DISTINCTIVE AFRICAN-AMERICAN NAMES - AN EXPERIMENTAL, HISTORICAL, ANDLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF INNOVATION

Many African American parents create unique names for their children. Although in the United States there are no formal ''rules'' limiting t he sounds parents may combine in creating a child's name, innovative n ames are not simply free-floating imaginative acts; they actually inco rporate certain implicit practices found in the culture of both Whites and African Americans. Consequently, on hearing an innovative name, a stranger usually can guess the sex of the child. We are able to infer the linguistic features that influence innovations because these feat ures appear more appropriate or Less appropriate, depending on the sex of the child. We interpret our observations in terms of a cultural pe rspective on innovation which argues that the existing culture operate s as an independent force to set bounds on creativity and imagination, independent of the influence of organizations or institutions. We als o evaluate art alternative perspective. We analyze innovative naming p atterns in the past 75 years and then consider both the influence of A frican heritage in America and the thrust toward African roots in rece nt decades. Here too we find a naming mechanism whereby adopted Africa n names are modified by American linguistic conventions.