I see him down the mall I’m all like in his face with “what you talkin’ bout Willis?!”

DAMN.

Second of all, if Clitoria were a person’s name (which it probably is somewhere in America), that person would be named after a genus of tropical flowers. Just because the person reading it is ignorant of its meaning doesn’t mean their mother or father didn’t have the right to give her child that name. I must say that I have seen some names that have made me cringe, but I would never advocate for taking away a person’s right to name their child whatever they please. I am most certainly in favor of parents giving their children names that actually have meanings, even if the parents themselves have signified the meaning.

Teachers and other people can’t pronounce a lot of names, but that also often has to do with the fact that we as Americans are averse to anything that doesn’t look like English and haven’t taken the time to learn or respect other languages. Mutaqee (pronounced: moo-TOC-ee) actually means “pious one” and has way more meaning than “hound-lover” (the meaning of Connor), but lacking respect for other cultures or for the fact that non-English names can actually have valid significance, most of us would want to cuss Mutaqee’s mother out, too, not taking into consideration that perhaps she wanted a child with a meaningful name, not just a name that was “acceptable”…and acceptable to WHO? Chances are MOST people’s parents don’t even know what their names mean, “acceptable” and “normal” as they may be. There are plenty of mommas who didn’t know they were naming their child “hound-lover” when they gave them the name Connor.

I would encourage people to slow their roll when they make judgement on a person’s name. Instead of sayin’, “What the hell kinda name is that?!” ask a person what their name means or why their parents named them that. You’d be surprised at the stories you’ll get that go a lot deeper than picking something out of a baby names book or beyond “They thought that people wouldn’t know my ethnicity (might even think I was white) when they saw my name on my resume.”

P.S. Lucretia is actually an elite, Southern white name. I’ve come across this name for rich, older white women quite often in my work.

involving two sisters: “Nahtica” (a miss spelling for “Nautica”?) and “Cash’Monae.”

Maybe the parents will decided to push their luck with the next child and name it “Lah’Terie” . . .

But… if i as a black woman choose to name my daughter rain or summer or my son seven, grey or midnight, they may not like it and then i am restricted from being orignial

is it just the spelling and pronunciation of the names that will allow these laws to take place?

You see, she’s had students in her class with some rather strange names. The “best” ones definitely go to some of the twins:

Lewasher and Ledryer, and Lemonjello and Oranjello (by way of explanation, the latter pair’s mother admitted she wasn’t expecting twins, so she named them after her favorite foods).

Nobody should ever be told what to name their children, but a little guidance (perhaps from a caring grandmother, aunt, or mentor?) might go a long way. . .

“CON-DOH-LEE-ZAH!”

“CONDOLEEZA, you ain’t never gonna be nothin!”

“Tell me, where are your cousins CONDI?”

“LONGWAVIOUS! PAMFERNICIA! DIBLONGRADAVIOUS! It’s time for dinner!”

Thats the problem with everybody not just black people, peer pressure will build up and consume our thought process.

I am proud to say that I conquered my self-loathing of my name in high school. It took a minute, but I gained that self-respect and knowledge to know that hey this is my name, it means something, its extremely empowering as a young Black man to know that you do have to stand and embrace whats given to you.

My name is Kouta pronounced Koo-tay. Now is it my fault that Black and White people who hear my name and when I spell my name out they still hear something else. My argument against the point that people make about kids with those crazy names is they won’t get an interview with a company with a name like that. My debate is we as a people need to stop under-educating our kids. Teaching our kids to be good little employees and become part of the working poor class of citizens. Thats people who go to work everyday and live below the poverty line. IF WE can buy into education freeing us from the bondages of poverty, crime and lack of mid to high paying jobs we could win that battle. My point I’m making is IF we can shift our thought process away from working for DA MAN and building and establishing a foundation so we can have our own successful businesses.

Black people love to say everybody is not built for college. I say you’ll never know unless you go and find out for yourself. I read someone’s post earlier that they Googled some things pertaining to the hoax article about “Clitoria”. Google was started by some college kids as well as Microsoft. If you people don’t understand that statement we’re lost as a people.

I can give some real examples. One of my in-laws has children named:

Recognize, Keloid, Champaigne, Damiracle… come on now!

http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/blacknames.asp

In 2000, birth certificates revealed that there were 298 Armanis, 269 Chanels, 49 Canons, 6 Timberlands, 5 Jaguars and 353 girls named Lexus in the U.S.” Which is hardly surprising, writes Flora, in an era when children are viewed as “accessories.”

Perhaps there should be a once-per-lifetime free-of-charge name change law that allows adults to correct mistakes made by their parents. For example, Dwyane Wade should be allowed to change the spelling of his name to Dwayne, and Antawn Jamison should correct his to Antwan.

I have nothing against ethnic names, names from the “old country” … My personal opinion, however, is that parents shouldn’t saddle a child with a name that might give that child difficulties later in life. Don’t we all have enough problems without a name that can garner ridicule?

Of course – all this is nothing more nor less than my opinion – and – everyone is entitled to their own!