Over at his joint, Freddie DeBoer muses about why a street fight video—you know, the sort of dreck that puts beaucoup bucks in the pocket of World Star Hip Hop—went viral. He believes it is, in part, because the name of the young woman involved is "Sharkeisha" and because racists have deemed her name worthy of mockery and that this is representative of how American society doesn't value black women. Here's Freddie:
After all, there are tons of such videos out there. Depressingly, there are thousands of street fight videos online, and many of them feature young black women. Given the fixation on Sharkeisha’s name, I have to assume that’s the reason this particular clip has gotten so much attention. Certainly, based on how I’ve seen the video discussed, as well as on the many, many memes that have sprung up, the name Sharkeisha is taken to be inherently ridiculous. Sharkeisha is indeed a rare name, one I’ve never heard before, and I wouldn’t be surprised if her parents came up with it on their own. It involves the word "Shark," which I suppose combines with the violence of the video in an unfortunate (but memorable) way. Is that why? I’m sure nobody finds the presence of the word "ant" in Anthony particularly ridiculous. But then, Anthony is a traditional name. So is that it? The novelty? Certainly, a desire to be novel in naming your child is a very widespread phenomenon. My friends who are parents are always expressing frustration when someone they know chooses the same name for their baby. I don’t deny that celebrities who name their children things like Apple are mocked, but I also don’t think that mockery has the same edge, the same naked class hatred, as a name like Sharkeisha.
I suppose that's one way to look at things. I suppose another is to say that society enjoys making fun of ridiculous names, regardless of race. Freddie cites "Apple" (the name given to Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay's kid), but kind of brushes it off. Allow me to suggest a more relevant comparison: "Nevaeh." Remember "Nevaeh"? That's Heaven, spelled backwards. It was an immensely popular name for a few years, especially among less-educated whites. And it's a name that inspired all sorts of mockery from the very same elites (or would-be elites or just regular folks) that Freddie thinks have it in for the Sharkeishas of the world. It was roundly mocked because it's a ridiculous, "made up" name. And people make fun of ridiculous, made up names.* That's just what they do.
Names don't have to be made up to be made fun of, of course. Consider, for instance, "Sonny Bunch." I could point out that I've lost track of people who think they were the first to call me "Honey Bunches of Oats" or discuss the English teacher in 7th grade who, when I told her that I preferred to be called "Sonny" to "Lewis," informed me (in front of the whole class) that the 7th grade is time to put away childish nicknames and grow up.** My favorite are the folks who like to dismiss my arguments by saying I "have my undies/panties in a bunch." Because puns!
There's the whole sub-genre of making fun of WASPy sounding names. "Oooh, lookit William Worthington Fieldsworth over there." One should ask Tagg Romney (or his father, Willard) what it's like to have someone make fun of his name. Freddie would likely reply that it's different when an in-group mocks and out-group (plus: structural racism!), and there's something to that. Punching down is frowned upon for good reason. But, then again, if you give your kid a ridiculous name (and by a "ridiculous name" I mean "a name the average person would find to be ridiculous like, say, Sharkeisha"), well, you can't be that surprised when they are made the subject of fun.
If we're really going to get up in arms about the way society devalues certain groups, maybe we should be more concerned about the fact that viral videos of people sucker punching each other are a thing that exists. Frankly, Sharkeisha's name (and the fact that people might be making fun of it) bothers me less than her behavior. That there is a regularly recurring cultural phenomenon involving people holding up smart phones and rolling video as one girl viciously pummels another—and that those videos are then shared to websites that profit off of said beatings by racking up page views and encouraging commenters to go "dammmmmnnnn"—is far more problematic than the fact that people of all races make fun of the names of people of all other races.
But I would say something like that, wouldn't I? My undies get in quite the bunch when I see the perpetration of random acts of viciousness.
Update: This, from Gabriel Rossman, is worth noting:
@SonnyBunch The other thing w Freddie the "all names were once new" thing is misleading to the point of basically being untrue.
— Gabriel Rossman (@GabrielRossman) January 6, 2014
@SonnyBunch There was basically *zero* turnover in names prior to 1900 and very low turnover prior to 1960s http://t.co/Mzxg5OnDtv
— Gabriel Rossman (@GabrielRossman) January 6, 2014
@SonnyBunch Other historical sources show remarkable stability. Eg, the Roman fasti consulares show the same 17 praenomen for centuries
— Gabriel Rossman (@GabrielRossman) January 6, 2014
Check out the graphs at that link. Very interesting.
*A more interesting piece would be one that looks at how ridiculous, made up names evolve into standard, accepted names. I imagine it's some combination of time and familiarity and celebrity endorsement. But how those mix, and why some fall by the wayside while others thrive, would be something worth reading.
**Why the 7th grade? Seems like a relatively arbitrary time. I did make a conscious effort to ditch "Sonny" on two separate occasions, however. The first came in college, but there were too many folks from my high school at my college to let me get away with it. The second came when I had my first piece published in The Weekly Standard, and my byline was changed from "Lewis Bunch" to "Sonny Bunch." Frankly, it was a solid choice by the editors. I have no regrets. "Sonny Bunch" is a way better byline. Even if I only earned a honorable mention on this list, which is outrageous.