CHINNEAQUA: Can I smile?

Is smiling ok?

PRODUCER: Yes.

CHINNEAQUA: Ok. Hi.

My name is Chinneaqua Matthews.

SHANIQUA: My name?

No sorry.

Let me do that over.

Okay, Now I got to stop laughing, sorry.

Okay.

Forgive me.

My name is Shaniqua.

♪♪ (pecking of keyboard keys) SHANIQUA: Oh, you don't seem like a Shaniqua.

You don't sound like a Shaniqua, you don't look like a Shaniqua, or, um, oh that's such a beautiful name.

And not that I don't believe that.

I don't believe them.

I'll just be honest about it.

Or they'll say, oh that's a very interesting name.

Oh well, what does it mean?

Where did you get it from?

And just all this stuff, it's like, if my name is Ashley, you would not be asking me all these questions and making all these comments.

So why do we have to do it now?

I get looks or judgments are made and celebrities can name their kid Apple and like that's normal.

(Countdown beeping) WOMAN 1: When I hear the name Shaniqua, I think of someone from the hood, low income community.

But I also think of perseverance in facing adversity and someone who's really resilient.

WOMAN 2: In all honesty, I think of like a homegirl, someone who is always there for you, someone who is always willing to ride out with you, someone who's going to be there for you no matter what.

TIANDREA: Well, I think when I hear the name Shaniqua, I think family.

Um, one of my closest little cousins her name is Shaniqua she's the smartest, most just outgoing person that I know.

Um, I think of my good friend Shaniqua that's on the board of the UNC Alumni and does all these other amazing things as well.

And also on the flip side, I think of all the, you know, the stereotypes that come along with that name too.

-Oh hi girlfriend.

It's Shaniqua here and today I'm going tell you the top 60 ghetto black names, hmmm-mmm.

CHAVEZ: My name is Chavez Adams.

When I think of Shaniqua, I think of someone from my hometown, a very small hometown, but very urbanized.

So when I think of Shaniqua, I think of one of my friends back at home.

MAN 1: What comes to mind, um, when you just hear any any name that is outside of, of course, your Jennifer and your Erika.

First automatic assumption you get is, dang, her momma must be hood.

SHANIQUA: I mean, I don't know, a ton of Shaniqua's, but the ones... I- I've never met a Shaniqua that is snapping her fingers and rolling her neck and all of that.

So, and I don't think most of the people who know me, who don't know a ton of Shaniqua's...

I don't think that's their version of it either.

But it's just tough because I feel like I have to prove to everyone um, that, like women with names like mine are...

I hate to say wor- like we are worthy of the same respect that everyone else is given.

But I hate to even have to do that.

I was talking to my mother.

She was at the school for some, I don't know, some awards ceremony or something and I was just chatting with her and I happened to bring up the story about the newspaper.

So when I was elected BSM president, I ran unopposed.

And, you know, our student newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel, wanted to do an article, a story.

And so, you know, I put on a Carolina hoodie and went and did the story and they took a picture and it ran in the newspaper the next day.

And at this time, we had an online you could, you know, read articles online but you could comment anonymously.

And someone wrote under my picture, um, so many people were just talking about how I did not respect the university because I wore a Carolina hoodie instead of dressing up where, you know, I'm pretty sure the student body, like all these other student leaders, had worn whatever they want.

SHANIQUA: And most people would say it.

She's, you know, got on her... her Carolina attire.

I mean, why is that not appropriate?

But for whatever reasons, everyone was, you know, up in arms about it and someone put under the picture, 'oh she's president of the Black student movement?

And of course, her name is Shaniqua.'

I could like see the hurt in her eyes and that, I just was like, it's not like- if people want to judge me, that's fine.

And like, I wouldn't tell her that story if I if I knew it was going to affect her.

But like, from that point on, I was just like, you know what?

This is my name.

My mother gave it to me and it is what it is.

And if someone's going to make a judgment about me based off that, I mean, that's more of their problem because when has a name ever dictated the trajectory of of your entire life?

SHARON LYNN: One of my responsibilities was supporting management in talent acquisition.

And this was in um, the late 90's, mid to late 90's, early 2000's.

And we would, you know, hire particularly in entry level positions.

You would see people, you know, submitting applications, resumes for positions.

Um, named Shaniqua and other culturally unique names.

TRANEQUA: Well, when I first tell them my name's TraNequa their first response is, 'Oh like you ghetto," you know so, um, for a while it used to make me feel like that's not me at all.

Like, my name kind of represents me because it's unique and its bold and that's my personality.

But at the same time, that's like... they also take it as me being uneducated or ghetto or "ratchet" as you want to call it.

And that's not me at all.

I'm not any of those things.

-Hey, yo, this is your girl Sha'Naenae.

-This is your girl Shaniqua.... -and we "finna" teach you how to be ghetto fabulous.

SHANIQUA: What I think people mean when they say ghetto is I think they mean loud, obnoxious, ignorant and all of those things.

But why?

Like... A ghetto is a noun and somehow we turned it into an adjective uh, for, you know, most people use it for loud, obnoxious, um, ignorant plus Black people.

Um, you know, because white people fit that mold, too.

And they're not called ghetto.

They're just called whatever those adjectives are.

And that's why I try not to use that word, because I don't think it means what people use it as.

