2014-03-13 22:45:00 ¶ ● ⬀ ⬈

## I get grumpy when there are humanstuck AUs that ask to change the trolls to "human" names, when they really mean white, western, English-speaking normative names, or just in general when people imply that what their names are in canon can't be given to a human.

jadebloods:

> weirdoatmf:

> > forceofconviction:

> > > weirdoatmf:

> > > > forceofconviction:

> > > > > ceruleanbloods:

> > > > > > Preach, greyface.

> > > > > Dittoed. Also when people in the tag go “Davi isn’t a real name” or whatever when they’re making fun of the fem!Dave names. I’m not a fan of fem!Dave but Davi’s an actual legit Hebrew name as well as a nickname for a couple of Hindu names.

> > > > Completely ignoring the fact that Davi is a real name (Which I did not know, always happy to have more information)

> > > > I think the biggest issue is that generally, if you are giving the trolls ‘White, western, English-speaking normative names’ there is a fairly high chance that you possess a ‘white, western, English-speaking normative name’

> > > > As someone who does possess one of that kind of name, I can assure you that I am far more familiar with naming conventions that go with that type of name. This makes it easier to come up with names for characters.

> > > > The other main part (for me at least) being that when I have attempted to use non-European based naming, (Or even more specific location based naming, ie. Scottish names versus European names) I have been called a poseur, overly pc, stupid, and a hidden racist. Simply because I didn’t know how their naming schemes worked, and had to find my names from the internet.

> > > > Generally, if you are writing fanfiction, you want to have fun, and save for some notable exceptions, you don’t want to spend a lot of time and effort preparing for the story, before you can even start writing it. Ie. You generally don’t want to spend an entire week a) deciding on a nationality for a character b) researching that nationality c) researching common names for that nationality d) trying to piece together a name that sounds reasonable and finally e) repeating that for all eleven (or more) other trolls.

> > > > Don’t get me wrong. People should try to do this, but it takes a lot of practice, and unless you intend to pursue a career in creative writing, it’s usually easy enough to get by without being able to.

> > > > I’m sorry that the ‘human’ names annoy you, but I can pretty much guarantee that 99.999% were not chosen in an attempt to offend you.

> > > The implication there though is that a ‘white, western, English-speaking normative’ person has only met fellow ‘white, western, English-speaking’ people. And that they have never heard or read any name that doesn’t fit the naming patterns that they’re used to.

> > > I’m South Asian. Specifically Sri Lankan. Off the top of my head, I can offer you some standard names for English, German, Japanese, Sri Lankan, Russian, Hindu, Ethiopian, Bangladeshi, Tamil, Chinese, South Korean, French, Turkish, Greek, Iraqi and Brazilian culture. And that’s just from the people that I personally know and their families. How the hell someone can never ever encounter any names that aren’t “white, western,English-speaking normative ones is beyond me”.
> > > I mean, do people not listen to music at all? Watch movies? Is Beyonce not a name to them? Or Lupita?
> > > The problem isn’t people getting offended by the ‘human’ names.
> > > The problem is that when you say that THIS NAME IS NOT A HUMAN NAME, you are implying that real actual human people with that name don’t count as human and that a culture with those names isn’t human.

> > > There is a long history of people of color being called subhuman or not acknowledged as human, and of them having their names made fun or not treated like real names. I’ve had a nurse tell me, when I was being admitted for surgery, that she thought my name was made up.
> > > Personally, I’d rather be called a ‘hidden racist’ for trying to be respectful of other people’s cultures than be an actual racist by pretending that certain names and cultures don’t exist. Overly PC isn’t even an insult.

> > I wasn’t saying I disagree with the issues with the ‘That isn’t a real name!’ Bullshit. Because that’s what it is. Bullshit. There is literally a child out there with the name Hashtag. Take a name and give it to a person and ta-dah, it’s a real name, it is a name used for people. Honestly, the moment someone names their child after a homestuck character (which was a decent probability of happening) even those troll names become human names.

> > So yeah, saying that any given name isn’t a ‘human name’ is complete shit.

> > I was just giving the perspective of someone who grew up in a small, almost entirely white town, who didn’t care about actors past the characters they played (ie. Legolas) and who grew up with the spice girls and backstreet boys of whom, oh look, scary spice wasn’t white. I’m fairly certain her name was ‘Melanie’. Real non-‘white’ name there.

> > All I’m saying is that ‘white, western, English-speaking normative names’ are also ‘human’ names, and that the people who use those names are also human. Humans make mistakes. Humans unintentionally hurt people’s feelings.

> > Should they put more work into trying to represent more cultures? Absolutely.

> > But unless they chose those names out of an active choice to ignore other races, you shouldn’t get angry with them. People who make fun of names saying they aren’t real. Feel free to take them to school. In fact, please do, they could probably use a lesson or two on the world.

> > I was just commenting about the first half of the ask. Not the second part.

> Get off my blog post.

> My roleplay blog is not a “but think about the poor white kids” blog.

how can you have never encountered names that are not western white English names

I mean there are entire name etymology sites strewn all over the internet and you want to tell me you’ve never looked at a single one? Never? Not once? You don’t have to be a creative writer to find name etymology cool.

Also, a lot of “western white English-speaking” names are based in other cultures, so that very premise is already wrong. Michael, David, and Jonathan are names that have been westernized from the Hebrew language, for example. Sophia/Sophie, which is among the most popular western baby names at the moment? Greek! And this oh-so-white name Melanie? Comes from the French version of a Latin name inspired by a Greek word.

I mean come on. Visit behindthename.com or something, don’t sit there and complain about how you can’t POSSIBLY expect people to know jack shit about names that aren’t Westernized.

Usually easy enough to get by without needing to know non-Western names? This is the age of the internet. It’s child’s play to find non-Western names.

(also bothered by the WELL THE NAME HASHTAG EXISTS shit here, that’s not what this is about, this is about the marginalization of non-western names. Plus, the troll names could already be human names, that was the point. This “the minute somebody names their kid after a troll” shit, holy fuck. And are you KIDDING me with that sentence about Scary Spice?)