African-American Name for White Child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a bar/restuarant Friday night. I walked in and went up the bar to order a drink. A guy standing there looked at me and says "You voted for Obama didn't you?" I side step the question as there is no way I'm having that conversation with a drunk guy in Old Town. Then he asks my name. After I told him he says "Oh. I thought you were going to say Obamaniqua or something!" I was pretty pissed but not surprised as so many people on this thread have shown they subscribe to the same generalizations and stereotypes as this guy. He was just kind enough to say it to my face.

Are you saying there are sociopathic assholes who live among us? I must make a note of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a bar/restuarant Friday night. I walked in and went up the bar to order a drink. A guy standing there looked at me and says "You voted for Obama didn't you?" I side step the question as there is no way I'm having that conversation with a drunk guy in Old Town. Then he asks my name. After I told him he says "Oh. I thought you were going to say Obamaniqua or something!" I was pretty pissed but not surprised as so many people on this thread have shown they subscribe to the same generalizations and stereotypes as this guy. He was just kind enough to say it to my face.

Sorry, that really sucks.

I, too, think this sucks. But your use of "sorry" seems slightly off kilter. Are you apologizing because you were the person making the offensive statement (now presumably sober), because you are the designated representative of the white race, or is this just a knee-jerk, wear it on your sleeve, liberal response?

Hmm. When someone stubs their toe, is it appropriate to say you're "sorry" and that it "sucks". Or is that just knee-jerk liberal response? I'd say it's an empathetic response, but then again I'm a knee-jerk liberal, and in my experience American conservativism is nothing more than a crippled capacity for empathy. That's why the social safety net is some sort of conspiracy of parasitic bottom-feeders...until the conservative loses his job, then it's a critical part of the economy. That's why tort reform is absolutely crucial--until the conservative's daughter is crippled by corporate negligence, then it's a fundamental right of all Americans. And that's why prominent conservatives have denied there is such a thing as autism--until they have a child with autism. Then of course every resource available to the state must be trained on the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I named my daughter for a friend. Since I grew up in an virtually all white region of northern New Hampshire, it was years slater when I moved to DC that I discovered it was a name often associated with the black community. Years later when we sent a letter of inquiry about her possible attendance at a prestigious New England boarding school, we received all sorts of odd mailings back from them almost exclusively about diversity, commitment to minorities, minority scholarships, etc. Apparently since we also have a rather simple non-ethnic last name, and given her home town, the school assumed she was black. It's a beautiful name!

Has your daughter ever commented on her name?

Funny, our daughter has the exact same type of name. Man are then going to be shocked when she shows up to claim her full scholarship at Harvard on the first day of school!

[Anonymous]

As long as we're okay with Paige Finkelstein, Aidan DeLuca, and Sophia Choi (real examples), then why not? Unless, of course, we think that Aidan, Sophia, and Paige are classy names and an African American name can't be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My college crush was Darius-he was 100% Iranian.

Darius, which in Farsi is actually Dar-yoosh, is actually originally an Iranian name. It is the name of the second emperor of the Persian Empire, so that and Cyrus, the name of the first emperor, are actually some of the most common Iranian names for boys.