I- I like...

I hate the word, and so, you know, I try not to use it.

And I guess I've been socialized.

And sometimes it's hard to let go of those things, but I think it's an unfair word that is only used for Black people.

And oftentimes I think people who can't say [deleted] use it as their way of like getting around it um, to say what it is they they mean, you know, an insult to Black people.

It's just becoming more popular like, when I was younger and Bow Wow had that song, "Ghetto Girl," or how...

I think that was the name of it, something like that.

And he was like, "I love the girls with the ghetto names," something like that.

Um... ♪ I like them G.H.E.T.T.O.

♪ ♪ Now believe me she got to go ♪ SHANIQUA: What does that even mean?

I think whenever I can't fully wrap my brain around like, what does it mean?

Like when people make assumptions about me?

Like, why are you doing that?

When I can't get into it and figure out what it is I, I just try to stay away from it 'cause I want to be informed on like every aspect of my vocabulary.

And what I'm saying and my intent to really come across is what I'm trying to say.

SHENEQUA: I think what, what annoys me most about... the stereotypes that come with being named Shenequa is that A: people say, you're so articulate and I hate when anyone tells a Black person that they are articulate to begin with, [laughs] I just hate that anyone says that to begin with.

But more so when they they just assume that because your name is Shenequa, you are unattractive.

They assume because your name is Shenequa, you are this raging swamp donkey.

You don't know, you know what fork to use at a fancy table setting when you've never been around.

And...it just bothers me so much.

But I also think that we as Black people, we have subconsciously been taught, the unfortunate survival skill of code switching, whereas white people don't have to code switch because they have created the code.

You know what I'm saying I can off camera, I can be like Phill, what's up, what's going on [deleted].

But I can't do that on camera.

Can't do that at my office.

You know what I'm saying?

There's a certain part of you that you have to turn off in order to succeed, there's a certain part of you, that you have to distance yourself from.

You have to distance yourself from the Shenequa part of you in order for you to be able to bring home a check.

You know what I'm saying?

Code switching is a difference between, you know... Canned foods and Whole Foods.

ROBINNE: We live in a very biased community.

It is not a post-racial America, as people would like us to believe.

Um, it's far from that.

And people make assumptions.

They make assumptions that- about your... educational level, about where you come from, about how you may speak, about how you may carry yourself just on a name.

And... it and any time, unfortunately in this country, if your name is viewed as ethnic and it might not be Shaniqua, it might be Moisha or it might be Hassan... it's...it's weighed differently.

TRANEQUA: I got my name from my brother.

My brother's about five years older than me.

One day they was watching "The Cosby Show" and it was like, my brother's name is Trevores, and was watching "The Cosby Show" and a girl's name was Shenequa on there, he's like, "Mommy, mommy, why don't we name our daughter?

Well, my sister TraNequa?"

And, that's my name [chuckles].

CHINNEAQUA: For a minute, I used to cover my name when I first started working at Cracker Barrel.

It's kind of sad, but I used to cover it with my book, with my little notepad when I write the orders down like.

And I would say, "Hey, my name is Ray or Chinneaqua, if you want to call me that."

And then when I did it the other way and I said, "Hey, my name is Chinneaqua" when I showed them my name they kinda looked at me like "what."

And you would be- oh oh my goodness you would be surprised how many times I've had um, African-American guests treating me terribly because they're- they stereotype me first.

"Oh that's Chinneaqua."

You know, immediately they thought: "Chinneaqua, Oh I already know she's gonna have bad service, she's gonna have an attitude.

She's going to... she's going to just do the least she can do.

Can I get a new server please?"

And it's like...

I mean people don't understand that you can really hurt somebody's feelings like that.

You know what I'm saying?

You can really, I guess, almost tear down a person and make them feel less of what they are, less valued because, you know, just because their name is whatever.

And it may be a little difficult to to spell or to say or because they're...

I guess even just being an African-American person.

It's always like that.

SHANIQUA: People are less judgmental when they get to know me.

Um, and then I think when I open my mouth, if they...if they've made assumptions, those are gone.

But I think people still make just as many assumptions.

I uh met one of my coworker's uh, families the other day and I introduced myself and she was like, "you don't look like a Shaniqua."

All right, I'm at work.

I'm not dealing with this right now.

So I just walked out of the room.

But people, people still, yeah, they still just make assumptions.

And I really don't know where.

Maybe I was too young to know what was going on culturally, but I don't know where it came from.

DR. CASSANDRA NEWBY-ALEXANDER: African heritage, whether you're east, west, north or south was all about naming people that had meaning.

And so if, sometimes it was the day of the week that you were whatever day of the week you were born, sometimes it was being named after an important uh, relative who had passed away.

Sometimes uh, the name had to do with some major event happening that year or what you wanted that child, the attributes that you wanted that child to have.

And so the naming and the naming ceremonies were all an important part of African ancestry.

And this continued among a number of free Blacks throughout the uh 19th and into the 20th century.

And it became really a part of of what we would call Black nationalism, because Black nationalism was not just about a nation, it was about your awareness and identity as being a part of a specific group of people who were empowered.

DR. MARGARET LEE: I guess we look at the whole idea of the African worldview and the African-American oral tradition uh that goes back to West Africa and West African naming practices, where uh the parents deliberately chose a name that was unique and different and innovative for their children because they felt that uh names had a meaning and names uh, sort of uh predicted the fate of the child.

