I wasn't aware that names had colors. Apparently they do!

When I was running down my list of potential names for this little boy to someone, I mentioned that Isaac was my top choice. I am not a particularly religious person, but the story of Abraham and Sarah in the Bible kind of resonated with me. I had chosen Isaac because I liked it, but when I looked up the story of Isaac in the Bible, I liked it even more!

Abraham and Sarah had been unable to have a child together. When Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90, a son was born that fulfilled a promise God had made to Abraham. That's the short version. Having gone through quite a few infertility treatments to conceive this little boy, I liked the parallel. Plus, the name Isaac means "laughter" or "he laughs." What a wonderful, happy meaning.

I explained all of this to the person I was sharing our name list with, and her response was that Isaac was a "black" name. My response was pretty smart-assy. I was of course shocked that names had colors and asked if my name was a "pink" name because pink is my favorite color. The humor was not appreciated by her. The racism was not appreciated by me.

I was able to prove her wrong by googling "baby Isaac" pictures. But why did I feel the need to do so? Why did she feel the need to classify a name like Isaac? Ultimately my husband and I decided against Isaac because once I read more about Isaac (and his half-brother Ishmael) I wondered if perhaps the name had divisive connotations to Muslims. Once I read more about Isaac and his family, I was not quite as enamored with the name. Plus we felt that a different name would "fit" better with our first son's name and the name we have picked if we should be blessed with a girl in the future. (First son is Jackson, a future daughter would be Aislinn, both of which are names from the British Isles. We've settled on Colin for this baby.)

Why so quick to judge, to classify, to segregate? Why the subtle racism? Why is it still acceptable in this day and age? And how can we stop it???