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Pride vs. Prejudice

Baby Names and the African-American Experience

By Mark Stackpole

Elza Dinwiddie-Boyd's initially hoped to write a book collecting and discussing between 2,000 to 3,000 African-American baby names. Through her research, she found a lot more than that. Her efforts became Proud Heritage: 11,001 Names for Your African-American Baby (Avon, 1994), one of the first books on the subject.

Dinwiddie-Boyd identifies three ways that African-Americans choose names: taking traditional European names and changing their spelling and/or pronunciation to make them more distinctive; creating unique names that did not exist before; and using actual African names to reflect their cultural heritage.

"African-Americans have had to struggle for distinction," Dinwiddie-Boyd says. "Today, when you see African-Americans spelling European-American names differently, it stems from a need for individuality. The movements of the 1960s and 1970s saw a change in how African-American names were chosen. Adults changed their names to their 'African names.' Creating unique names also became more popular, though these created names are not African. It is a way of establishing identity."

However, it is often the use of these "created names" that can bring about stereotypes related to the African-American identity. Dinwiddie-Boyd believes that there is more to these prejudices than just the unique names themselves. "It is not so much the name as it is the socioeconomic situation," she says. "'Daquan' can be middle class, but he can't be 'Daquan' and drop out of high school. If you're getting the grounding to be successful in this country, names don't matter. If you aren't, the names can pose a problem. Parents should give their children names that they love, but they should also provide the background, understanding and the will that are required to overcome those obstacles."

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