And so they took, you know, weeks to come up with a name for a child that was in fact, creative and unique.

The name 'Keisha' was essentially of a model for African-American female names.

And we see that uh by the end of the 60's, going into the 70's, into the mid 70's, we saw the presence of L-A, in front of the prefix L-A.

La in front of Keisha forming 'Lakeisha.'

And then by the end of the mid 80's- end of the 80's and going into the 90's, we saw the Sha S-H-A replace the L-A as a prefix for 'Shakeisha' and so forth.

And I think this was still an extension of Africanized African sounding names.

ROBINNE: Choosing your child's name is a first, and one of the most important decisions you make as a parent to one... in the very, very first one.

Um, it's something that should not be taken lightly.

It's something that I have been thinking about since I was about I don't know, ten years old.

It's a very grand thing.

It's a gift that you're bestowing on this on this little being.

And and it's hard to kind of project who you want this child to be when you're holding, you know, a six or seven pound baby in your hand.

But you have to remember that this name is a moniker that's going to carry him through life.

PRODUCER: So how did you get your name?

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: Well, the name Shaundrikaá comes from my aunt, my great aunt.

She named me that.

Um, my mother went to the hospital.

When she went well, when she went into labor, she went to the hospital.

My aunt, who was home from Germany, came with her to the hospital and said, "Hey, name her Shaundrikaá."

That was not supposed to be my name, but that's what I ended up with.

PRODUCER: What was supposed to be your name?

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: My name was supposed to be Sharelle.

PRODUCER: Sharelle.

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: Yeah, but because my parents was teenagers when I was born, they were having, like, a little beef, and when my...my mother went into labor, she did not tell my father that she went into labor.

So when she went to the hospital, my aunt went with her and I guess she said, "Im'ma fix him.

I ain't going name her Sharelle."

And I ended up with Shaundrikaá.

PRODUCER: Spell it for me.

How do you?

I know how it's spelled because I know... Go ahead.

How does it?

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: S-h-a-u-n-d-r-i-k-a-á with an accent mark across the "a."

TIANDREA: My full government name is Tiandrea Norrington and I go by 'Tia' on purpose.

[chuckles] I decided that a long time ago 'cause on the first day of school and in the doctor's offices and everything else, no one can pronounce it.

Um it's spelled T-I-A-N-D-R-E-A.

Um, and when people see that on paper, I've heard, you know, all different types of pronunciations.

I've heard Tiondre.

I've heard uh, Tiandrea, just all these other crazy things.

And it's just like just call me 'Tia.'

And it's just that's been- become my "go to" response because it's just easier than dealing with people trying to learn, or figure out my name.

It's just a whole thing.

So, yeah my parents are creative.

Yay.

TRANEQUA: I used to want to give my child a unique name, but now I want to give them something unique but something that's straight to the point.

Something easy to say, something that's universal amongst races so that my child won't be judged off that based off the first time hearing the name or my child won't be judged when they have to call in to check the status of their application.

DR. CASSANDRA NEWBY-ALEXANDER: I find that some of the names that parents have given their children are the direct result of what I believe is illiteracy.

Just complete ignorance.

Such as naming a child 'Chlamydia.'

Oh that's a cute name.

But you're telling me you don't know that you just named your child after an STD?

What?

What is wrong with you?

[chuckles] Um, and there are some other names I've seen where um, your private parts people don't know the proper names.

And so when they see the proper name, they think it's a pretty name, but they still don't know what it is.

And they'll put an ending to it.

And I actually had a child, a student whose name was a woman's private part with an ending to it.

So it was "V-A-G" and...

"ella."

DR. WARRENETTA MANN: So um, at the time when I was um, pregnant with my daughter, we were living in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I had another friend who was a documentary filmmaker, and the film that she made during that time that we were there was a film about how 18 African-American men were shot by the police during the time we were in Cincinnati.

So I was very cognizant of the place where we were at that time.

And I made um, a couple of really key decisions.

One: we were getting out of Cincinnati, Ohio, um, that I did not want my daughter raised in that environment.

Um, and two: that I was going to continue to gift her name in the same way that my family, that I wasn't going to give up that tradition.

So my daughter's name is Sofiya Joi Mann, um, I spell her Sofiya very differently.

It's spelled with a traditional African spelling: where there's a consonant and a vowel, a consonant and a vowel, a consonant and a vowel.

Um, her name is S-O-F-I-Y-A.

Um, and that was meaningful.

But a lot of people don't know the real story behind her name was that I dreamed her name.

And that is also a very African and African American thing is that um, names are very meaningful in our culture.

And you don't just put a label on somebody because it- you pick it out of a book um, or you know, it comes from somebody around you.

So she's named after um, a dream that I had about her coming into the world.

And my best friend growing up, her joy is spelled 'J-O-I.'

DR. AKIL KHALFANI: All my children are 'Khalfani,' destined to rule.

They know when I say to them, I said, that's not... a that's not a Khalfani behavior.

Then they know that that that that means that they're destined to rule and is not necessarily destined to rule as as though they're... above anyone.

But it's as a people that we collectively are transforming the world in front of us and around us, and that that we have to uh, be confident that what we do has the ability to transform the world and so that and we have to be confident that we have the ability to rule.

