I have a question

The first sign name I ever received was the sign for "huh?" next to forehead, given to me by my first ASL teacher because I was the only one in class that ever asked questions. Years later, my deaf friends gave me and my hubby and kids the sign name (of sorts) of simply the intitials of our first and last name. Why? Because I would muck up spelling out names when I was excitedly telling a story about someone so, from now on we are all just two letters, easy fast and hard to muck up lol.
 
no sign name hear but everyone online, and some real people call me tigershark or TSD................Its my alias..LOLz
 
Audiofuzzy said:
I was wondering why one can't give oneself a sign name,
why it has to be done by a community, please?

After all, our legal names are the names our parents chose us, nobody else.

Fuzzy
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See, even your legal birth name wasn't for you to choose for yourself. :lol:

Even hearing people get nicknames from other people. They don't usually pick them for themselves.

It's just one of those things we live with. :)
 
LOL i've been deaf most of my life and I don't even have a sign name!!
 
Lissa said:
LOL i've been deaf most of my life and I don't even have a sign name!!
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I think it's time to socialize more. The more people talk about you, the more they need a sign name for you.

Oh, that reminds me of one downside... I have a friend (not really a friend) that picked up a new sign name that she did not like. Her sign name became "scary" signed up one arm for goose bumps. She had a habit of becoming attached to a guy and then attempting to totally control him. She was also very negative about everything. If you have an ailment, her's was worse. It got to the point that people would make excuses not to attend a party if they knew she was going to be there.
 
Hahaha... you folks in the Deaf community showing your *subtle* nature again. I love it!
 
See, even your legal birth name wasn't for you to choose for yourself.
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It's true, but that's because I was a newborn and incapable of it :)

That's why my parents did it for me.

But see, MY parents did it, so thus someone very next of kin,
hence ALMOST me. I know, it's a stretch, but you get my gist, eh?

So, maybe picking your own signing name is not quite the same,
but okay, I understand the tradition was set already.


So, is there some sort of signing god-parents who chose the sign-name,
or how it done?

Fuzzy
 
You can legally change your birth name. You can also tell other deffies that you do not like your sign name and ask that they come up with an alternative. Ive seen it happen more than once at Gallaudet U. Of course, there were a few that pissed off enough deffies that their sign name stuck and could not be changed because everyone on campus seemed to know about it. Usually these were deaf/hoh folks that came from a very audist background and refused to integrate or at least learn about deaf culture.
 
Cheetah said:
You can legally change your birth name. You can also tell other deffies that you do not like your sign name and ask that they come up with an alternative. Ive seen it happen more than once at Gallaudet U. Of course, there were a few that pissed off enough deffies that their sign name stuck and could not be changed because everyone on campus seemed to know about it. Usually these were deaf/hoh folks that came from a very audist background and refused to integrate or at least learn about deaf culture.
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Yeah...sign names are sometimes, shall we say, not very flattering.:lol:
 
jillio said:
Yeah...sign names are sometimes, shall we say, not very flattering.:lol:
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I asked one guy from my hometown what his sign name was... he signed "d" over his belly. He had a huge gut and that was his sign name. Not flattering, but perfectly acceptable to him and in the general Deaf community.
 
Cheetah said:
I asked one guy from my hometown what his sign name was... he signed "d" over his belly. He had a huge gut and that was his sign name. Not flattering, but perfectly acceptable to him and in the general Deaf community.
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The most unflattering are usually given to the HOH and oral deaf that denigrate Deaf culture.
 
jillio said:
The most unflattering are usually given to the HOH and oral deaf that denigrate Deaf culture.
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Yeah, we can really nail someone's personality with a sign name. Especially if it's an er... unflattering personality trait.
 
Sooooo, I should be in no hurry to be so "honored"?
 
My sign name is a "J" on the shoulder given to me by my HS ASL teacher. Does it say anything about me?:dizzy:
 
purplewowies said:
My sign name is a "J" on the shoulder given to me by my HS ASL teacher. Does it say anything about me?:dizzy:
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A lot of name signs are signed the First letter of the first name and either middle name or last name signed at the place where a name tag would usually go. This is often used with heries and interpreters. but it's not a rule from what I've seen.
 
blondon704 said:
My son came home doing his signs for his siblings. Do I discourage him from using these signs for them?? (Keep in mind I am hearing, he is deaf one sibling is hoh and two are hearing) he is in a hearing program through the schools which boils down to a two hour long session with 3 hearing impaired teachers and one interpreter. I don't want to crush his little 4 year old dreams or anything but if it isn't correct I want him to be taught the right way.
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If the son who is Deaf is assigning name signs for his siblings, then this would be considered perfectly "culturally appropriate" ... it's actually how many hearing siblings get proper, culturally acceptable, sign names :)
 
LOL i've been deaf most of my life and I don't even have a sign name!!
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ash345 said:
me too... but then again... my name is only 3 letters long...
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I've been Hoh/Deaf my entire life - and I don't have a name sign either. My name is 3 letters long and just as fast to spell as it would be to sign using a name sign.

I actaully know a LOT of people in my community who've been in the DC their entire lives and because their names are short, don't have ANS/DNS - because it's just as fast, and fluid to spell it!

There are also a number of people who's name signs are actually a stylized version of their spelled names (a bit like loan signs). Examples that come to mind are: Sylvia & Chris, but there are many more.
 
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