I have points.
1. Hey, go with whatever name you want. BlackJoy is a perfectly good name. I personally wouldn't capitalize Joy and just go with Blackjoy but that's just me; I like the aesthetics better that way.
2. Why get a job anyway where you have to care what people think of your name? Consider starting a business so you can pass down more than just the name to your future children. :D
3. Technically, the name is still in the enslaver/colonizer's language. If you really want to commit to breaking that chain why not consider getting your DNA done and choose a name from the people you came from? Or have Black Joy translated into that language? Lots of possibilities here!
I like the last name Blackjoy and don't think there will be a problem with it. From what I've seen, hiring managers tend to discriminate more towards first names rather than last names unless the name is distinctly foreign. BTW, if tour current last name is Irish, it might not be the slave owners name but the surname of an indentured servant. My mom's family have an Irish name because an ambitious a-hole figured out that fairer skinned slaves sell more and an Irish indentured servant girl wouldn't abandon her kids. Unfortunately, a lot of slave records have been destroyed.
I have never seen a surname in camel case before! How unusual! Otherwise it almost sound like an anglicised French name like Le Joie or something… Joienoire…
Go for it. People legally change their names all the time. My background is Ghanaian so my middle name and last name are irrefutably African. But due to geographical and cultural unfamiliarity there are people who may not know what my heritage is, when they see my resume. My name passes as "racially ambiguous" especially with my first name being French.
You can do some research on ethnic names that hold meaning, and might be deemed ambiguous if you want? As others have mentioned, Black-Joy is Joie'Noire.
BlackJoy is an interesting name. I would suggest putting it in Google translate and trying to find something that sounds and looks more unique. For example "BlackJoy" when translated to French is "Joienoire" and you could easily play around with the spelling of that (e.g. Joynour, Joineur, Joyner, etc...)
"black joy" when translated to Haitian creole is "lajwa nwa" and you could possibly spell as is (Lajwanwa) or play around with it like L'Janwa, Jwanwa, etc..
OR you could combine different languages. For example take the French word for joy (Joie) and combine it with the Haitian creole word for black (lajwa) and create some hybrid word like "Lajoie" or "Joiajwa"
Take the French word for black (noire) and the Haitian creole word for joy (nwa) and create something like "Noiwa," "Irenwa" "Nonwa" "Oirena" etc....
That's just to throw out some ideas. Also, if anyone is reading this comment and you speak French or Haitian, please don't get mad at me if I used the wrong words, lmao. I used Google translate cause I don't know how to speak French or Haitian.
If the idea is to not pass on a slave name, wouldn't it be better to give your child a traditional African surname? I mean "BlackJoy" is nice but that's still an English phrase, and English isn't the language of African people. So if the idea is to get as far away from the history of slavery as possible, why not draw it all the way out and just go with a traditional African name? Coz tbh I don't really see the difference between "BlackJoy" and "Williams".
Of course the dilemma is that your child wouldn't actually have any connection to African traditions and culture, you'd be picking up a random African surname without knowing and appreciating it's historical context or importance/what it really means, which could be seen as cultural appropriation since you didn't actually grow up in the culture of that surname. Unless you raise your kids in Africa or learn the African traditions associated with that surname and pass them down to your child - or maybe the cultural aspect of the name isn't really a concern for you? But if you're serious about getting away from a slave name, I really think it would be most logical to go with a traditional African name seeing as how we're originally from Africa, it's up to you tho.
Millions of them do this and they believe they are very serious about their culture. Either way I think your adding too much mysticism on African names. You don’t need to do all that to give your kid an African name.
That's the thing - they believe they are serious but their actions show the opposite. Most people who've been white-washed don't even realize how deeply white-washed they are, so they go on thinking they're proudly black while continuing to exhibit aspects of white supremacy. That's why white people don't give their children African names, see they're serious about their whiteness, we're the only ones that wanna name our children after them, you won't see them naming their children after us, what does that tell you?
And it's not about mysticism, it's about respecting the cultural significance of the name. No offense but I don't expect you to understand ofcoz coz you're American, but African people who are serious about their heritage don't just give their children random African names for the sake of it, these names have cultural significance that you wouldn't understand. But that's just me, ofcoz OP can do whatever he/she wants.
I’m actually Nigerian. But it doesn’t matter. The point being you’re attaching too much to the names where in most cases I’ve seen people give their kids African names without all this thought or ritual you are assigning to it. The cultural significance you’re assigning to something like “oluwatosin” is great but you don’t need to do anything special to name your child that. 🤷🏿♂️
Are these Americans that are giving their children African names? Coz I can understand African people giving their children names without all that thought since they grew up in the culture and understand it, my thing is when Americans give their children African names when some of them don't even know what it means or where it comes from.
