The "Clean" Meaning of The Name "Becky" In African American Culture

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update: May 17, 2021

This pancocojams post provides some information and comments about the name "Becky" in African American culture.
 

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural, etymological, and entertainment purposes.

All content remains with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES
Online references to the lyrics "Becky with the good hair" from Beyonce's song "Sorry" in her April 2016 visual album Lemonade* sparked my interest in the vernacular meaning of the female name "Becky" in African American culture.

For the record, I believe that it's wrong to use the name "Becky" or any other name or any other term to stereotype any individual or any group of people. But as a self-described cultural folklorist, I'm interested in sussing out where, when, and how "Becky" got the meaning that Beyonce gives it in her song- and any other meanings that are currently given to that name.

This post is about the "clean meanings" of the name "Becky" in African American culture. The sexual meaning of "Becky" was popularized by Plies' June 2009 Hip Hop record entitled "Becky". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_(song), but that meaning was probably used in the 'hood before that record. Nevertheless, I think that the clean meaning of "Becky" was used before the sexual meaning (what I call "the dirty meaning") of that term.

Read an excerpt from an online post about "Becky" in Beyonce's song in Addendum #2 below.

Read comments in Addendum #3 below about African American former basketball player Kwame Brown's May 16, 2021 Instagram post in which he called another former NBA basketball player "Becky with the good hair".  

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WHAT "BECKY" MEANS (the "clean" definition)

Miss Ann" is a much older African American referent for White women that carried (and still carries) negative connotations of White women who are stiff, prudish, and respectable [in the opinion of White people].

The use of "Becky" as a referent for White women in general and/or as a referent for a sub-category of White women was popularized in the 1992 by Hip Hop artist Sir Mix A Lot's hit record "Baby Got Back".  The first words in that song are voiced by a young White woman who stands with her silent White friend Becky staring at a Black woman in the distance. Using Valley Girl lingo and pronunciation, the unnamed White women criticizes that Black woman's big butt.

[Intro]
Oh, my, god. Becky, look at her butt.
It is so big. [scoff]
She looks like one of those rap guys' girlfriends.
But, you know, who understands those rap guys? [scoff]
They only talk to her, because, she looks like a total prostitute, 'kay?
I mean, her butt, is just so big.
I can't believe it's just so round, it's like, out there, I mean— gross. Look!
She's just so... black!"

Source: [for the full lyrics] http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sirmixalot/babygotback.html
-snip-

The woman speaking in that introduction used "Valley Girl" pronunciation for those words.  
Here's information about "Valley Girls" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_girl
"A Valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, from the Los Angeles commuter communities of the San Fernando Valley.[1] The term in later years became more broadly applied to any female in the United States who embodied ditziness"...

In 2016 Beyonce popularized the phrase "Becky with the good hair" in her song "Lemonade". That referent has come to mean either a White woman, or a Black woman who is mixed (has one birth parent who is Black and one who is non-Black), or a light skinned Black woman, or a woman who is not Black and is also not White (for instance a Latina or a woman from India.) Presumably, all of these women would have so-called "good hair", meaning hair whose texture (curl pattern) is the same as or similar to the curl patterns of White people. 

Here's information about the meaning of the term "good hair" as it was used in the past (and as it is still used) by many African Americans:
Excerpt #1
From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=good+hair
"good hair

A popular* term in the African-American community, used to describe an black person's hair that closely resembles the hair of a typical white person (i.e. soft, managable, long, as opposed to "nappy" or "bad" hair). The closer your hair is to a white person's, the "better" your hair is. See: "bad hair".

Note: Most people who use this term would never admit the inferiority complex from which it came.
Ignorant Aunt Zykeshia: "Lord-Jeezus! Girl, you gots dat good hair! It long, curly and booootiful!"
-by Little Lauren May 17, 2005
-snop-
I think that "widely used" fits better than the word "popular".

-snip-

[Update: March 12, 2019]
On March 12, 2019, the actress who portrayed "Aunt Becky" on the long running American television sitcom Full House was indicted as one of more than 40 defendants in a bribery scheme to get their kids into elite colleges. That arrest added another layer to connotations for "Becky" as a referent for White females. Click https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lori-loughlin-aunt-becky-college-admission-scheme_n_5c87d3e5e4b0450ddae49683
"Aunt Becky’ Jokes Abound Over Lori Loughlin College Admission Scheme Indictment"
By Jenna Amatulli; 03/12/2019]
-snip-
It just so happened that the character in the Full House television series was named "Becky" (and also referred to as "Aunt Becky" by her nieces in that series. What makes this indictment so ironical (and thus the subject of jokes for those who are so inclined) is that in the television series "Becky" ("Aunt Becky") was scripted as an ideal mother/mother figure who would do anything for her children and nieces. To be clear, neither the character on the Full House television series nor the actress portraying that character had anything to do with accusing Black people of doing something wrong. However, the name "Becky"/"Aunt Becky" feeds into the memes about White women named "Becky".

