Welcome to Karen Hunter is awesome. What is in a name, Shakespeare would say, a rose by any other name with smell it sweet. Well, there's a lot in a name. Actually, there's a lot of power in a name. And I just had a conversation with Dr. Daniel Black about that because we went through a rites of passage in November of 2025. And the naming ceremony was quite soul-stirring, I must say, quite emotional. Take a listen to our conversation about names. I am here with Dr. Daniel Black,

and we are in the final throes of a rites of passage class eight weeks. You've never done this

virtually before. Never. Okay. And so we're in the process of the naming. Today is going to be the

naming. What does that require to, and first, explain to people what a naming ceremony is.

Yes. Yes. A naming ceremony is a moment in a ritual initiation process, whereby a person receives a name that bespeaks the birth of a new self, the birth of a new character, the birth of the discovery of their destiny.

The significance of a name in initiation process can never, ever, ever be overspoken.

And the reason this is important is because the day a person receives a name

always marks the day of the beginning of their consciousness. Oh, okay. So, you know, there was a period

of time in the 50s, 60s, 70s where black folk were changing their names. That's right.

What's the difference between that and this?

Not much at all.

Not much at all.

Most of those folks had studied African traditions.

Okay, okay.

Absolutely. This is a Mary Baraka. This is Haki Matabooti, et cetera, et cetera.

Those folks knew these traditions, absolutely.

What about Malcolm X and? All of them. They knew the tradition. They knew the importance of naming ceremonies.

And what they also understood is that we come from a people here denamed, as they used to say in the 60s.

In other words, we come from a people for whom all of our names were stolen away. And some

people, and I agree with this, theorize that many of the names that we even think we're actually

choosing, the ancestors at the bottom of the Atlantic are sending to us. Okay. So Shakespeare,

if he existed, would say, what's in a name? What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell

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