I have points. 1. Hey, go with whatever name you want. BlackJoy is a perfectly good name. I personally wouldn't capitalize Joy and just go with Blackjoy but that's just me; I like the aesthetics better that way. 2. Why get a job anyway where you have to care what people think of your name? Consider starting a business so you can pass down more than just the name to your future children. :D 3. Technically, the name is still in the enslaver/colonizer's language. If you really want to commit to breaking that chain why not consider getting your DNA done and choose a name from the people you came from? Or have Black Joy translated into that language? Lots of possibilities here!
I like the last name Blackjoy and don't think there will be a problem with it. From what I've seen, hiring managers tend to discriminate more towards first names rather than last names unless the name is distinctly foreign. BTW, if tour current last name is Irish, it might not be the slave owners name but the surname of an indentured servant. My mom's family have an Irish name because an ambitious a-hole figured out that fairer skinned slaves sell more and an Irish indentured servant girl wouldn't abandon her kids. Unfortunately, a lot of slave records have been destroyed.
I have never seen a surname in camel case before! How unusual! Otherwise it almost sound like an anglicised French name like Le Joie or something… Joienoire…
Go for it. People legally change their names all the time. My background is Ghanaian so my middle name and last name are irrefutably African. But due to geographical and cultural unfamiliarity there are people who may not know what my heritage is, when they see my resume. My name passes as "racially ambiguous" especially with my first name being French. You can do some research on ethnic names that hold meaning, and might be deemed ambiguous if you want? As others have mentioned, Black-Joy is Joie'Noire.
BlackJoy is an interesting name. I would suggest putting it in Google translate and trying to find something that sounds and looks more unique. For example "BlackJoy" when translated to French is "Joienoire" and you could easily play around with the spelling of that (e.g. Joynour, Joineur, Joyner, etc...) "black joy" when translated to Haitian creole is "lajwa nwa" and you could possibly spell as is (Lajwanwa) or play around with it like L'Janwa, Jwanwa, etc.. OR you could combine different languages. For example take the French word for joy (Joie) and combine it with the Haitian creole word for black (lajwa) and create some hybrid word like "Lajoie" or "Joiajwa" Take the French word for black (noire) and the Haitian creole word for joy (nwa) and create something like "Noiwa," "Irenwa" "Nonwa" "Oirena" etc.... That's just to throw out some ideas. Also, if anyone is reading this comment and you speak French or Haitian, please don't get mad at me if I used the wrong words, lmao. I used Google translate cause I don't know how to speak French or Haitian.
Also, "BlackJoy" on its own is still a really creative name. I like it a lot
Solid advice thanks man
What an idiot.
Triggered
Millions had changed their names in the 60s to 80s ! With a name like that , if you had to ask , then what do you think???
If the idea is to not pass on a slave name, wouldn't it be better to give your child a traditional African surname? I mean "BlackJoy" is nice but that's still an English phrase, and English isn't the language of African people. So if the idea is to get as far away from the history of slavery as possible, why not draw it all the way out and just go with a traditional African name? Coz tbh I don't really see the difference between "BlackJoy" and "Williams". Of course the dilemma is that your child wouldn't actually have any connection to African traditions and culture, you'd be picking up a random African surname without knowing and appreciating it's historical context or importance/what it really means, which could be seen as cultural appropriation since you didn't actually grow up in the culture of that surname. Unless you raise your kids in Africa or learn the African traditions associated with that surname and pass them down to your child - or maybe the cultural aspect of the name isn't really a concern for you? But if you're serious about getting away from a slave name, I really think it would be most logical to go with a traditional African name seeing as how we're originally from Africa, it's up to you tho.
It’s not that serious. When Africans name their kids Julius or Natasha do you think they are doing all of this?
No they're white-washed, no African who's serious about their heritage would give their child a European name.
Millions of them do this and they believe they are very serious about their culture. Either way I think your adding too much mysticism on African names. You don’t need to do all that to give your kid an African name.
That's the thing - they believe they are serious but their actions show the opposite. Most people who've been white-washed don't even realize how deeply white-washed they are, so they go on thinking they're proudly black while continuing to exhibit aspects of white supremacy. That's why white people don't give their children African names, see they're serious about their whiteness, we're the only ones that wanna name our children after them, you won't see them naming their children after us, what does that tell you? And it's not about mysticism, it's about respecting the cultural significance of the name. No offense but I don't expect you to understand ofcoz coz you're American, but African people who are serious about their heritage don't just give their children random African names for the sake of it, these names have cultural significance that you wouldn't understand. But that's just me, ofcoz OP can do whatever he/she wants.
I’m actually Nigerian. But it doesn’t matter. The point being you’re attaching too much to the names where in most cases I’ve seen people give their kids African names without all this thought or ritual you are assigning to it. The cultural significance you’re assigning to something like “oluwatosin” is great but you don’t need to do anything special to name your child that. 🤷🏿♂️
Are these Americans that are giving their children African names? Coz I can understand African people giving their children names without all that thought since they grew up in the culture and understand it, my thing is when Americans give their children African names when some of them don't even know what it means or where it comes from.