The Name Game

"The Name Game", or "The Banana Song", is a rhyming game that creates variations on a person's name. It was written by U.S. singer Shirley Ellis with Lincoln Chase, and Ellis's recording, produced by Charles Calello, was released in late 1964 as "The Name Game." That record went to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 4 on the magazine's R&B charts in 1965. The record was re-released in 1966 and again in 1973.

Ellis told Melody Maker magazine that the song was based on a game she played as a child.

Using the name Katie as an example, the song follows this pattern:

Katie, Katie, bo-batie,
Banana-fana fo-fatie
Fee-Fi-mo-matie
Katie!

A verse can be created for any name, with X as the name and Y as the name without the first consonant sound (if it begins with a consonant), as follows:

(X), (X), bo-b (Y)
Banana-fana fo-f (Y)
Fee-Fi-mo-m (Y)
(X)!

If the name starts with a vowel or vowel sound, the "b" "f" or "m" is inserted in front of the name.

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 Alice, Dallas, Tucker, Chuck, Buck, Huck, Bart, Art, Marty, Mitch, Rich, Richie, Maggie, Ruby, Cletus or, in British English, Danny or Annie, results in profanity, or rude or improper language.

"The Name Game" has been recorded by dozens of recording artists in the years since, and also used in numerous productions. For example, A version of the song was played on American Horror Story: Asylum in an episode of the same name, performed by Jessica Lange while her character was in a hallucinatory state. The song was customized with some of the characters' names and the majority of the cast performed in the ensuing musical number.