GHETTO NAMES

From time to time, groups of African-Americans get into debates over which names we  should give our kids.  For Black people this is serious business because newspaper investigations, generations of personal anecdotes, and multiple studies, like the one conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, have shown that ethnic sounding names can be a hindrance to success in the corporate world.

What researchers call “ethnic sounding names,”  were once called Afrocentric names.   Informally, we now usually use the disparaging term “ghetto names.”  And African-Americans still pass those names to our children--- a lot.

Oh, wait.  You do know the kinds of names I’m talking about, right?  These are names typically built around the consonant sounds  q, r, and sh.    Multi-syllabic names with lots of a’s, long e’s, er’s, and ia’s .   Some parents take a common name and spelling it too phonetically.  For example, Airwreacka for Erica.   

Another way is to appropriate a brand name or a complex term and use it as a name, like calling a girl Alopecia Areata-- which is a skin disease that causes hair loss.   (Yes, I’ve met a girl named Alopecia Areata.)

In some cases, parents choose such names because they have a genuine linguistic translation into something significant.  Ashanti or Asante, for example, is the name of a Ghanaian tribe that once held a vast empire.

But most of the times, parents give their babies “ethnic sounding” names because the parents think they sound cute or look cool.

But, here’s the point of this post:  this whole debate over ethnic names isn’t new, nor is it unique to Black people in America.

1 Chronicles chapter 3 lists the genealogy of Saul, the first king of united Israel.  Verse 33 says that Saul named one of his sons Esh-baal.  Saul’s oldest son Jonathan named one of the grandbabies Merib-baal. 

Baal was a generic name for any of the pagan gods worshipped by the surrounding Philistine and Canaanite tribes.  So, Esh-baal means “man of Baal.”   Merib-Baal means something like “Baal Is My Advocate.”

So, think.    Why would two generations of good Jewish men from a good---- heck, from a royal---- Jewish family give their babies pagan, Philistine sounding names?

Cause they sounded cute.  Cause those names were cool.

At the time Saul came to the throne, Philistia was the dominant military and political power of the region.  Israel was like a minor, ethnic minority, tributary territory of loosely connected backwater tribes.  Heck, until Saul, “those people” didn’t even have a king.

To Israel, the Philistines would have been cool.  Yes, they were uncircumcised heathen oppressors, but they were powerful.  They had culture and money and their own blacksmiths.  I bet you that young Israeli girls wanted to wear their hair in Philistine styles.  I bet you that teenage Israeli boys wore their robes like the Philistines did.  (And if the Philistines had been sagging, the Israeli boys would have been sagging.)  Because that was swag back then.

After Israel became a “real” kingdom and Saul’s family became royal, it wasn’t cool anymore to have a Philistine name.  Kids with Philistine sounding names were considered less patriotic, less desirable to employ than kids with good, strong, Anglo--- I mean Hebrew--- names.

That’s why, if you follow the story chronologically to 2 Samuel, King Saul’s family doesn’t use those ethnic sounding names anymore. 

2 Samuel 2: 8 refers to Ishbosheth, the son of Saul.  He’s not Esh-baal anymore.

2 Samuel 4: 4 refers to Jonathan’s son named Mephibosheth.   They don’t call him Merib-baal anymore. 

Mephibosheth means “destroyer of idols” or “exterminator of shame.”    O.K., so it’s obvious how that name change reflects a genuine linguistic translation into something significant.

But his Uncle Ishbosheth’s new moniker means “man of shame.”  Not exactly a kingly title, but so what?  It’s a Jewish name, not an “ethnic” name.

It’s like a kid named Keniqua who decides to start going by Kennedy.  Never mind that Kennedy means “helmet head.”   Or, a parent who decides to shorten Porsheresa to Portia, nevermind that Portia means “pig.”  Or the Vietnamese immigrant who drops Ngyuen in favor of Nelson.

The way we beat each other up over names, hairstyles, clothing fads, etc. is nothing new.  It’s not unique to the American experience or the African-American experience. 

That which has been is what will be,

That which is done is what will be done,

And there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

All this stuff is just part of the age-old human experience.

Changing names may have made Mephibosheth and Ishbosheth sound more acceptable.  But the name changes didn’t keep the throne in their family.  Some kid out of nowhere named David still came to power.  The name didn’t make the man.

God made the man and the name followed.

…to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel.

 And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. (2 Samuel 7: 8-9)

My all Black household has a collection of the most anglo names in America:  Anderson, Sheila, Katlin, and Anderson III.  But those names don’t guarantee success.   Just like a ridiculously ethnic sounding name like, for example, Barack Hussein Obama, doesn’t preclude success. 

Each of us has to choose how we will relate or not relate to Jesus Christ.  Each of us has to choose how we will obey or disobey God’s Word.  Each of us has to choose whether or not we will live in line with or aligned against God’s will.  Because ultimately, 

God decides whether or not to pour out his favor and it is God’s favor that makes the man or woman A GREAT NAME, LIKE THE NAME OF THE GREAT MEN WHO ARE ON THE EARTH.

---Rev. Anderson T. Graves II   (email:  atgravestwo2@aol.com )

Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

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