Why do some people call distinctively Black names “ghetto” or “made up”? The history of Black naming in America is much deeper than spelling or pronunciation. And part of it goes back to slavery. Enslavers often imposed names on the people they held in bondage. Some used European names. Others used names from classical history, including Caesar and Scipio. But enslaved Africans also preserved names and naming traditions from their homelands. In West Africa, some cultures named children according to the day of the week they were born. In Akan naming traditions, Kofi is associated with Friday and Kwasi with Sunday. Versions of these names survived in America as Cuffee and Quash. Even under slavery, names could preserve cultural memory. After emancipation, some formerly enslaved people chose new names to express their independence. And generations later, naming became part of another cultural transformation. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Black Freedom Movement encouraged many African Americans to embrace distinct expressions of Black identity. Names were part of that change. In 1964, boxer Cassius Clay announced that he would be known as Muhammad Ali. He rejected the name associated with his family’s history under slavery. Meanwhile, Black American parents increasingly developed and selected distinctive names for their children. Economists studying millions of California birth records found that Black and white naming patterns began diverging sharply during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The shift coincided with the Black Power era. But these names weren’t necessarily traditional African names. Many were creative American formations, using new combinations of sounds, syllables, and spellings. And there’s nothing linguistically illegitimate about creating a new name. All names have histories. Some are centuries old. Others were invented relatively recently. But the consequences of having a distinctively Black name could be serious. In a landmark employment experiment, economists Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan sent thousands of fictitious résumés to employers. The qualifications were varied experimentally. So were the names. Résumés with names such as Emily and Greg received substantially more callbacks than otherwise comparable résumés with names such as Lakisha and Jamal. The researchers found that résumés with white-sounding names received approximately 50% more callbacks. The experiment demonstrated that perceived racial identity could affect access to job interviews. So the real question isn’t why Black parents create names. Parents everywhere choose, adapt, and invent names. It’s why certain names become targets of ridicule or discrimination when people associate them with Black Americans. #foryou #viral #fyp #tiktokmademelearnit #learnontiktokcontest - @finvory