[Nakena]

This was a hard question to answer. I had to go back and think of why I chose my own children's names. For me it was the desire to be creative and to give the child a sense of originality. My twin girls are named Damaris and Damani. I wonder if you would ask the same question about Indian children's names or Russian children's names. I'm sure some of those are obviosuly names that we've never heard of because we are of different cultures. The Caucasian culture may feel comfortable with everyday names, and many African-American children have everyday names. Now that I think more about it, during the times of slavery, African Americans were not given choices. I'm sure lots of children were named by their slave owner, with names like Ruth, Sue, May etc. Maybe the creative names have developed as we gained more choices and opportunity. That was a great question, a good topic for someone's thesis in African-American Studies.

User Detail :  

Name : Nakena, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 28, City : Charlotte, State : NC Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Nakena]

I don't necessarily feel that it is offensive to use someone's race as an identifier, but you could just as easily say, the guy with the dreds, or the guy with the green pants and brown shoes. So where you live, that is frowned upon and there's a reason for that. People do not like being defined by their race as if that is all they are. You are first a person. So if you feel the need to point me out on the street, the choice is up to you. You can say, 'that black lady', or you can say 'that tall slender lady with the brown hair and green eyes, the one standing at the entrance of the store there'. Great question.

User Detail :  

Name : Nakena, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 28, City : Charlotte, State : NC Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

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