Sunday, September 08, 2013

Daquan: An Invented Name's Negative Name Game


The name Daquan has no particular recorded meaning but is popular among African-Americans. The name is very rare in the English society, but the few who are named that are mostly male. Daquan is a name believed to have been invented by the African-American society. Source: Ask.com
Daquan \d(a)-quan\ as a boy's name. Invented name. The qu- sound is rare in English, and is a popular element of invented names among the African-Americans. Source: Thinkbabynames.com
In recent news, there happens to be a sad crime story of two Daquans allegedly killing a baby.

Daquan Breland is arrested.


The BBC News for September 6th, gives this overview:
Two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a baby in a pushchair a week ago.
Daquan Breland, 23, and Daquan Wright, 19, were detained on Friday morning in the US state of Pennsylvania for the killing of Antiq Hennis.
Antiq, one, was shot in the face on 1 September as gunfire rang out in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn, New York.
Police said the shooting was gang-related and that the target was the boy's father, Anthony Hennis, 21.
Mr Hennis, who had just picked up Antiq from the home of the boy's mother, is not co-operating with the investigation, say police.
Witnesses saw Mr Wright hand the gun to Mr Breland, who fired multiple shots, according to police. The weapon has not been recovered.

 Daquan Wright is taken into custody.

CBS News added this detail, about location:
Antiq Hennis was gunned down Sunday evening as his father, Anthony Hennis, 22, pushed him in a stroller. The toddler was struck in the head by a bullet on Livonia Avenue at Bristol Street, about a block from his home, police said. The boy was pronounced dead after being rushed to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center.
Antiq’s father was taking the toddler to visit his grandparents at the time of the shooting, Kelly said. Four bullets were fired; two struck the stroller.
Aferrismoon, who forwarded this news, noted, "The two accused are 19 and 23 years , which numbers are 'consecutive prime numbers'."

There have been others.
Daquan Davis, 19, of Atlantic City, stands in court, Monday, Sept. 17, 2012, for a first appearance at the Atlantic County Criminal Complex in Mays Landing. Davis is charged with the aggravated manslaughter and endangering the welfare (baby-shaking) of a 6-month-old child. Source: The Press of Atlantic City.



DaQuan James Royal, 19, was recaptured in Dekalb County, Georgia, on March 14, 2012, after he had escaped from police custody in Sandy Springs in August 2011. After getting away from police, he taunted them in a Facebook post from his cellphone. It said, "I escaped from sandyspings police (expletive) youll i'm james bond (expletive)". Source: News11alive.com

What we may see is that while all names are invented, of course, care, perhaps, should be given in coining names that seem meaningless but which may have their own forms of negative associations.

One woman gave her opinion on the name straightforwardly at a name site:
I guess if you're desperate enough, you could say that Daquan means "successful soldier," "Da" being Chinese for "achieve" and "Quan" being Vietnamese for "soldier." I still wouldn't recommend this, but for all you Daquans out there, now you have somewhat of a meaning, if your parents intended it or not. -- Lady SeashellSource: Behindthename.com

For African Americans, one wonders if "Daquin" will soon have the same dangerous connotations that "Wayne" does as a middle name among Caucasian Americans?

2 comments:

  1. "Old English cwen "queen, female ruler of a state, woman, wife," from Proto-Germanic *kwoeniz (cf. Old Saxon quan "wife," Old Norse kvaen, Gothic quens), ablaut variant of *kwenon (source of quean),.."

    From Etymonline. Note 'Saxon quan'.

    Softened over time Duquan could become 'duwayne', maybe.

    Desperate times.

    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  2. Perhaps it's related to the movie Jerry Maguire?

    http://youtu.be/FDSsaj_Fl9c

    ReplyDelete