There are often conversations and discussions in the black community about so called black sounding names. The debate these days rage from should we name our children in this fashion or avoid the stigma all together?

Well, today’s story is about a young lady whose name is Keisha and decided to changer her name to a more mainstream, white sounding Kylie. The young lady has received a ton of grief in her short lifetime over the name Keisha and many negative references from ignorant peers that she has had enough.

19 years ago, Cristy Austin, of Kansas City, MO., named her baby Keisha and was very proud of her selection. Cristy is white and the father is black, so she thought giving her daughter a so called black name would be a good thing and allow her to feel empowered and connected to her African American roots.

Cristy mentioned to the Kansas City Star, she thought this would be a source of pride throughout the child’s life. However, her daughter found it to be a major burden and decided last week to officially change her name to Kylie after just too much racial teasing and bullying.

From Yahoo: Cristy, who is white, raised Kylie as a single mom, and there wasn’t a lot of diversity in her school or community. Classmates of Kylie would ask her mockingly if there were a “La” or a “Sha” in her name. And the name’s pop cultural usage only made it worse. Hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar’s 2011 song “Keisha’s Song (Her Pain)” described the tragic demise of a prostitute and in 2012, Ca$h Out rapped about “Keisha” being both a term for marijuana and the name of a “ho.” Kylie says even a teacher felt at liberty to ask if her name contained a dollar sign, like the pop star Ke$ha.

For Kylie, the associations became unbearable. “It’s like they assumed that I must be a certain kind of girl,” she said. “Like, my name is Keisha so they think they know something about me, and it always felt negative.”

Research confirms what Kylie felt in her gut for years. People with “black sounding” names often experience a type of racial profiling that can even limit job opportunities. A study published in the American Economic Review found that job applicants with white sounding names needed to send out an average of 10 resumes in order to get a callback, while applicants with black sounding names needed to send out 15 resumes. High caliber resumes don’t necessarily help applicants with black sounding names either. While the difference in callbacks for blacks with superior credentials was minimal, for people with traditionally white sounding names, top level resumes yielded 30 percent more positive responses from potential employers.

Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/biracial-teen-changes-name-8220-keisha-8221-8220-195300489.html

I must plead my ignorance here because I didn’t realize Keisha was a black name. However, after a discussion with my wife, she asked me to name one white person name Keisha and I quickly realized apparently it is a black name. However, it isn’t a name that you typically associate with being extreme and would draw negative attention.

Nevertheless, Kylie felt it was just too much for her to deal with when she could just change her name and be done with it. Unfortunately, I don’t think a simple name change will allow Kylie to run from ignorance. People who want to bully, act in a racist manner are simply going to find another way to make her life miserable and she needs to grow a thicker set of skin and realize the world isn’t a friendly place…..but I suspect she is going to find this out very soon.

The bigger question: Will this lead to more African American’s changing their name?

The question I have for you is do you think this will be a bigger trend in the future. As millennials get older and seemingly wish to blend in with the greater society, do you think they will start to change their name from the more ethnic versions their parents give them to one that is more acceptable and expected by the wider society?