Even before March 2019, African American twitter and other Black social media, used the name "Becky" and other "White" female names along with alliterative descriptors as negative referents for White women. The October 2018 newspaper article "BBQ Becky, Permit Patty and Cornerstore Caroline: Too ‘cutesy’ for those white women calling police on black people?". https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/19/bbq-becky-permit-patty-and-cornerstore-caroline-too-cutesy-for-those-white-women-calling-cops-on-blacks/?utm_term=.377c45dccf02 is an example of this custom. While the earlier usage of "Becky" were for young, Valley girl acting White females, "BBQ Becky" is an older woman who shares two additional characteristics with the other alliterative examples cited: they are White and they call the police on Black (or Brown) people for frivolous reasons.

Here's one of many YouTube videos of the woman who received the nickname "BBQ Becky": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXzdzKDoGLM "Woman calls cops on men for grilling with charcoal"

-end of March 12, 2019 update-

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POSSIBLE REASONS WHY "BECKY" CAME TO BE USED AS A VERNACULAR [CLEAN] TERM FOR (YOUNG) WHITE WOMEN
1. "Becky" is generally considered [in the USA] to be a "White" female name.
I don't know why the name "Becky" was selected to serve as a referent for White women instead of any other so-called "White name or nickname".But I'm not surprised that the referent for a young White woman ends with a "y" since prior to about the 1980s almost every personal name in the United States had a diminutive (nickname) that ended with "y" and "ie". Two syllable nicknames and personal names ending with "y" if not "ie" are still rather common in the United States, particularly among non-Black children, teens, and adults.

One contributing factor for the selection of the name "Becky" as a referent for White females instead of any other "y" or "ie" ending names is that "Rebecca" (or other spellings of that name) doesn't appear to be given that often to Black American females. Futhermore, according to online articles that I've read, Black Americans with the name "Rebecca" aren't usually given the nickname "Becky". Anecdotally, I know one African American woman who is forty years old named "Rebekha" who doesn't have a nickname that I'm aware of. I also know one Ango-American female in late teens named "Bekka". I think that is her real name and not a shortened form of "Rebekha".

Here's one article that I came across about the name "Becky" in the United States:
From https://daratmathis.com/2013/10/23/an-apology-to-white-beckys-everywhere/ "AN APOLOGY TO EVERY (WHITE) GIRL NAMED BECKY", Posted on October 23, 2013 by d. tafakari
..."First of all, let me say the unstated obvious. There are such things as black names and there are traditionally European names. There are indeed black girls named Rebecca. But anecdata suggests that black families generally do not nickname their daughters Becky. That’s a “white name.”
-snip-
This post also comments about the sexual vernacular meaning of "Becky".

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Here's another online page about the name "Becky":
From https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101118140124AAls8Xc
"Why are white women referred to as 'Becky' by black people......?
On every black website I have visited like Bossip, black authors and commentators refer to white women as 'Becky'.... they make comments like...''he is going out with a Becky....., ''that is what black men get from marring Becks''....Becky this, Becky that. I'm from England and this is all new and somewhat funny to me, but why?
Update: @Elizabeth....your link to the Urban dictionary has helped to confirm what some of the answers have tried to explain....Thanks you ALL for your answers....Now I know why white women are called Becky....lol"
-snip-
The urbandictionary.com link refers to what I call the dirty meaning/s of "Becky".

Here are two responses to this yahoo.com query that refer to the non-sexual meaning of "Becky". Both of these responses were submitted by Black women (as indicated by their screen icons of a Black woman].
"haha its the cliche'd 90's name for the white girl out of the valley. I'm assuming there was a lot of people named so at some time, so people just began using it. And it usually doesn't go both ways. How many black girls do you know named Becky?? Same reason whites refer to black women as Shaniqua or Lakeesha."
-bajasa1, 2009
-snip-
"Out of the valley" probably means "a Valley girl". "Valley Girls" was a relatively widely used referent in the 1980s-1990s for a sub-set of young White women:
"The label originally referred to a swell of upper-middle class girls living in the early 1980s Los Angeles commuter towns of the San Fernando Valley, but in time the term became more broadly applied to any woman or girl—primarily in the United States and Canada—who engendered the associated affects of ditziness, airheadedness, and/or greater interest in conspicuous consumption than intellectual or personal accomplishment.

