Choosing a baby name is exciting for new parents; each name is selected with love and dreams of a child's future in mind. For the parents of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black men and women — and, in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and others, Black children — whose lives were claimed by racism, choosing these names was no different for their parents. These were the names of their babies.
The team behind BabyNames.com [1]'s popular name database chose to dedicate the top of its homepage to a moving and powerful tribute to honor the names of some of the many Black lives that have been cut too short. "BabyNames.com stands in solidarity with the black community," reads a caption below a list filled with too many names. "Each one of these names was somebody's baby."
Many brands have recently come forward to say that they stand with the Black community [2], but BabyNames.com's touching tribute is garnering an emotional reaction on Twitter [3], where the site first shared its name graphic with a simple yet powerful caption: "Say their names."
Say their names. #BlackLivesMatter [5] pic.twitter.com/hyEj58lueT [6]
— BabyNames.com (@babynamesdotcom) June 6, 2020 [7]