Serena Williams just named her daughter Alexis Ohanian Jr. The father's name is Alexis, so she is named after him. I saw people commenting stuff like "girls can't be juniors!" and I'm all.... uh why? I think it's adorable.
History (TW/loss/child):
7/2017 -- miscarriage at 6w 5/2018 -- DS born 3 days after due date, 8lb 4oz 9/2020 -- missed miscarriage at 9w / DNC 3/2021 -- miscarriage at 8w 7/2021 -- missed miscarriage at 8w / DNC 9/2021 -- IVF cycle #1 (FET 1/25/22)
@sparklingdiamond I hear you on this! My family is French Canadian and I would love to give my baby a family name but the boy names in our family are SO FRENCH. I love the name Gui ("Gee") and have an uncle and great grandfather with that name but I just know someone is going to call my kid gooey and think I'm nuts. Some of my male uncles and cousins go by nicknames to avoid the awkwardness.
I think at the the end of the day, I'll probably pick a French name and use it as a way to teach my kids to be proud of their heritage. My name is Collette (which was not popular at all when I was growing up although now it's everywhere) and I really liked having that connection to my family.
@mdwiny as much as I personally dislike clone family names (I work in banking and they cause HELL in families financially), the feminist in me loves the idea of a female Jr.
I think at the the end of the day, I'll probably pick a French name and use it as a way to teach my kids to be proud of their heritage. My name is Collette (which was not popular at all when I was growing up although now it's everywhere) and I really liked having that connection to my family.
I love your name! I just added it my list, then thought "oh yeah, I'm having a boy".
Since @ngolimento brought up the question of cultural sensitivity, I thought I'd share this. I think most of us get that if a name is common in another culture, then we shouldn't make fun of it just because it's unusual to us. Maybe you have a Serbian friend who names her son something you've never heard before, but it's a family name for her. You wouldn't dream of ridiculing her. You'd just learn how to say the name. But a lot of people still mock names that are one-offs or "made up," because they think that's fair game. Like, well, if it doesn't have a tradition behind it, then I can call it stupid. But as this article points out, one-off or "made up" names are particularly prevalent in black culture, and there's a cultural reason for it. Uniqueness is the point.
The headline is confrontational, and I'm not calling racism on this thread. Without knowing the race of any of the kids mentioned here, I'd guess that plenty of them are white. But I bet a lot of these names belong to black kids, and there's a bad history of making fun of those parents/kids. And I think it's important to recognize that these are parents who adore their kids and think about naming with as much care as white parents do, and have cultural influences in naming, just like white parents do. Different does not equal "cringey," "hilarious," or "sad." I don't want to get preachy, but these are kids. And there are lots of studies showing that people with "black-sounding" names face hiring discrimination. If we laugh about those names behind closed doors, or place the "blame" on parents, we're part of that problem. What needs to change is not the names, but our reaction to them. They're just names, after all.
History (TW/loss/child):
7/2017 -- miscarriage at 6w 5/2018 -- DS born 3 days after due date, 8lb 4oz 9/2020 -- missed miscarriage at 9w / DNC 3/2021 -- miscarriage at 8w 7/2021 -- missed miscarriage at 8w / DNC 9/2021 -- IVF cycle #1 (FET 1/25/22)
Some of these just sound so made up it's hard to believe that someone seriously named their kid that!
@ngolimento That's where I am torn. I LOVE Scottish names, but I feel like if I gave my kid some of the more unique Scottish names people would think I was just trying to be different or special and not get that it's from a different culture.
We're in the same boat! LOVE Scottish names, but they're so unheard of here that people would probably think we made them up.
Mama to Rowan Sebastian and baby boy coming in April!
Since @ngolimento brought up the question of cultural sensitivity, I thought I'd share this. I think most of us get that if a name is common in another culture, then we shouldn't make fun of it just because it's unusual to us. Maybe you have a Serbian friend who names her son something you've never heard before, but it's a family name for her. You wouldn't dream of ridiculing her. You'd just learn how to say the name. But a lot of people still mock names that are one-offs or "made up," because they think that's fair game. Like, well, if it doesn't have a tradition behind it, then I can call it stupid. But as this article points out, one-off or "made up" names are particularly prevalent in black culture, and there's a cultural reason for it. Uniqueness is the point.
