I received an email the other day about so-called Ghetto names. Ghetto names are usually considered to be a name that is undesirable, or one that would give the average person pause to decipher it's meaning. A shorter definition would be one that "American society" would associate with poor minorities. Here is the email, it could be fabricated, oft times people will set around and make this stuff up to belittle others, but then again, truth is stranger than fiction.

How would you pronounce this child's name?
She spells her name..... "Le-a"

So... how would YOU pronounce her name?

Leah? .................NO.
Lee - A? ........... NOPE.
Lay - a? ............ NOT A CHANCE.
Lei?,,,,,,,,,,NICE TRY...BUT... GUESS AGAIN!

This child attends a school inLivingstonParish, LA.. Her mother is irrate because everyone is getting her name wrong. She says it's pronounced.................. "Ledasha".
When the Mother was asked how in the world did she figured it should be pronounced that way....... she said....

..."cause the dash don't be silent!"

At first glance the story is funny, of course,  I can imagine, many people will be sadden, some embarrassed, other angered and some will try and use as  proof of some unimportant racial inferiority. I saw reactions  from people that suggested that this was some kind of slight to black people, and with a black President, this kind of thing made him look bad. Regardless of the President's race, this has no reflection on him, black people, or even the mother and especially not the child.

First of all I am not sure what the race of the family in the story is, secondly, the mother is correct, if you read what is typed/written, that is exactly what it says. Most people do not read, what they see, they pronounce what they are expecting. My name is often pronounce or spelled the way people assume it should be:Cedric vs Cedrick, even spell check wants to correct it. In some cases, my first name is dropped and I am called Stewart or Stuart.

In times of old, names were carefully chosen, to reflect attributes that parents wanted the child to display. In some cultures names were based on beliefs, such as the Spirit of the Day, determined the character of the child, so one of the names would automatically include that Spirit name. According to Akan custom a male child born on Saturday would have the name Kwame added to his family name and his given name. There are many cultures where the naming of the child is a very special event, however, outside that culture, the given names would seem pretty strange.

The Bible often speaks of maintain a good name, for most of us, that translate to reputation. But a good a name is highly valued. Many children are names for the current famous celebrity of their time; in hope that they will be associated with that same fame. There are many instance were immigrants will shorten or take on Anglicized names to fit in, or make is easy for Americans to identify them. The famous Walker Texas Ranger - given name FireWalker. In the early years of American history many European dropped the "ski" ending to their names to sound more American.

It is a little ironic the the people who seek to be creative, innovated, outside the box thinking are often criticized and ridiculed when they do not conform. America is often called the "Melting Pot" and we all know haw the heat can be turned up when you do not melt fast enough.

Diversity is not a bad thing, the last couple of years clearly demonstrate what happens when we all just go along to get along and no one is thinking, outside or inside the box.

So even though some Ghetto names are funny sounding and perhaps rooted in a little bit of ignorance of the use of language. The also demonstrate, creativity, originality and sometime even genius. They also shine a light on our own prejudices, bigoted thinking and shortcomings.