And so we have to first rule yourself.

And so destined to rule means ruling the self, uh, your family and your community.

And so therefore, we collectively move forward on on a on a set of rules that we know that Khalfani is structured within.

And so that I think that that for those children who have those types of names, those...uh those rhythmic names, which many of them I have no problem with necessarily is beautiful, you know, but then, you know, when you... when we still are have an oppressed mentality, we think that when we're trying to escape our oppression, to call them ghetto is the solution.

But really is that the solution or not?

They're just they're just that they only say that is ghetto because we don't understand tonal languages in Africa.

If all the people who say that's it ghetto understood these tonal languages, they would listen to it and hear that it sound just like some of the other language names in other languages, whether it's 'Urdaba' or 'Ifa' or I mean uh 'Yoruba' or 'Ibo' or or 'Akan' or 'Zulu' or any of these other languages, you have many names that have the same rhythm and cadence of...a 'Shaniqua.'

KHALIFAH: I named my son some- a name that meant something to me.

So my son's name is Justice.

But when I say that, I just realized that even the the mother or father naming their child 'Shakweja' or whatever, that name meant something to them as well.

So I just named my son something that meant something to me.

And I hoped it worked out.

But I definitely remember, again, going through that same feeling of, okay, what am I going to name him?

I don't want to put him in the position that I was in, but I kind of have a conflict because I feel that way on one hand, but the other hand I feel like, well, why should I have to name him something so other people are comfortable?

AMY: I was married before and um, his name was Tyrone.

So normally that name is considered with a Black man and he was.

Um, with that when we had children.

Basically, he told me he wants his children have normal names because on applications you know, through school, high school, college, army, military, wherever you go, the first thing they see is they see your name and he doesn't he wants everything else to speak besides their name.

So what they've done, what they've accomplished, and your name should have nothing to do with that.

So they're named Courtney, Nicholas and Alexander.

And that way they can, you know, make achievements or get things that they're deserved on their own basis.

GENEVIEVE: When I hear the name Shaniqua um, actually the first thing that comes to mind are my students.

I'm a college and career counselor at a high school, predominantly Black high school.

I see a lot of unique names come across my desk.

Um, obviously for privacy purposes, I can't say them.

[chuckles] I wish I could right now.

Um, there are times that I sort of wonder, like, what were your parents thinking in all honesty.

Um, some I look at them and I don't understand how we have so many consonants put together or you know, whatever.

You just you wonder what people were thinking.

Um, and then I begin to wonder, especially as the students, like maybe are a senior or what have you, and they're looking for jobs, that sort of thing.

It's like, okay, how can I help them?

And I worry on their behalf um that someone may weed them out, not realizing that they have a solid individual.

SHARON: A person named Shaniqua or some other cultural uh names, Taniqua, Tamara, those culturally unique name, their resume- there would have to be so many really high points uh favorably high points on that resume in order for it to to get passed on to, you know, the next level.

Their resume generally was not taken as seriously as some others might have been.

And it was in retrospect, I realized, that it was primarily because of that culturally unique name.

SHENEQUA: You got people like your girl Raven-Simone out here looking crazy and sounding crazy and her name is Raven, so don't worry about my name being Shenequa.

Um, I've never not I've never not been proud, of Shenequa, I've never been ashamed of Shenequa.

I've never been scared of what people are going to perceive me as a Shenequa.

Most of the time...

I walk in the room, "Hi, my name is Shenequa," and they go, 'oh okay.'

And whatever picture they have in their head and then they see me, they immediately readjust.

It's on- it's on them.

The onus is on them to do the changing.

Not on me.

SHANIQUA: I would hate on the first day of class to have to wait for the professor to get to my name.

And then obviously, you know, I always had to correct them or they would just say McClendon.

DR. CASSANDRA NEWBY-ALEXANDER: Unfortunately, in the academic world, I hear too many teachers, whether it's teachers on the high school or elementary level or teachers at the college level, who derisively talk about these names.

First of all, they don't know how to pronounce them, and then they see them through the lens of a stereotype.

And the stereotype is often negative.

And...and in their minds, you know, they see this is of an inferior person.

When often the student is an excellent student who does not exhibit any of these stereotypic images that people evoke from that name.

TRANEQUA: Growing up, my name was very difficult for me, even for me.

I remember in preschool um, I loved food, so it was like lunch time.

So I ran to the front of the line and they were like, "okay, in order to get your lunch, you have to spell your name."

And I'm like, and I had to like, run to the back.

'Cause I didn't know how to spell my name yet.

And just even in school, like a librarian, I told her, the first day of school is always hard to pronounce my name.

They're like 'Traneqiua,' 'Tranequa' like they never get it.

So I tell them I'm like, "my name is 'TraNequa.'"

Well, she's like, "well, I'm spelling...

I'm just pronouncing it how your name is spelled."

I'm like, "Well, my name is still TraNequa."

She's like, "Well I'm going to call you 'Trenequia,'" [Chuckles] I'm just like, okay.

TIAMOYA: I've never been discriminated by or I felt like I was discriminated because of my name by a teacher, maybe because of my race, but not specifically my name.

Um, I remember this one, this one teacher.

