The Name Game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Name Game," or "The Banana Song", is a children's singalong rhyming game that creates variations of a person's name. It was written by singer Shirley Ellis and released in 1965 as "The Name Game." However, Ellis told Melody Maker magazine that the song was based on a game she played as a child.
Using the name Jack as an example, the song follows this pattern:
- Jack, Jack, bo-back,
- Banana-fana fo-fack
- Mee-mi-mo-mack
- Jack!
To create a verse for your name, with X as the name and (X−1) as the name without the first consonant sound, replace respectively in the following verse:
- (X), (X), bo-b(X−1)
- Banana-fana fo-f(X−1)
- Mee-mi-mo-m(X−1)
- X!
And if the name starts with a b, f, or m, you simply don't say that letter again. (e.g. Billy - billy billy bo-illy or Fred - banana fana fo-red or Marsha - mee mi mo-arsha)
Notably, playing the game with the name "Chuck" or "Mitch" results in profanity.
[edit] Other uses
"The Name Game" can also refer to any of several variations on the word game also known in the United States as "States", in Croatia as "Kaladont", and in Japan as "Shiritori", in which the players in turn name words in a given category beginning with the final letter of the previous word. For example, a game in which the category was "states of the United States of America" might proceed "Arkansas, South Dakota, Alaska,...." A game in which the category was "modern musical genres" might proceed "reggaeton, new age, electronica, alt-rock,...."
