[Mr Ramsbotham]

I used to work with a black gentleman named “Walter.” You could just surmise that any black parents who name their son Walter were not going to let him go astray. And they didn’t.

[wbill]

:-) I worked with a black gentleman named "Edward". He was working three jobs to put his kids through private school. Public schools in his neighborhood where about what you'd imagine. He also was extremely active in his church and tutored adult literacy courses, as he put it, "in his spare time".

I never asked him what he thought of names like Johnthony or TA'Hennesy. My guess is that he'd say that they're "fine names, and the people should be afforded all the same opportunities that anyone else would have". He was a far better man than me.

[Boogieman]

Well, there’s only so much in a name. For example, I work with two black ladies, who are cousins, who both have “normal” American first names. One of them is hard working, honest, and pretty smart. The other is a shiftless idiot who is always trying to get others to do her work and blaming her mistakes on other people.

So I think a stupid name can easily ruin someone’s life, but a normal name is no guarantee they won’t ruin it anyway.