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could do Martin, or Malcolm, or Cassius. (not a great fan of the Nation of Islam but they were certainly important people).
Also forgot Rita (Rita Marley) and Selasie.

This message was edited 5/3/2022, 1:58 PM

These names definitely stand out. I like where the parents are at with this. I'm more likely to support "weird" names if they have some important meaning to the parents, and these names honor important people, so I'm all for it.
I love Nina Simone.
I like Davis and Baker.
I love the name Zora.
Baraka is cool. I think of it as a feminine form of Barack, regardless of origin or namesake.
Lumumba is kind of cute. Sounds gender nuetral.
Mandela is pretty - I'm imagining this on a girl, regardless of the namesake or usage.

Oh wow! I remember writing about Marcus Garvey and his similarities to the fictional Professor Koazhy in Claude McKay's Amiable With Big Teeth in a recent essay. I'm paraphrasing, but I think it was Nathan Huggins who attributed his success to "a remarkable ability to simplify all nuance".

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Is Baraka just because of Obama, or was there a famous one I missed?

I agree, it’s a cool set

I only like Dessalines and Nina Simone.