She said um my name wrong and then I said, "It's 'Tiamoya.'"

And when she continued to call my name the wrong name.

So I told her specifically to call me 'Tia' because she couldn't say it.

TEACHER: Balakey... where is Balakey at?

No Balakey here today?

Yes, sir.

STUDENT: My name is Blake.

TEACHER: Are you out of your mind?

(imitates) Blake?

What?

Do you want to go to war Balakey?

STUDENT: No.

TEACHER: Because we could go to war.

STUDENT: No.

TEACHER: I'm for real.

I'm for real.

So you better check yourself.

Timothee?

STUDENT 2: Present.

TEACHER: Thank you.

KHALIFAH: My name is Khalifah Shabazz, and my both my parents are Muslim, and I was raised Muslim.

And in fact, my my dad talks about for days I didn't have a name because he and some other Muslim brothers prayed like for my name.

So that was something that I've always heard before I ever had this issue.

That was something that was always told to me.

And it was a very proud moment because in fact, Khalifah, which means ruler is a man's name.

So even just giving it to a girl kind of was a strong and bold statement.

Well, the first thing when I tell people my name is Khalifah, immediately they want to know what my nickname is, because there's an assumption that there is no way people walking around walking around calling me Khalifah.

So at a very young age when I was two, I did gymnastics, so that was like 1978.

So there were no really no Black gymnasts.

And I did it in Bergen County.

So I was the only African-American girl doing gymnastics... person.

So immediately they changed Khalifah to 'Leaf.'

Not really sure how that happened, but immediately that's who I became and eventually that's who I was.

Um... so that's kind of what it was.

And then as I got a little older, Paramus Catholic was predominantly, predominantly white.

Maybe 5 percent Black, and kind of the same thing happened when I started at Paramus Catholic.

Same question at this point, I'm 14, 15.

What's- what's your name?

Khalifah.

Well what's your nickname?

And the actual nickname I had given myself, was- it was 'Kiki,' but that was self-given back in the 80's when I was going to be a rapper.

(starts rapping) Some of these... some of these new rap chicks, better be lucky I'm old.

'Cause if I came out back in the day.

They been working at the wash and fold.

[Laughs] No no no... KHALIFAH: So it was 'Kiki Ski,' but [laughs] but that was at least a name that I felt like embraced who I wanted to be at that time.

Because the 'Kiki Ski' rhymed with 'NYC' on the '1-2-3.'

So that's how, that's how I got 'Kiki' and that got kind of bumped down to 'Ki' and that's who I stayed, um, you know, up until now.

For people who are uncomfortable calling me Khalifah, but for the most part I don't have like a nickname.

It's something that if you've known me when I was younger.

And I really was a name I gave mostly people... not many Black people call me anything other than Khalifah.

PRODUCER: Do you like your name?

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: No.

PRODUCER: Okay.

Have you ever liked your name?

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: Um, maybe up until I was like about five years old.

PRODUCER: Okay.

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: And then after then I just was done with it because it has 11 letters.

PRODUCER: Ok. SHAUNDRIKAÁ: So when you in the kindergarten and you're trying to learn how to write that and everybody else is dismissed, and you're still sitting there like "D-R" it just- And from that point forward, I just, I just never- I just never liked it.

PRODUCER: Did you start going by something else?

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: Um, well, my father's side of the family always called me 'Shaun', even though my name is not 'Shaun-drikaá.'

But they always call me 'Shaun.'

And then my mother side of the family always said 'Drikaá.'

So it was either one or the other.

TRANEQUA: It used to bother me, but now I'm- that's why I call myself 'Nene' because Nene's so much easier to say.

Um when I- after I graduated college, I rebranded myself as 'Nene.'

So I plan on working internationally.

So it will be easier to say because I just get so many complications with my first name.

[Drumming sounds] DR. AKIL KHALFANI: As an undergrad, I was at the University of California Santa Cruz, and became involved with uh, African Liberation Day, and a bunch of events uh, changed my name as an undergrad.

Um, and so that's when I took on the name Akil Kokayi Khalfani, which means "intelligent one to use as reason to summons the people who are destined to rule."

And that was the really the foundings of my Pan-Africanist identity.

We give our names to our children and then that is becomes the continuation of what we do.

These lessons are stored in our names and as well as that in the song.

And so we must pass along that message, those songs so that they can continue to uplift the youth.

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: Once I started working, I just called myself 'Shannon' because it was easier.

When people say, "what's your name" and you always have to give your name.

And I just say, Shannon, because if I say Shaundrikaá, its like, what?

KHALIFAH: I found that when I first got out of law school, that was the time where my name really made me nervous because then I started hearing stories about how people were having a hard time getting a job.

Um just in general and I'm sending out this, you know, sending out my resume to different places.

But early on, I fortunately, I've always gotten jobs in the beginning, just because I met the right person at the right time.

So my name didn't matter because I felt like they already met me.

The first time I actually dealt with it.

I kind of had like the double whammy in that I have the name I have, and it was maybe a year after 9/11, so I sent out my resume the first time I was not...

I didn't know the person.

It was cold resume sending, like most people do.

And not one callback, not one.

Nobody called me and I remember immediately feeling like, Oh my God, they probably assume I'm either some ghetto Black girl or, well I knew they didn't think I was a ghetto Black girl because I have all of these degrees and accolades.