The headline is confrontational, and I'm not calling racism on this thread. Without knowing the race of any of the kids mentioned here, I'd guess that plenty of them are white. But I bet a lot of these names belong to black kids, and there's a bad history of making fun of those parents/kids. And I think it's important to recognize that these are parents who adore their kids and think about naming with as much care as we do, and have cultural influences in naming, just like we do. Different does not equal "cringey," "hilarious," or "sad." I don't want to get preachy, but these are kids. And there are lots of studies showing that people with "black-sounding" names face hiring discrimination. If we laugh about those names behind closed doors, or place the "blame" on parents, we're part of that problem. What needs to change is not the names, but our reaction to them. They're just names, after all.
Not gonna lie, I ventured into the thread nervously because these sorts of threads have in the past devolved to focusing on names that stereo-typically come from black children/families. Thank you for sharing the article and for your comment.
DS: EDD, December 19th, 2014. Born, December 19th, 2014! DD: EDD, July 18th, 2016. Born, July 19th, 2016!
Can we take a moment to remind everyone that this is a subject that needs to be navigated with some cultural sensitivity? There is a difference between a made up name that is stupid as hell, and a name you just don't like because it is not from your culture.
If you just don't like a name because it isn't from your culture, then it isn't the name that is the problem.
Completely agree. Half of my heritage comes from Russia and while the names are different sounding, I think they're beautiful. Other people, not so much.
Also, not liking a name in general doesn't make it weird or different. Just not to your taste.
However, there are some pretty out there names. Especially looking at this thread.
@ngolimento & @mdwiny, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I work at a school that is 99% minority, and several of these names listed are super common. A little cultural competence can go a long way, and I think you both nailed it eloquently.
I had a co worker from India with the name swastika. I asked her the meaning of it and she told me it was after an Indian God. Which I think is beautiful, but also has an unfortunate correlation with western culture.
I also have a student in my school named Isis. Again unfortunate.
I have a friend whose name is Jenning and he goes by Jen which I think is wired name for a boy. But I guess he likes it.
Re: notd (name of the day)
5/2018 -- DS born 3 days after due date, 8lb 4oz
9/2020 -- missed miscarriage at 9w / DNC
3/2021 -- miscarriage at 8w
7/2021 -- missed miscarriage at 8w / DNC
9/2021 -- IVF cycle #1 (FET 1/25/22)
I think at the the end of the day, I'll probably pick a French name and use it as a way to teach my kids to be proud of their heritage. My name is Collette (which was not popular at all when I was growing up although now it's everywhere) and I really liked having that connection to my family.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/are-blacks-names-weird-or-are-you-just-racist
Since @ngolimento brought up the question of cultural sensitivity, I thought I'd share this. I think most of us get that if a name is common in another culture, then we shouldn't make fun of it just because it's unusual to us. Maybe you have a Serbian friend who names her son something you've never heard before, but it's a family name for her. You wouldn't dream of ridiculing her. You'd just learn how to say the name. But a lot of people still mock names that are one-offs or "made up," because they think that's fair game. Like, well, if it doesn't have a tradition behind it, then I can call it stupid. But as this article points out, one-off or "made up" names are particularly prevalent in black culture, and there's a cultural reason for it. Uniqueness is the point.
The headline is confrontational, and I'm not calling racism on this thread. Without knowing the race of any of the kids mentioned here, I'd guess that plenty of them are white. But I bet a lot of these names belong to black kids, and there's a bad history of making fun of those parents/kids. And I think it's important to recognize that these are parents who adore their kids and think about naming with as much care as white parents do, and have cultural influences in naming, just like white parents do. Different does not equal "cringey," "hilarious," or "sad." I don't want to get preachy, but these are kids. And there are lots of studies showing that people with "black-sounding" names face hiring discrimination. If we laugh about those names behind closed doors, or place the "blame" on parents, we're part of that problem. What needs to change is not the names, but our reaction to them. They're just names, after all.
5/2018 -- DS born 3 days after due date, 8lb 4oz
9/2020 -- missed miscarriage at 9w / DNC
3/2021 -- miscarriage at 8w
7/2021 -- missed miscarriage at 8w / DNC
9/2021 -- IVF cycle #1 (FET 1/25/22)
Mama to Rowan Sebastian and baby boy coming in April!
DS: EDD, December 19th, 2014. Born, December 19th, 2014!
DD: EDD, July 18th, 2016. Born, July 19th, 2016!
Baby #3: EDD, April 16th, 2016
Also, not liking a name in general doesn't make it weird or different. Just not to your taste.
However, there are some pretty out there names. Especially looking at this thread.
Edited - typo.
I also have a student in my school named Isis. Again unfortunate.
I have a friend whose name is Jenning and he goes by Jen which I think is wired name for a boy. But I guess he likes it.