Petitions: A Fine American Name

To affirm black pride, many black Americans have adopted African names. One who sought to formalize the change in court, however, ran into unexpected opposition. Robert Lee Middleton, a 25-year-old student at the New York City Community College in Brooklyn, wants to be known as Kikuga Nairobi Kikugis. He explained to New York Civil Court Judge Irving Smith that he plans to teach African culture after graduation and would like to have a name appropriate to such a career. The petition has just been denied.

Judge Smith found that the words Kikuga and Kikugis seem to mean nothing in any African language. Ruling that the name would mislead the petitioner’s future students, the judge said that other black Americans are teaching African culture “without resort to such subterfuge as changing their patronymics.” Besides, he went on, Middleton is “a fine American name.” Despite the decision, the future teacher is determined to get court approval for becoming Kikuga Nairobi Kikugis. He hopes to find a more receptive judge than Irving Smith—whose immigrant forebears’ name was changed when they came from Poland to the U.S.