The Name Game
"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. Children can often be seen chanting this rhyme:
Using the name Jack as an example, the song follows this pattern:
- Jack, Jack, bo-back,
- Banana-fana fo-fack
- Fee-fi-mo-mack
- Jack!
A verse can be created for any name, with X as the name and (X−1) as the name without the first consonant sound, as follows:
- (X), (X), bo-b(X−1)
- Banana-fana fo-f(X−1)
- Fee-fi-mo-m(X−1)
- X!
And if the name starts with a b, f, or m, that sound simply is not repeated. (For example: "Billy" becomes "Billy Billy bo-illy"; "Fred" becomes "banana fana fo-red"; "Marsha" becomes "fee fi mo-arsha".)
Playing the game with names such as "Chuck", "Buck", "Mitch", "Rich" or "Richie" results in profanity.
Name Game in popular culture
- Tiny Toon Adventures had one episode entirely devoted to spoofing music videos. One such video was "The Name Game", which done as tribute to the opening scene of Star Wars Episode IV, where almost the entire cast is captured by Darth Vader, but they show him how to do the name game. That episode's ending credits have a small note saying Plucky Duck was intentionally not included in that particular music video.
- In the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Good Wilt Hunting, right when the scene is done fading in during the traffic scence, everyone in the bus (except for Frankie and Mac) is singing "The Name Game" with the names: "Coco, "Shut Up" (this was yelled by Frankie by saying, "Let's try 'SHUT UP!'", and "Frankie". Also, later when everyone is in the plane, Frankie can be heard talking in her sleep by singing softly, "Frankie, Frankie, bo-bankie."
Laura Branigan version
Laura Branigan's cover of the song is respectable, but for some reason she replaces the name Fred with Hugh. She says "drop the H go "OOOO." Of course, because the name does not begin with an "B" or "F" or "M," this is incorrect.
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", in Russia as "Goroda", 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..."