Sign name

In the American deaf community and American Sign Language (ASL), there are cultural norms regarding ASL name signs; for example, they must be agreed upon by the named person and the broader deaf community.[3][2] A third category, nontraditional name signs, combine elements of the arbitrary and descriptive.[2] Prominent individuals with no direct connection to deaf culture are sometimes also assigned name signs; for example, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, William Shakespeare, and Vincent van Gogh all have name signs.[2] Contemporary non-deaf figures, such as elected officials, are sometimes also given name signs.[2] For example, after becoming Vice President-elect of the United States, Kamala Harris was assigned a name sign consisting of a rotation of the wrist completed concurrently with the unfurling of the thumb, index and middle finger; the sign was partly derived from the sign for lotus flower (which is what "Kamala" means in Sanskrit) and from the number three (representing Harris as the first vice president to be a woman, African American, and Asian American).