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In Salon, David Zax notes the unusual African-American names in the Olympics roster (Tayshaun, Deron, Rau’shee, Raynell, Deontay, Taraje, Jozy, Kerron, Hyleas, Chaunte, Bershawn, Lashawn, Sanya, Trevell, Sheena, Ogonna, Dremiel) and offers a history lesson on distinctive black names in the United States. From early on, he writes, some distinctive black names were tied to black resistance against white oppression.

Alright, who will explain “Jejomar”, “Heherson”, “Hexilon”, and “Joker”? (We know what they mean and how they were concocted, what we need is a context.) Not to mention the onomatopoeic “Dingdong”, “Bingbong”, “Bongbong”, and the botanical “Apple”, “Strawberry”, “Peaches” etc. What is the socio-historical basis for these Filipino names? (I can account for “Baby Girl”. It was explained to me some years ago that many senior citizens are named “Baby Girl” because they were born during World War II, and in the chaos, these generic labels were scrawled on their birth certificates.)

You can’t say “Only in the Philippines” and roll your eyeballs because other countries have the same experience. In Venezuela they actually tried to limit name choices to an approved list of 100, because people were having their children baptized “Hitler Adonys” and “Batman” (I nominate Joker Arroyo for ambassador to Venezuela). There’s a kid in New Zealand with the unfortunate monicker, “Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii” (I say jail the parents). We’re talking about given names, by the way, meaning the parents chose to name their child…that.