Naming Patterns & Trends: Why We Choose the Names We Do

It’s not just babies that are getting these names — so are the pets!

Afrocentric baby names are gaining popularity, and this represents a positive swell in the African American community. The reason is this: The first African Americans were slaves, and they were given the surnames of their slave owners. Eventually African Americans tried to fit in to society by taking Americanized names that they saw their neighbors taking. Now, African Americans are in a psychologically healthy place where they look back at their ancestry and choose to celebrate it by naming their children for ancestors and historical events.

It’s very common for all ethnic groups to do this. Celebrating one’s past is a way of leaving a trail of history for future generations. Irish names, American Indian names, Jewish names, Catholic names and Russian names are only an iota of all the ethnic names that most people can recognize when reading a paper, a book, a newspaper article or listening to a radio or television program — or if they’re linking to their own past.