[Ads-l] "SayHerName" Not in OED

[Ben Zimmer]

>From the website of Kimberlé Crenshaw's African American Policy Forum:

---
https://www.aapf.org/sayhername/
December 14th, 2024 marks 10 years since the African American Policy Forum
(AAPF) and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies
(CISPS) launched the #SayHerName campaign!
---

The earliest relevant tweet I've found with the #SayHerName hashtag is from
Dec. 17, 2014. (There are earlier examples not related to the AAPF
campaign.) Khaled Beydoun used it on or before that date in a now-deleted
tweet:

---
https://twitter.com/khaledbeydoun/status/545055410169057280 [deleted]
Black woman killed by police/Michigan last month.  #SayHerName #AuraRosser
#BlackLivesMatter
---

It was quote-retweeted on Dec. 17 by "DR C" here:
https://twitter.com/DrC6198/status/545199764166684672

Beydoun's tweet was also cited (but not quoted) in this study:
https://cmsimpact.org/resource/beyond-hashtags-ferguson-blacklivesmatter-online-struggle-offline-justice/
"Beyond the hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the online struggle
for offline justice," by Deen Freelon, Charlton D. McIlwain, and Meredith
D. Clark, Feb. 29, 2016

Other relevant tweets from Dec. 2014:

---
https://twitter.com/1N0X1_E6_ODS/status/547416422994173952
Name of female Air Force Reservist critically injured by coward who
executed two NYPD cops: SHANEKA THOMPSON. #SayHerName #WomensLivesMatter
1N10X1, Dec. 23, 2014
---
https://twitter.com/bigbrimstone/status/549047282977738753
The female Eric Garner tho? #SayHerName #ShenequeProctor
bigbrim1.eth, Dec. 27, 2014
---

--bgz


On Sun, Sep 21, 2025 at 8:22 AM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> I have suggested that the Oxford Dictionary of African Ameican English
> should include a few major slogans such as "Black Is Beautiful" and "Black
> Lives Matter."  Another candidate would be the slogan or hashtag
> SayHerName.  The earliest citation I have found is the following:
>
> 2015 St. Louis American 1 May (LexisNexis)  Demonstrations took place
> across the country and spread across social media with the hashtag
> #SayHerName.
>
> This term was coined by the African American scholar Kimberle Williams
> Crenshaw.  Crenshaw deserves some kind of Nobel Prize for terminological
> innovation, as it appears that she is the coiner of three major terms:
> "intersectionality," "critical race theory," and "SayHerName."
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org