Philadelphia Tribune - Index

Philadelphia Tribune - April Magazine - Blogger Nation - Index

THE NAME GAME
Do unique names like Shinequa and Daiyquan put African-American
children at a disadvantage? Some say yes, some say no.
Shantella Sherman
At first glance, the e-mail article sent en masse to and
among digital savvy African Americans appears to be
authentic. “Enough of the Dumb Black Names,” the
headline screams, before detailing Detroit Federal Court
Judge Ryan Cabrera’s controversial sentencing of African-
American offenders who have unusual names that he is “sick
of coming across.”
The article claims support for Cabrera’s mandates from the
National Association of Elementary School Teachers, whose
spokeswoman, Joyce Harmon, said, “Oh my God, the first day
of school you’d be standing there sweating, looking at the list
of names wondering ‘How do I pronounce Q’J’Q’Sha?’”
With a sigh of relief, the e-mail turns out to be a fraud. The
NAEST does not exist, nor does its phantom spokesperson.
Though, like the Willie Lynch letter and other urban Internet
legends that have attempted to brand everyone from Tommy
Hilfiger to Serena Williams racist, the crux of the article continues
to fuel the great debate over Black names.
The Tribune Magazine set out to answer the decades-old
question: Are the Daiyquans and Shinequas of the world
doomed by their parents’ naming creativity?
Let it be known that the answer to this query will not be
found here. The issue of Black names is very strongly divided
along socioeconomic lines, with those most impoverished
adopting and defending the right to name a child whatever
comes to mind, and those generally middle-class and above
strongly opposed to what has been termed “name suicide.”
“I liked the name Te’Vaughn. It was as simple as that,” said
Diane Franklin, whose son, now 16, says that he has been
teased for being one of 11 Black males with similar names in
the same homeroom at his high school. “He says that the
teacher calls them the ‘Tays’ because there’s a Te’Andre,
Teyshaun, and so on. I told my son to stop being so sensitive
because people are going to talk about you and make fun of
you no matter what your name is.”
But according to Lynda Strayhorn, a retired teacher
who has worked in several school systems, from Pennsylvania
to most recently the Bronx in New York, a child’s name does
affect the way others perceive and treat the child.
“There is bias and though I am the first to defend a moth-
er’s prerogative to name her child whatever it is that she
wants, I have also seen how those names affect the child in the
classroom and on the job,” said Strayhorn.
According to Strayhorn, 67, there is an unwritten and terribly
unfriendly atmosphere that creates and justifies stereotyping
Black children whose names have been termed “super-
Black.” These children are viewed as troublemakers, poor students
and all-around deviant.
In fact, says Strayhorn, there were times when comments
made by school office employees and administrators sounded
a great deal like the now-defunct tirade of the fake Judge
Cabrera.
“There was an unspoken understanding that many of these
children were going to have issues as they attempted to
matriculate through the school system because of the uniqueness
of their names. Equally problematic was the fact that
these were kids who were most likely coming from housing
projects with single mothers. The stress of poverty alone
would affect the child’s ability to matriculate. The super-Black
names serve as a further signifier, an indicator and support for
the stereotypes many people interacting with these children
already have,” said Strayhorn.
But before this argument goes the way of the early
American eugenics movement, touting that only certain people
equipped with enough knowledge to properly name their
kids be allowed to have them in the first place, it must be
noted that at some stage in history, African Americans of all
socio-economic stratifications were subject to the same type
of daunting name stereotypes.
“Each semester I tend to notice what we name our children,”
said Beulah Bell, an adjunct professor in Jackson,
Mississippi. “The names are not necessarily difficult, just
unique. Most often, out of respect, I address students by their
sir names but find that professors who dislike or have trouble
pronouncing the more unique names do so because of their
own personal issues.”
Bell said that although the super-Black names cause others
cultural embarrassment, over the years she has seen a shift in
African-American names from the more unique to the traditional.
“It used to be that you could tell how old a child was by
their name. That is not the case anymore. I am now getting stu-
TRIBUNE MAGAZINE APRIL 2008
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