonjello and Orangejello, for example, it's either a Southerner or a black woman who's guilty of the name crimes. It's a way people can "tut tut" about those they see as lower class.

People here often insinuate that poor = uneducated = "bad" name choice. But I think it's just as telling that a resident of the middle class, busy keeping up with the Joneses, is least likely to deviate from tradition. They have more at stake; their kids are coming into the world with the American dream in place -- for now. If little John or Hannah doesn't settle in a nice little house with a nice little family, at least it wasn't the fault of the unthinking parents -- nosirree!

I think one of the biggest mistakes to make (and it's done nauseatingly often in this community) is to assume that people somehow all WANT to be "normal" and "dignified" and -- to address the elephant in this room -- white. "Doesn't Shaniqua's mother realize if she'd named her baby Emily she would get a job more easily?!" You know what? I'll bet she does. And the fact that she would STILL be more willing to name her baby an "abnormal" (or racially indicating) name should perhaps be a hint to those asking the question in the first place.