Is Minstrel a racist term?

[sammie96]

We have recently adopted a cat who came with the name Minstrel. It is black and white.
I’m not entirely comfortable with the name so want to try and change it but my children are adamant it stays the same. They obviously aren’t aware of ‘The Minstrel Show’ and it’s racist association and until I looked further into the name it is also a term used for a certain sexual act! How can I explain all this? AIBU?

They are not black and white then? Maybe the cat can be renamed revel.

Neil Diamond's Jazz Singer was a sort of remake of the Al Jolson film of the same name. He was a 'black up' singer.

Of course Minstrel isn't racist. Minstrels were entertainers in medieval times, played the lute or juggled or sang.

Minstrels sweets ARE black and white! Revels, as pp says, are the ones with different flavours centres.

I definitely think that Minstrels sweets were named with the historic black and white minstrels in mind, now I think of it... Perhaps that's why you can't buy them any more.

Call the cat Pepper.

Say it's the cat's middle name.

Good, I really need more sleep, minstrels aren't black and white, that's Vice Versas. Ignore me, I'm a tool. As you were people!

Not a good name for a black and white anything. If it was any other colour cat it wouldn't seem as bad.

why do some people never read further than the thread title

Ahhhhh. You can buy minstrels still. They're galaxy minstrels.

The sweets that were either milk chocolate in a white shell or white chocolate in a brown shell were called vice versas! Minstrels are milk chocolate in a brown shell

Ooops - cross post RatRolyPoly

I am not racist or bigoted, but I am not ultra PC either, and too much political correctness does my head in. But I have to agree with the majority here, that 'minstrel' for a black and white cat is a bit dodgy.

I would change it. Change it to Cookie or Coco or something.

I wonder who thought it was a good idea to call him Minstrel?!

About 20 years ago, there was a black lab near me in south London called Sambo. I couldn't believe it.

I also knew a lady who had a Pekingese dog named Chinky (this was in the 1980s).

This thread has reminded me of them, so for me, Minstrel must have racist connotations when the animal is black/white. And I say that as someone whose chocolate of choice, on the rare occasion I buy it, is often Galaxy Minstrels.

So, I'd go for Minnie or Minty.

They called the cab company THAT in the late 1990's @scrabbler?

Holy shit!

The name of the dog in the 1980's is bad enough!

What is the sex act?

Lab, not cab

How old are you DC? If they are young then YABU if they are teenagers then they ABU. Either way that's an awful name and I wonder what else inappropriate your DC choose that you can't change.

Racist or not, I'd rule it out based on this!

I would think of A Wandering Minstrel, I from The Mikado first. Which is G&S and definitely no reference to b/w minstrel show.

I wonder what else inappropriate your DC choose that you can't change.

This is unfair - the OP says that the children didn't choose the name, they just don't want to change it (presumably out of a feeling that it's somehow unfair to the cat to just change its name), so the ultimate blame lies elsewhere here!

I think it's clear that you have to change the name, OP - you can't squirm and feel embarrassed every time you mention your cat, and nor can you keep pointing out that yes, you know the name is a bit racist but you didn't pick it! - and I think the 'it's a not very nice joke' line suggested upthread is the best one. I don't have children, but I don't see why a gentle explanation to them about how in the past some white people used to make fun of black people and that this is wrong and something we don't do now and that this is why the cat's name isn't a nice joke is inappropriate? From what I know from friends who are primary school teachers 'this is what racism is and it's bad' is an idea that's introduced to them pretty young.

Change is to Mistral. Minnie is slag for a vulva where I come from

you just google image search MINSTREL and see

I recently had cause to do this and Minstrel was crossed off my list pretty damn smartish

I also associated it with jester/harlequin/clown/storyteller but really, not so much now!