There are few things less irritating than having to spell your name out to people on a daily basis or having to tell people how to pronounce it. I’ve shortened my name and now introduce myself to people as “Sibby” due to the amount of times I had to tell strangers my name is not pronounced “Siob-han” and is not spelt “Shavorn”. But that’s where my name’s complexity ends, as although I have an Irish old-lady name and may have possibly been named after a member of Banarama, people do not judge me based simply off of my name.
Spoken word poet Sha’Condria “iCon” Sibley on the other hand has been, because she has to “forever bear the shame of a ghetto ass name”. In her entry to the 2012 National Poetry Slam Championship she called out to all the little black girls with big names who have been pre-judged as dumb just because they happen to have what society has labelled a ghetto name. Sha’Condria makes an important point: that often these names actually have much deeper, meaningful origins, but even more importantly that a name does not make you, you rise and you make the name just as respected and known as all the everyday, boring names we hear all the time.
To All The Little Black Girls With Big Names | iCon The Artist
Featured photo credit: To All The Little Black Girls With Big Names | iCon The Artist via youtube.com
