They favor an explanatory model which attributes a change in black perceptions of their identity to the Black Power Movement. examined the rapid change in naming practices in the early 1970s, with the rapid adoption of distinctively black names, especially in low-income, racially isolated neighborhoods. San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge believes that the shift toward unique black-American baby names is also the result of the cultural shift in America that values individuality over conformity. With the rise of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the wider counterculture of the 1960s, there was a dramatic rise in African-American names of various origins. In fact, Paustian has argued that black names display the same themes and patterns as those in West Africa. However, those early names are no longer used by Black people. have alleged the use of distinctive names by black Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Īlthough most consider distinctively black names only a recent phenomenon, recent claims by Cook et al. This applied to both given names and surnames.
It was also quite common for immigrants and cultural minorities to choose baby names or change their names to fit in within the wider American culture. Even within the White-American population, a few very common names comprised most given to babies of that era, with nicknames often used to distinguish among various people with the same name. It is widely held that prior to the 1950s and 1960s, most African-American names closely resembled those used within European-American culture.