As a black man I am absolutely baffled at the popularity of taking a name of common Anglo heritage and adding a prefix to it. This seems to be part of several overall trends among African-American names (the other trend appears to be simply misspelling names completely). I have seen LaDonna, LaMichael, DeShawn. . . there are hosts of other examples.
While I have no objection to naming your children whatever you want (they can always change their names when they get old enough, if they want) I am wondering WHY this has become a popular method of "blackening" a name. The closest I can come up with is a desire to evoke a connection Louisana's rich black culture by making names sound French (le-, la-, de-, des-). I am unable to find any real grounds for this belief, so I am hoping someone who might have some understanding of this phenomena can explain it and show a clear connection.
2007-12-12
15:42:05
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8 answers
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asked by
Michael N
1
in
Other - Cultures & Groups