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One question I've had is why didn't parents who wanted to avoid originally European names take from actual African names, rather than minting new names. I under
by formulaT 11y ago
One question I've had is why didn't parents who wanted to avoid originally European names take from actual African names, rather than minting new names. I understand being disconnected from one's ancestry, but still, this seems a different alternative.
People do things for so many reasons, or for no reason. Trying to make Black people's choices of names fit some narrative is going to fail to capture the complexity and depth of their culture.
Put another way, if people are choosing not to use White names, why wouldn't they also choose not to the use traditional names of any culture. Maybe having a "respectable" name that has a long history as a name, is also something people were choosing to avoid.
- mc32 11y agoI get that. We also have many people of European descent who make up new names too --it's more recent than that by black parents, but none the less, I would have similar question. There are so many names to choose from, why come up with new, sometimes quirky names? Not saying it's bad. At some point in time all names have been "new". With Europeans it's not so much trying to find a cultural identity but perhaps find their child a unique identity. So at some level there is something similar going on. Interestingly, in some European countries, you can't easily make up names. You have to prove they exist in your ancestral language, as well you can't make one up for the official language either.