So but I always felt like they thought I wouldn't get along, like from a interpersonal relationship, because I think that the real issue is they look at these resumes, they see what you've done.

So you can't you have to be at least somewhat intelligent.

But I think they believe that someone who would name you Khalifah or some other type of name, they must be ghetto.

So unfortunately you come with school book knowledge, but I think there's an assumption that you don't know how to relate to a predominantly- in a predominantly white field.

So you'll get there you know hand smacking and being angry and aggressive.

KHALIFAH: I mean I remember at one point thinking, well maybe I should put my picture on my resume, but I knew that that was like so cheesy.

But I was thinking, well, if they at least saw me, then they would know that I was one of them.

And growing up the way I grew up, that was like a horrifying moment.

But but I've always tried to be honest with myself, and I was like, "Wow, I'm selling out."

And I went so far that I sent the resume to the same places and I changed it.

At the time, I was engaged to a guy whose last name was Williams, so I changed my resume, only the name from Khalifah Shabazz to Kay.

K-A-Y because I didn't want to put K period because I thought they might know what I was doing.

So I put K-A-Y Williams.

And two places, and I think I sent my resume to three or four places... two places that didn't call me before, called me within days and wanted me to come in for an interview.

I remember, that was the first time I heard disappointment from my mother.

I told her what I had done and she she said, "But we didn't pray for Kay.

We prayed for Khalifah and you do this.

What name you gonna put up there, what are they going to call you?

What are you going to let them call you?"

And it was...it's when it really became real about how you start to choose between your heritage, how America can make you choose between success and your culture.

JACQUELYNNE: I mean, they don't know they're 6 or 10, they have no idea what it's going to do or how this can automatically when somebody read your name.

Your name is Reason Smith?

I don't...I don't know... LARRY: That's when we all... or should we allow- that we're responsible for each other.

When I run into kids like that in the school, I ask, "what's your name?

What does it mean?"

"I don't know."

"Well where did you get it from?"

"My mother made it up."

Well if your mother made up the name or your father made up the name then tell them to make up a meaning for it.

Or you come up with a meaning and you help them to understand look, I don't know why they named you this, but this is what that name could mean.

You help give them some positivity about their being, their purpose of being.

RICHARD: You know, it's just like [not audible] was saying here before... We got a baby coming, what were we going to name him?

And, "I don't know, throw some letters in the box and let's start sorting them and see what we come up with."

I think that is so, so wrong.

You know...I want my my kid to be unique, so I'm going to name her 'Uniquee.'

What is that?

[crosstalk] That is...that is pure stupidity.

But like you're saying, I do know some some kids that have unique names and they do have meanings.

Okay.

I have 6,000 people that I that I'm responsible for and they have every name from, from A to Z or whatever it is.

And in some of the hiring agencies right now, some of the hiring practices, as soon as some of these people hear one of those unique names, they push that name right off to the side and then say, "oh, I know what that means.

I'm not hiring them."

And then, if they haven't, they would rather do get, you know, just push them off to the side and hire nobody or hire somebody that's named Quincy Jones.

Ok?

Who has no qualifications at all can't even push a, a cart down the street.

And this person over here, that's named Uniqua, has a Master's degree, ok?

LARRY: Now how unfortunate it is for a society to be like that, and for people to accept it.

ALFREADA: When you have people who name their kids 'Orangelo' and 'Lemongelo' now and this is real.

This was on Good Morning America and they were they were talking about names.

And I'm like, who sits up there and name the kids 'Orangelo' and 'Lemongelo?'

Lemon jello and orange jello.

And you're saying, really?

But I knew when whenever I had kids, I knew that my daughter was going to have a name that was not 'Shaniqua' or something like that, because I know the stigma behind it.

Having worked in academia, I'm telling you, you are serious when you say they will look at your application and they will shift it to the side.

SHARON: We would sit, meet, you know, go in a conference room, four or five of us shuffling these resume.

And it was just kind of an unspoken rule.

It was part of the organization culture that we were concerned that these people may not perform as well, that these people may not behave in a way that fit the organizational culture, or that these people would be difficult to manage.

And so they were piled aside.

RICHARD: We were hiring, having a hiring event going on.

They were looking at some 40 people and different candidates.

And I wasn't on the committee, but I happened to be an observer and I noticed that they were rapidly going through and sorting these things out and not, you know, I have a stack of things to look through them, a stack more here.

And then they were reading these and these they weren't even reading.

You know?

And I go wait a minute something doesn't make sense here.

How can you, just that quick, say that they are not worth reading?

Now, what's the what's the key behind this?

So I went over and I picked up a couple of the packages and I looked at and I noticed, for example, that this particular person that was applying for an engineering job had an engineering degree.

And so then I went over and I kind of looked at the other ones and I noticed that this person had maybe a couple years of engineering experience and no degree, and they were looking at this person this highly qualified.

So, you know, I asked why.

And said, 'Well, what's with this guy here?"

And of course, I think that when I said that the person in charge kind of caught on, said, "oh I guess, we must have overlooked that."

SHARON: If I looked at a resume that was from you know, Rebecca and one that was from Shaniqua and everything on that resume was exactly the same, I believe that I would have said to my colleagues, "Now take a second look at this one."

