[C.M.]

I am curious as to how deaf people decide on a name for a child. In the hearing world, most people choose a name based on how it sounds to them. Since this is not an issue for deaf people, I'm wondering what are the typical criteria for name selection? Does one name a child 'after' somebody? Or by the way the name looks? Any or all of those reasons? Others I can't think of?

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Name : C.M., Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 46, City : Capitola, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : professor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[MoeSullivan]

Although I do not have first hand knowledge of this question since I am not deaf, I can tell you that I did not name any of my children based on the sound per se but rather the meaning of the name. Ie: One of my kids has the name of one of my childhood friends and another from family. Not to end this discussion here,as it would not be complete, I do know a person that happens to be deaf and the next time I bump into them will try to remember to ask this question and try to get back to you.

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Name : MoeSullivan, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 49, City : Tallahassee, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : artist, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[KaylaL]

but I do hang out in the Deaf community and have many Deaf friends. If I was Deaf, I would probably name my child something that was fun and easy to finger-spell such as Ruth. I would not name them something long. My last name is 9 letters long and its really hard to finger-spell. It makes me feel like an armature when I am giving a presentation because I usually 'stutter' while signing it. Also I do think that the meaning has a lot to do with it. The other day I met a Deaf women who recently had a baby. When I asked what the little boys name was she told me "Jonah like in the Bible". Hope that helps.

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Name : KaylaL, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 18, City : St. Augustine, State : FL Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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