**
"I never call white girls "Becky", but I'm assuming that Rebekah/Rebecca was a very common name when it popped up."
-Lady, 2009

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2. The only fictitious character named "Becky" that I'm familiar with is the name of the girl in Mark Twain's novel Tom Sawyer. But I'm not sure that has anything to do with the use of "Becky" as a referent for young White women except that that character could have been considered a "template" for a young White girl.

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THE DIRTY MEANING FOR THE NAME "BECKY"
In 2009 another Hip Hop record Plies "Becky" documented and popularized a sexual meaning for that female name. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Becky

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SHOWCASE VIDEO
Warning- This video contains sexually suggestive lyrics and visual but no profanity and no explicit sex. As is the case with many YouTube comment threads, a great deal of profanity and sexually explicit language is found in this video's discussion thread.

Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back



SirMixALotVEVO, Published on Mar 1, 2019

Music video by Sir Mix-A-Lot performing Baby Got Back. © 1992 American Recordings, LLC
-snip-
"Back" here means "booty" (butt). "Baby got back" praises Black women who have big butts.

It's important to note that in the introduction to this song "Becky" is used as a nickname for the young White woman being addressed. That nickname has no sexual innuendos or cultural connotations.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/04/sir-mix-lots-1992-hip-hop-record-baby.html for a pancocojams post that focuses on the socio-cultural influence of Sir Mix A Lot's 1992 "Baby God Back" record. Selected comments from that video's discussion thread about the term "Becky" and other aspects of the song are included in that post along with this video.

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ADDENDUM #1 - WHAT "GOOD HAIR" MEANS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE
From https://www.popsugar.com/beauty/What-Does-Becky-Good-Hair-Mean-41062522#photo-41062522
Beyoncé's "Becky" Lyric Has Racial Undertones That We All Need to Understand
April 25, 2016 by LAUREN LEVINSON
..."Some people believe there is a bigger issue* surrounding [Beyonce's] lyrics "Becky [with the good hair]." Rather than trying to figure out if Becky is or isn't Rachel, they point out that there are racial undertones to Beyoncé's lyrics. The inference is that "Becky" has desirable, sleek hair, while Beyoncé has a naturally curly texture under the wigs and without hot tools. It sheds light on an overall picture when it comes to how black coarse hair is perceived, since the former is "good" and the latter is assumed to be the opposite.

"The fact that people are trying to figure out who Becky is defeats the purpose of this lyric — and the whole performance to me," said POPSUGAR social media editor Larissa Green, who is biracial**. "Being pushed aside because our hair is coarse and doesn't follow a straight and narrow is something very real to me. I think her lyric means: if you can't handle it, then that's no one's problem but your own."
-snip-
The phrase "Becky with the good hair" is found in Beyonce's song "Sorry". That song is track four of her April 2016 album "Lemonade".  Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxsmWxxouIM&ab_channel=CleanSomeSongsCleanSomeSongs for Beyonce's song "Sorry".

The word/s given in brackets in that quote are added by me to explain what is meant by the word after that bracket.

"Biracial" here means of mixed racial ancestry. In the United States that word usually means Black/non-Black.

I don't believe that "Becky with the good hair" was a phrase that was used (or at least was widely used) by African Americans before Beyonce's 2016song. That may be because if a female is a "Becky" (in the non-sexual use of that term -meaning a White female), it's assumed that she would have "good hair" (in the African American meaning of that term- meaning hair that is straight, sleek, non-coarse, non-tightly curled like most Black people's hair.)

The woman who social media has rightly or wrongly identified as the "Becky with good hair" in Beyonce's song is a woman of mixed White/East Indian [the nation of India] ancestry. Therefore, she might not be considered "White" by some White people in the United States and by White people elsewhere. The popsugar.com article that is excerpted above mentions who social media thinks is the Becky in Beyonce's song.

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ADDENDUM #2
Excerpt from Love's Racialized Failure in "Lemonade" By PurposelyPolemical, 2016/04/26 ·
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/04/26/1520391/-Love-s-Racialized-Failure-in-Lemonade
..."By now we’ve all seen, or at least read about, Beyonce’s latest project Lemonade. Reviews of this visual album have been mostly positive; but what has fixated most public attention is the question of infidelity in Beyonce’s high profile marriage to Jay-Z. But aside from vocalizing what could be some very real angst about marital strife, Lemonade is a broader commentary on love and race.

