Ahmaud, a name of Arabic origin, means “most praiseworthy.” Philando, a variant of the Greek title Philandros, translates to “friend of man.”
Then there’s George, the name favoured by royals, etched in American history, and bestowed on a baby born in North Carolina in 1973.
George means “farmer”, according to BabyNames.com. But it means more than that. They all do.
In a display of solidarity with the black community and the Black Lives Matter movement, baby name database BabyNames.com has dedicated its homepage to the names of African Americans who have died during encounters with police and at the hands of racial violence.
Names like Ahmaud Arbery, Philando Castile, and George Floyd currently fill the screen, along with names like Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who never had the chance to become an adult before he was lynched in 1955.
“Each one of these names was somebody’s baby,” the site reads.
The display has been met with appreciation by users, who may not have expected the site to express the brute death toll of racial injustice.
ok baby names dot com go off pic.twitter.com/4jkDQHKsDP
— bijan (@bijanstephen) June 9, 2020
Did not have “baby names dot com gives me my first cry of the day” on my bingo card but shit https://t.co/lU82wyed8X
— Helen Rosner (@hels) June 9, 2020
Wondering why all my friends who are decidedly not having babies were posting a link to https://t.co/L4rx7JG0TK and my heart, their home page #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/wjakx1KfQb
— Esther Choo, MD MPH (@choo_ek) June 9, 2020
So there are utterly standard, boilerplate, everyone-uses-the-same-font-and-layout-and-language statements from companies and sites on BLM… and then sometimes you find something like this. Give it a click.https://t.co/y6JhjvMuYa
— Elliott Kay (@ElliottKaybooks) June 9, 2020
Speaking to HuffPost, Babynames.com founder Jennifer Moss said, “I saw the names listed on NPR, and they broke my heart.
“I knew then I wanted to include them in our company’s statement.”
The company has also urged followers to consider donating to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Name added: Renisha McBride#blacklivesmatter
— BabyNames.com (@babynamesdotcom) June 9, 2020
Name added: Danroy Henry Jr.#blacklivesmatter
— BabyNames.com (@babynamesdotcom) June 9, 2020
Name added: Aiyana Stanley-Jones#blacklivesmatter
— BabyNames.com (@babynamesdotcom) June 9, 2020