You know, I wouldn't have had to ask them to take a second look at Rebecca.

I would have had to for Shaniqua, though, kind of point out, you know, "look at this.

This this has some good qualities here.

This has some good stuff that we might want to bring into the organization."

I'd have to sell it a little bit harder.

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: I do have a set of coworkers that have no clue that my name is not 'Shannon,' but my coworkers for the last four years they know that my name is Shaundrikaá.

My current job that I'm in right now, the office manager was like, "Yeah, when your resume came through, I looked like 'mmm'" and she was like, "And we looked you up on Facebook."

She was like, "but we couldn't find you."

She was like, "Because when you...when I saw that name, I'm like, 'mmm' look at this."

And I'm like, "Wow, y'all really searched me on Facebook?"

She was like, "Yeah, we looked you up on Facebook."

But then, they they were smart.

They say, there's no way she probably using this.

So they took the 'Shaun' off and just put 'Drikaá' and they found me.

But again, what you found was not what you was expecting.

So then it was like, "Oh okay, yeah."

And they called me in and I've been here for the last going on four years.

So it was like, yeah.

PRODUCER: Almost lost an opportunity because of your name.

SHAUNDRIKAÁ: Exactly.

Because they was like, "Oh no, all these lett-" SHARON: I don't believe that my personal thoughts and views were really separate from how it played out in the workplace.

In retrospect, I think I was guilty of believing the stereotypes.

I was guilty of believing stereotypes about us, about African Americans.

But it took... some distance from the environment, some time away from the environment, and also me getting a broader perspective of the world for me to realize that, you know, I bought into some, some stereotypes that I shouldn't have.

It's particularly sad or poignant when I think back to know that they were done a disservice by me, by an African-American, an African American who grew up during the civil rights movement, who could not drink from certain drinking fountains.

And yet, I did a disservice to some young people that did not deserve it.

So it's been a kind of a sad memory for me.

SHENEQUA: I sometimes wonder, like, let's just say I am Shenequa and, you know, I go to nail school and 'what's up' and I'm talking like this.

Of all the things in the world is that really that bad to be?

Am I hurting you?

Am I taking your money?

Am I am I disrespecting you?

Like we have been taught and we have been so conditioned to believe that this girl is so bad and the Katie's are so good that we, we, we shame her in such a horrible way.

This girl might be loud and this girl might be 'uh uh', but she also might give you her last.

You might have 20.

You might need 20.

She might give you 20.

Where Katie might have 20,000.

All I can give you is 20.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, why is that girl such a bad thing?

LARRY: Let us stop as a people.

Let us stop, even if we allow our children to become educated, stop always wanting to work for somebody.

Let's teach them to create their own opportunity, their own businesses.

JENNIFER: My name is Jennifer Streaks.

I mean, I'm going to just be honest.

You know, it does sort of have a negative connotation, unfortunately.

But like I said earlier, I think that's because of our own bias and things that we've encountered in popular culture, different, you know, rap music, lyrics, and even I remember the show "Martin," where they had that one character and she had a unique name.

MAN: I know you.

You're Shenenoah.

[Laughter] SHENENEH: Excuse me.

Oh no, he didn't.

What did you call me, Shenenoah?

Oh no.

Ok?

It's Sheneneh.

Say it with me, Sheneneh.

JASMINE: My name is Jasmine Jarvis.

RACHEL: And my name is Rachel Davis.

When I do meet people, I connect them to their names.

So I'm like, that's interesting.

Their name is Cash.

Cash Money.

But she does she act like someone that I would think would be named Cash Money and I literally make a decision on that.

I'm like, oh that's interesting.

That's her name.

And that's probably tough to have as a name.

JASMINE: My first honest opinion is, you know, where did that name come from?

What were their parents thinking when they named it?

I'm just being totally honest.

My name is kind of like normal.

It's kind of a more popular name, um, but I kind of also think, you know, did they think about when they have a job and they have job applications, you know, how that's going to be perceived?

RACHEL: People see that as a race issue um, from outside of our race.

Within our race, I think of it as a class difference.

QUINCY: Historically, names are crucial because they identify people.

But there's also- there's something else that's happening societal that maybe we are not considering.

And it's the fact that the grandmother, the daughter and another kid is standing there and neither one of them is over 19 and all them got babies.

DR. CASSANDRA NEWBY-ALEXANDER: African Americans who are part of the middle classes, have always tended, like most upper middle classes, to be conservative, to be conscious of- of the ebbs and flows of of where power is and where money resides.

And the concerns for many people who are part of that world, and especially if their wealth in any way depends on white society, um, is that they want to fit in.

But then even among that group, you have those whose livelihoods are independent of white society, who often have have exemplified a different perspective.

And so it all depends on, on who's paying your your uh, salary or if you are a generator of your own salary.

SHANIQUA: I was canvassing for the president's 2012 campaign, and I'm knocking on doors and oftentimes I would not say my name because I just didn't even want to deal with that.

But this one lady, uh we had engaged in conversation and she, you know, was enjoying the conversation.

She invited me in her house, which is 101: You're not supposed to go in.

But um, I went in there.

She wanted me to meet her daughter, blah, blah, blah.

And so I was um, leaving out and she was just like, "you know, I was a really it was a pleasure speaking with you.

Oh I didn't get your name."

