Lance -

Thank you for the correction on surnames. I have fixed the text. I do know the difference, but sometimes my fingers think for themselves.

Commonality is an existential thing. Either a name “sounds American” to most Americans, or it doesn’t. No one decides, because no one has to. For now, an Anglo-Saxon name, and most reliably a saint’s name, “sounds” American to most Americans. That may change, but there’s really no reason why it should. The “standard” is wholly arbitrary and works best as a means of assimilation if it stays fixed. My ancestors were Jews from Eastern Europe, but I was born here and given the name of a (lesser) Christian saint. It has not made me any more or less aware of my ethnicity, but neither does it cause anyone to wonder what message my parents were trying to send.

This is not a big deal at the micro level, and lots of people make out fine without a “normal” name. But then there’s this, by a couple of black guys named Jordan and Keegan.