Why Did Obama Change His Name?

Newsweek:

Barry Obama decided that he didn't like his nickname. A few of his friends at Occidental College had already begun to call him Barack (his formal name), and he'd come to prefer that. The way his half sister, Maya, remembers it, Obama returned home at Christmas in 1980, and there he told his mother and grandparents: no more Barry. Obama recalls it slightly differently, but in the same basic time frame. He believes he told his mom he wanted to be called Barack when she visited him in New York the following summer. By both accounts, it seemed that the elder relatives were reluctant to embrace the change. Maya recalls that Obama's maternal grandparents, who had played a big role in raising him, continued long after that to call him by an affectionate nickname, "Bar." "Not just them, but my mom, too," says Obama.

Why did Obama make the conscious decision to take on his formal African name? His father was also Barack, and also Barry: he chose the nickname when he came to America from Kenya on a scholarship in 1959. His was a typical immigrant transition. Just as a Dutch woman named Hanneke might become Johanna, or a German named Matthias becomes Matt, the elder Barack wanted to fit in. America was a melting pot, and it was expected then that you melt--or at least smooth some of your more foreign edges.

Read the whole story: Newsweek

Comments

[AdLib]

As long as we're on the topic, back in the 90's after deregulation of the media, "Irrelevant Trivia" changed its name to "News".

[RButler]

As long as we can now have an open discussion of race, I recall back in the '70s and '80s blacks were getting upset about suspects in crime investigations in the newspaper being identified a being 'black'. Fine. After awhile, newspapers started being 'politically correct' and stopped doing that. Only, it get funnier. Around the same time black mothers started giving their babies those creative names such as Tiffanique, La Keshia, Le or La anything at all, Marcus, and so on. They ended up self-identifying themselves. Ain't that a hoot?

[jeffepops]

Almost as big a hoot as people who "self-identify themselves" by having a last name that means "servant of the wealthy".

What's in a name, buddy?

[AdLib]

Finally! An issue that affects the lives of Americans! Way to go HuffPo!

[lvogt]

I strongly object to ANOTHER APPALLINGLY INACCURATE HUFFPO HEADLINE!
What's wrong with you people?

He EMBRACED his name he didn't change it. You #@$%ing morons!

[Lbama]

Here's the WHOLE article from Newsweek. It's amazing. A must read!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/128633

[armadillious2002]

My nickname as a boy was "Mustard" I'm sure glad I grew out of that one.

[postedby]

Obama's father " came to America from Kenya on a scholarship in 1959". So this is supposed to give Barack some special bond with blacks born and raised in America?

[Kyuzo]

Did he ever claim that it did?

[BrooklynLager]

And is your post supposed to give you the authority to speak for all hispanics?

[The 13 Colonies]

Obama is an American citizen. His Mother and his grandparents raised him. I used to go swimming at the Occidental College swimming pool. Where did you go to college???­??????????­?????

[laborgrunt]

it doesn't matter when his father came to the US. What matters is that he grew up as a black man in the United States, His experience growing up in a country that considers a person with one drop of black blood to be Black admitted him into Black America.
See admission into Black America is administered by White America, kinda weird but think about it.

[CaptainVideo]

Yes! Their black ancestors came from Africa too, just like Obama's. And their white ancestors were Americans too, just like Obama's. And finally, like them Obama was born in the U.S.A..

[jcause28]

I went from Jesse to J.J. to Jess, I was changing my name twice. Oh gosh. I better stay out of politics.

[BrooklynLager]

WHY DID YOU CHANGE YOUR NAME? *cue spooky music*

[SonofLiberty1]

Why change back to "Barach"? Barry is much more "American" isn't it?

[Trilby]

Misleading headline. His name was always Barak. He did not change his name. Many young men reject a childish nickname as they get older. Non-issue.

[Lbama]

Read the whole article in Newsweek. It's a 'must read'


http://www.newsweek.com/id/128633

[bridgeworker]

For those of who interested in insightful discussion of the issues, check out this article written by Ruben Navarrete Jr, entitled "Why Obama's Worldview Varies from his Ex-Pastor's". Good read. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8668584?source=most_viewed

[kingcityguru]

Way to go Dems: a choice between a self-interested liar with a sexual predator husband or a far left wing empty suit with an America hating wife.
Vote McCain.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

So you would rather vote for a war mongering asshole would will keep driving the entire nation deeper into debt.

[Kyuzo]

Yeah, that third option: a war-hungry idiot who thinks al-Qaeda is in Iran.

[laborgrunt]

Who screws lobbyists, some morals there with McCain.

[mponti]

Way to go Repubs: You chose a man who doesn't know "shiite from shinola" with a former addict wife who stole drugs from her own medical charity.

[BrooklynLager]

Is he far-left or is he an empty-suit?

He can't be both.

(by the way, your candidate is in the middle stages of dementia. It's possible no one will notice for another few months though. shhhhhhh)

[LeftLeanWing]

McCain mind was thinking..­....

bomb bomb oomb
bomb bomb Peru

[foughtthelaw]

So his name was always Barack, but over time, his nickname became Barry, but then he decided that he'd prefer to go by his given name, the name that was ALWAYS his name? This does not sound like a scenario in which Newsweek could possibly justify titling a story "Why did Barack Change His Name?" since HE DIDN'T CHANGE HIS NAME. Do we ask the same thing of men named Richard who usually go by Dick? "Hey Dick Cheney, why did you decide to go with Dick, cuz you're a dick? I guess that tells us a lot about your character, the way you think, the man you really are?" Come on, this headline is one for the trash receptacle.

[mponti]

Imagine Barry Obama in a white Somali native costume. Doesn't have the same ring as Barack.

[poeticjustice4all]

I know exactly why Barry became Barack. What I'm still trying to figure out is how Barack became a GOD who cannot ever be question, doubted or even spoken of unless it's to worship Him.

[Kyuzo]

Yeah, because no one has ever criticized him.

[snowcat]

your mistaken..­.if as Carville says, Richardson is Judas, than Hillary is the Messiah...­which falls perfectly in line with the beliefs of her ultra right wing sex segregated religious group the FELLOWSHIP.

Barack is not the Messiah , such a brilliant, honest and visionary mortal.

[whitewaterwillie]

No. Its just that making an issue of dropping a childhood nickname is just plain stupid. However, I'm sure FOX will try to get some milage out of this.

[Doug Watt]

What's with the misleading headline? You write "Why Did Obama Change His Name?"
when in fact he did not change his name at all. He chose to be called by his full name.

It's the same as if I chose to be called Douglas rather than Doug, big deal.

It's disturbing to see this kind of cheap tactic used to draw readers in here on Huffpost.

[Kyuzo]

I'm inclined to agree, when someone sees the headline their first impression is that he's trying to conceal something (and the assumption is that the name in question is Hussein).

[Marlyn]

"their first impression is that he's trying to conceal something"

You are just projecting your own paranoia onto the headline. I loved the article.

[dollphingurl]

thank you. i wholeheartedly concur.

[RealityBaseCamp]

It's not his NAME that he changed, it's his NICKNAME. Also, what Newsweek called his "formal African name" is HIS NAME! My first name is not my "formal European name," is yours? And Hey! What happened to the usual bias? Huffington Post has usually criticized Hillary the most (not saying she didn't deserve it, though). Maybe they're being Fair and Balanced? There's something here that I reject, renounce, repudiate, condemn, and deny having said!!

[Marlyn]

"Huffington Post has usually criticized Hillary the most" ???

RealityBaseCamp, why do you assume this article is critical? It isn't.