So I tell her my name and she... this is nothing against people who work at Walmart, but that's what she had been telling me about her time working at Walmart as a cashier and she transferred from the Midwest.

And, you know, she's here now trying to make ends meet.

And then she says, you know, "if you want to go somewhere in life, you're going to have to change your name or use initials."

And I remember her name was Carol.

And it just, you know, we had this whole 15 minute interaction that was very pleasant.

And then by the end of it to for it to be reduced to, you know, if you want to do something with your life, you're going to have to change your name.

And again, nothing against someone who works at Walmart.

But at that point in my life, I felt like I was doing pretty well.

And for this woman to feel like she was in a place to tell me to give me advice based on nothing but my name and not knowing.

Well, actually knowing because I shared with her what, you know, where I was in my career and things like that.

It just it just really kind of spoke to what people really think they know and can gather from me simply having that name.

DR. AKIL KHALFANI: Well, I mean, the idea the reality is that we have to realize that we are still faced with white supremacy.

And so that, even in white supremacy and in my book, "The Hidden Debate," I talk about this idea about being "Blackened" and that that both people of African descent, Europeans, Latinos, Native, nobody wants to be stigmatized by being "Blackened."

And so even the name has that that potential stigma.

And so that, since people want to avoid that stigma, uh that means that even the people who have that who are not you, you want to avoid them.

And so then... is it about the individual or is it about the collective of the community?

And so sometimes we...we the things we do are about- becomes so much about the individual that we forget about the collective.

TRANEQUA: I really don't care what people have to say whether it's, 'oh your name is ghetto."

I don't really care because at the end of the day, I'm living my life.

So to, to answer your question about, you know, being judged and stuff.

Do I- do I care?

No.

[laughs] Because I'm like, I just- My name is TraNequa yeah, but it doesn't define who I am.

SHANIQUA: If names were indicative of your future, I mean, that's impossible anyway, because- well, I won't say impossible because the way people treat you can put you down certain roads.

So it takes a certain level of resistance to what people are saying to to avoid those.

But nonetheless, if, you know, if that's how names work, we wouldn't- we would be nameless for some time until we go through life and experience things.

And then we could characterize ourself.

CHINNEAQUA: The name of a person is what he or she makes it.

Um, it's not based upon previous ideas or ideologies.

Its based upon whether or not um that person proves to be um, intelligent, outspoken or whatever um, I guess whatever...

However you, whatever adjective that would describe that person, it's not based upon, you know, what society says.

It's not based upon BET or its not based upon um, House of Payne or those African American based TV shows.

A name is what a person makes it, and the name does not make the person.

So if you are watching this, I would encourage everyone to look beyond the nameplate and see what's really in the heart.

♪♪ (Reciting a spoken word poem) SHA'CONDRIA: Whenever someone asks me the meaning of my name, I usually never have an answer.

I remember looking for it once in a shopping mall kiosk where the meanings of names are engraved into keepsakes.

Thinking all the while the chances of me finding mine would be like the odds of winning the sweepstakes.

Tired of people mispronouncing it, I shortened it to 'Con,' but they still got it wrong.

Yep, confusing me with the lady who once sang that song, [sings song] ♪ tell me something good ♪ and tell them something I feel I should, so I correct them.

It's pronounced 'Sha-con-dree-ah.'

No silent letters, no accents, preferably pronounced with the drawl of a Southern accent.

I remember that once was the day when I wish my mother would have stuck to something simple and pretty and majestic, like 'Tiffany' or maybe even 'Alexis.'

But my fate was sealed by signatures on my birth certificate, granting me the right to forever bear the shame of having been given a ghetto [deleted] name.

So this here poem is for all the little Black girls with big names for the 'Sha's' and 'Isha's'.

The 'Ana's' and 'Iqua's' who were told never to write their names on applications.

Because we live in a nation where your name can tell someone, your race or even your social status.

'Cause they think only dumb ghetto folk overuse the alphabet.

They chalk it up to illiteracy, never creativity, or maybe even history.

And I wonder.

Those who assume would ever stop to think that maybe transatlantic submerged native tongues have reemerged in the form of ghetto monikers.

Like my little cousin whose name is 'Tanisha' sounds a lot like 'Tonashe' a name from the Shona tribe, meaning God is with us.

Or my friend 'Lakisha', whose name sounds a lot like the Bantu name 'Wakisa' or maybe like me.

My mother knew that I would be a fighter, so she named me 'Sha'condria' which sounds a lot like 'Shaka,' the great Zulu warrior.

See, this here poem is for every daughter who ever became a professional, only to shorten her name to a letter and a period just so phone calls could be returned or higher pay earned.

'Cause we all know don't nobody want an 'Issha' or an 'Iniqua' to operate on them.

But you see, a book can't be judged by its cover nor its title.

And the story beneath your name can't be contained beneath the tide.

So sista's let them rise; and take the rightful places on your applications and business cards, desk placards and uniforms until one day, ghetto [deleted] names become the norm.

For right now, we're special you see?

And there ain't another girl in the world with a name like you or me.

So go forth and rep proudly for all the ghetto name girls.

And if someone happens to mispronounce your name, make sure you give the neck a swirl.

Look them dead in the eye and correct them.

It's pronounced 'Sha-con-dria.'

Say it right or don't say it at all.