At first glance connecting love and race may seem counter-intuitive—one is emotional and one is political; but, in true feminist fashion Beyonce demonstrates on Lemonade how the personal is political. If we approach the album as less about the inter-personal dynamics between Beyonce and Jay-Z and see it instead as a metaphor for the way society, as a whole, doesn’t love black folks—then Lemonade’s deeper meaning—and broader political contribution—becomes clear. The fact that the album hinges, at its center, on the question of black murder at the hands of police and non-black vigilantes isn’t just an “add on” to a narrative mostly about a shaky marriage; it’s actually related to the broader critique of the piece.

In Lemonade Beyonce not only calls out Jay-Z’s cheating, she frames that cheating as being about race when she sings, “Better call Becky with the good hair.” The term “Becky” in African American lingua franca marks whiteness; and good hair suggests someone who is mixed or not quite black. In this way, Jay’s betrayal is not just a betrayal of the heart, it’s a betrayal of her as a black woman. It’s very clear from Lemonade that the “character” of Jay Z is cheating largely because he is interested in a lighter woman with straighter her, a less black woman. This is a vital part of understanding the symbolic logic of this masterwork....

Beyonce contextualizes Jay Z’s failure to love her in the context of a national epidemic of black anti-love. This may seem trivial until you consider the devastating consequences of black anti-love—both in terms of our larger society and also in terms of “black love,” and black women’s commitment to it"...

This isn’t the say that interracial love is anathema to the black nation; and Lemonade seems eager to rebut any such assumption with a montage of couples at the happy ending of the visual album. Many of those couples are interracial couples. But an infidelity fueled by a partner’s colorist addiction is another thing altogether.
-snip-
Here's a comment exchange from that post's discussion thread:
terrypinder Apr 26 · 07:55:35 PM
"Why does everyone assume Becky is white?

Does no one watch Empire?"

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PurposelyPolemical terrypinder Apr 26 · 07:57:42 PM
"I watch Empire...but I’m at a loss. Who is the black Becky on there? Remind? lol"

**
terrypinder PurposelyPolemical Apr 26 · 08:13:34 PM
"Gabourey Sidibe’s character :)"
-snip-
Pancocojams editor's note:
terrypinder is obviously joking with that comment as Gabourey Sidibe is a dark skinned Black actress.
The character on the television series Empire who might be considered a "Black Becky" is "Anika", portrayed by African American actress Grace Gealey since Grace Gealey is a light skinned Black female who acts pretentious.

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ADDENDUM #3
African American former NBA player Kwame Brown is trending on Twitter May 17, 2021 because of a rant that he published on Instragram on May 16, 2021

Here's information from https://brobible.com/sports/article/kwame-brown-stephen-jackson-matt-barnes-gilbert-arenas/ [WARNING: This article and that Instagram] includes profanity.
"Kwame Brown has a bone to pick with Stephen Jackson, Matt Barnes and Gilbert Arenas.

Earlier this week, Arenas was a guest on Showtime’s “All the Smoke” hosted by Jackson and Barnes. In the interview, Arenas talked about Brown, who he played with during his early years with the Wizards.

Arenas analyzed what went wrong with Brown, who was drafted #1 overall by the Wizards in 2001 but ended up being one of the all-time draft busts in NBA history.

According to Arenas, he believes Kwame had all the skills to be an Anthony Davis type player but Michael Jordan had destroyed his confidence by bullying him when he first got into the league as an 18-year-old rookie.

[...]

The 39-year-old Brown made a Youtube video to respond to the podcast. In the video, Brown disrespectfully calls Barnes “Becky with the good hair”, tells Jackson to put down his blunt and “act like a grown man instead of a little boy”. and accused Arenas of costing him millions of dollars via contracts.

[amended quotes from Kwame Brown's 11:17 PM May 16, 2021 Instagram post: 
..,"Becky with the good hair, go to counseling ...

Becky with the good hair you better shut you’re m---f----* mouth, cause I don’t like the way you started this sh-t* and that better be the last time you mention my name Becky..

-snip-
*These words are fully spelled out in that Instagram.
-snip-
"Becky" is a female name and using a female name as a referent for a male is usually considered to be a put down in and of itself (since males don't want to be referred to as female.)

In addition to that, since Matt Barnes is a light skinned African American, referring to him as "Becky with the good hair" is a specifically racial putdown for Black people. That insult can be said to call into question Matt Barnes' cultural (if not biological) "blackness".   

Reead the comments in Addendum #2 above about "Black Beckys" (i.e. light skinned Black people who presumably have what many African Americans used to (and many still call) "good hair" i.e. hair that is straight or curly like White people..

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