Writes Thomas Sowell on "What is in a name?":

People have always sought distinctions but the ways they have tried to distinguish themselves have varied widely. Some have let their achievements speak for them but others have let their clothes, their tattoos, their pierced body parts, or just their loud and strident talk establish their claims to be noticed. ...One of the ways some people seek special distinction today is in the names they give their children. Not only are the names themselves distinctive, these names remain distinctive only in so far as other people do not give their children the same names.

...Maybe we don't even understand what an achievement is. There was a time when people who were neither rich, nor celebrities, nor outlandish in name or appearance, were nevertheless noticed and well regarded as pillars of their communities because of their personal qualities and character.

Names are just one of the superficialities of our time that have replaced character, wisdom and achievement.

...Blacks and whites used to give their children pretty much the same names. No more. Since the 1970s, racial segregation has returned, this time in names. California is one of the most extreme examples of this, as it is of so many other extreme trends. More than 40 percent of the black girls born in California during a given year have a name not found among even one white girl born in the same state. Asian Americans have not joined this name fad, as they have by and large avoided other fads. Maybe their emphasis on achievement has made these other claims for attention unnecessary.

I remember there was some lady, who wrote for the local newspaper, on how she could judge people by their name! Apparently those who did not have "Bahamian" sounding names (i.e., the same names as past Bahamians) were something less -- and she thought she was being original and clever. She was just being a collectivist bigot.

Everyone has a name -- but what really counts is character. And if you don't have moral fiber, having the most "Bahamian" name in the universe is not going to make up for it. And if you do have moral fiber? Then perhaps one day parents will probably want to name their kids after you.