I would love to know what my African ancestors names were. I would most certainly honor them by taking it on.

I have brought this issue up on other forums and got tore into by black people especially women.
Boys:
Sequence, Demarsha, Dekerion, Ivonta, Tukiki, Jevorish, Oderrion, Yatario, cartavia, Jerlarance, Ronaco, Kendrane, Suvolla, Lecetrion,
Girls:
Larhonda, Antoinary, Socteria, Meocean,

I know that people have the right to name their kids what they want but jeeze...

are there some books out there that can be publicized that can help out. some of this is rediculous.

Many threads on this subject but yeah, as a descendant of Africa first slavery second I feel deprived and naked knowing my identity is what it is but not what it should have been.

“I am simply tired of these ridiculous names black women are giving their children,” said U.S. Federal Judge Ryan Cabrera before rendering his decision. “Someone had to put a stop to it.”
The rule applies to all black women, but Cabrera singled out impoverished mothers.
“They are the worst perpetrators,” he said. “They put in apostrophes where none are needed. They think a ‘Q’ is a must. There was a time when Shaniqua and Tawanda were names you dreaded. Now, if you’re a black girl, you hope you get a name as sensible as one of those.”
Few stepped forward to defend black women—and black women themselves seemed relieved.
“It’s so hard to keep coming up with something unique,” said Uneeqqi Jenkins, 22, an African-American mother of seven who survives on public assistance. Her children are named Daryl, Q’Antity, Uhlleejsha, Cray-Ig, Fellisittee, Tay’Sh’awn and Day’Shawndra.

A hoax apparently - or maybe a case of never a truer word said in gest.

Hello, Negro

If a man was stupid enough to say what he said from the bench he ought to be censored.

black women don't do not have the market cornered by any means, the jim bobs and jerry joes are equally as bad...but it is their choice.

non the less i am glad that they did not ask my mother what name while she was still under the influence of the morphine....

hey incog would you have the nerve to tag you grands with one of the above? which one....

meknow - I'm from the school that believes everything has a meaning and there's a reason for everything - names are no different. This same chain of thought almost makes it impossible for me to be angry or hold malice because as a philosoper there is always an explanation to decipher why things are the way they are - even names with no meaning.

you did say with no meaning didn't you.....

Incog:

I hit you on the run....me look closer to your post and questions arise.

we will probably have to take this back to the philosophy thread but i will ask anyway.

you said that everything has a meaning, even names....and then you ended up saying some names have no meaning....??????

im am 'fused....

meknow - bad delivery on my part, it's more the minds behind the people who give names without no meaning, there are rational explantations/meanings/reasonings for this mentality.

there are rational explantations/meanings/reasonings for this mentality....

hmmmm

you mean Sequence's mom could give us the above for the name she gave him?

how about lahonda....can you imagine demarsha's mom having to explain why she named him such..?

is it any wonder these kids are going by letters instead of their given names any more. what do you think demarsha tell's the guys in jail what his name is. imagine the cruelty that the guards pull on him at mail call. i am sure that he hates getting mail....

Not necessarily, I've found it unlikely to get someone to admit they are still a slave....that's an explanation/meaning/reason in itself - or as the saying goes, I freed a slave once, could have freed hundreds more if only they new they were slaves.

But as said, the issue on names has been done to death, enough for you to conclude as long as people are free within their own minds then people will be what people will be and will not know themselves until their backs are against the wall....if they're unlucky.

ok.............

Yes, names really matter because it identifies an individual, or the race that individual is from. In some cultures people are given nick-names that reflect their character or something that they did. So a name is an identifying mark. It can tie you to a location or culture or a family.
A quote from The Destruction Of The Black Civilisations reads:

But what happened in the process of converting the Blacks to Islam and Christianity was the supreme triumph of the white world over the black. Millions of Africans became non-Africans. ........The blacks in their own rights became non persons, members of a race of nobodies, so hopeless that self-realization as personalities, even in a subordinate status, could only be achieved by becoming Muslims or Christians. Indeed, in order to destroy completely not only their African heritage, but also their very African identity psychologically, they were forced to change their names to Arabic and Christian names. Henceforth, if these Black Emils, Johns, Muhammads, Samuels and Abdullahs happened to achieve greatness in some field, the assumption would be that it was Caucasian achievement, unless a special effort was made to identify the race of the persons in question. Blacks at home inAfrica and Blacks scattered over the world bore the names of their enslavers and oppressors, the ultimate in self-effacement that promoted a self hatred which made pride in the race difficult.
Chancellor Williams.

If you give someone a new name, it is like saying that you are now who I want you to be, forget who you were, that is unimportant. It is like wiping the slate clean in the eyes of the one who gives the name.
Many of our inventors have European names and we really have to dig deep to find out their identities. But isn't it nearly always the case that those Blacks in positions of power would not want to rock the boat by calling their children 'Shaniquah or Lashawn' etc. Because those names are different from mainstream society and they identify the individual as being of African Origin. Some of us just want to fit in and not rock the boat so to speak. But a people marginalised by society, who are on the fringes of society, those who are poor who do not have any power within the society, have rejected the 'Johns' and 'Marys' and want to reclaim a name that gives them some identity. If I hear the name Lashawn, I am immediately going to recognise it as one of my brothers . And isn't true that change always comes from people who are at the bottom rungs of the ladder. In not having a name that is European or Muslim, those people are reclaiming their identities. They are saying; this is who I am. This is what I give to myself. To reclaim something as your own means you have taken back some power, part of your identity and that you are not allowing someone else, shaped by their values and ideologies to define who you are. You are in fact, defining yourself.

names do matter, it's why you have one...even the names that don't mean anything mean something to the person who gave it, even if it is something as superficial as just sounding nice.

Try going around for a week or two with no name.

Without an identity you'll be referred to by the colour of your skin. It's why there's an African in the identity African-American and why an alien is commonly referred to by its green skin and why Nigerian names can be distinguished from Ghanain