There has been disagreement about whether it was slaveholders or the enslaved who gave the recorded names. Since those are the countries from which many of America's original settlers came, it's hardly surprising. Alfred "Teen" Blackburn (1842-1951), one of the last living survivors of slavery in the United States who had a clear recollection of it. This is common. It can be a difficult path, but just might be reachable. African Americans tended to use surnames associated with their own families instead of the last slave owner. On the 30 rolls of NARA Microfilm Publication M1895, Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807-1860 (30 rolls), are reproduced manifests filed with the collector of customs at New Orleans, Louisiana, of slaves transported in coastwise trade to or from New Orleans during the period 1807-1860. In 1911, Barnett and Fry's widow, Mollie, both applied for pensions from the government. Enslaved women were raped, creating children with white fathers who in most cases did not claim them and even sold them away. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? Students learn about President Andrew Johnson and the Congressional Republican's conflicting visions of how to rebuild the nation after the Civil War. This is another instance of oral history being a key component in tracing African American ancestry. So just a few things to be aware of when researching any African-American ancestors. The given name Athena was derived from the city name Athens, which is of uncertain origins. . Relish, (Old French Origin) Derived from relaisse meaning "flavor or taste". Because I like to let formerly enslaved people speak for themselves, here are several examples of freedmen and women discussing their surnames. My father would be 105 if he were alive. Elijah is derived from the Hebrew name Eliyahu, composed of the elements. Hi Donna, Letter to Armistead Burt of September 1, 1831, sfn error: no target: CITEREFCalhoun1837 (. 2023 The Voice of the Black Community in California. 41. An accessible introduction to the field. St. Louis County Library. It means 'bought land'. With mythological names rising, the handsome son of Zeus and god of medicine, music, and poetry among many other things might offer an interesting, if high-pressure, option. I am a farmer. In these cases, unless the name change had been passed down in the family by oral history, it would be impossible to trace the family back any further. Garcia is the Spanish variation of the word Gerald that means a pointed weapon, like a spear. 2019 (cited under the Anglophone Caribbean) includes a good general introduction to slave naming. Aruba Congo Bob D'Sean Latoya Dilsy Lopez Lunah African Emmaline Ebo Mema Milla Kyser Ibo Medwin Oilsay Cupad Viney Centere Minta Zoruba Tyzer Nefar Phiba LaVaughn Congo Bob Ladia Ikbo Abah Medger Bossy Shand Cufee Uri Zulu jenee Sorce Tomm Dedib Slave Names Of The 1800's Cena Billah Quarker Lamoney Minba Geto Tonesia Zulu Jana Brutis Students examine how freed people in the United States sought to define freedom after Emancipation. Slavery. -Elbert Hubbard, "Families are like fudge; mostly sweet with a few nuts." With your explanations in mind, I will go back over a couple of family groups and re-assess the surname ambiguousness I have in my notes. Smith.). He identified father, mother and siblings in a Freedmans bank deposit in 1873, when he was already in New York City. Many of the graves are unmarked or the markers have been damaged, but many descendents still live around here, so we hope to identify as many of the possible graves as we can. The brothers were sold when they were very young and remained with their last owners nearly thirty years. The private name served as a form of Selfhood Armor (you cant take all of me, White man!); gave them a sense of power over their captors; and provided their children with a sense of heritage and pride. Index to "Descriptive Recruitment Lists of Volunteers for the United States Colored Troops for the State of Missouri, 1863-1865" (NARA Microfilm Publication M1894 - 6 rolls) For more information about the records covered in this index, please contact the History and Genealogy Department. Search 30 million given names. The names they gave their children provide a valuable, if limited, index of that process over time. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Isaiah derives from the Hebrew Yeshayahu, containing the elements. Best of luck to you, Augustin Meaning: a descendant of Augustine Origin: English 2. Daniel Odgen, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts In The Greek and Roman Worlds, p. 119, Laurence Vidal, Los Amantes de Granada, Ed. Use the form below to get in touch with me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. The top 5 most common Hispanic last names from the 1920s are: 1. Used by permission of the publisher. Nat Turner's Rebellion One of the most famous slave revolts in American history came in 1831 when Nat Turner led a bloody uprising in Southampton County, Virginia. Names of prominent slaveholderse.g. ", "The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never ever introduce yourself to had life not done it for you. Gradually, to show contempt for Slaves, the captors used Buck and Wench for naming the genders till they became trade terms, like Filly and Shoat.Contempt for the male was removing his honorific attachment to fatherhood and manhood by being addressed as Boy. Once the vigorous years of his prime were passed, he was allowed to assume the title of Uncle. Females were called Gal, girl, or the name of some animal. She served that family for a long time, perhaps more clues to her past lie in his family roots. Q. Throughout the colonial period, as many as one-fifth of the enslaved people in North Carolina retained African names; Quash, Cuffee, Mingo, Sambo, Mustapha, and Sukey were among the most common recorded. -Unknown, "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you might as well make it dance!" As a result, many slaves used the surnames of their owners wifes family. It helps me to understand the complexity of surname variation I have found in researching the ancestral patterns of an African-American cemetery in my local area. He was a planter with 20,000 acres of land in East Florida and was at the forefront of slavery in The . For descendants, I would add the substantial emotional impact of seeing an ancestor's name attached to a dollar value, or being valued in a list with silverware and cattle. Perhaps this caused some Slaves to ask: Am I my new name or am I still my old name? Here, three different former slaves discuss their names and the changes they underwent after Emancipation. Students examine the factors that led many northerners to turn against federal policies passed during the Reconstruction era that protected freedpeople. In many cases this is ignored and children use their fathers name! 1. She was the great patroness-goddess of the city of Athens. Over time, East Tennessee, hilly and dominated by small farms, retained the fewest number of slaves. Bailey, Word Stories Surrounding African American Slavery. Q. I hope youll sign up to receive my postsif you do, youll get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! Copyright 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press. One former slave Bill Scott from Wessyngton reported in his pension application for military service that when he enlisted in the Union Army officials put down his surname as Washington. 77th U.S. Col Inf and Co. D. U.S. Col H Art under the name Lewis Smith which was the name I wore before the days of slavery were over. Robyn. A. My great grandfather Wilson Percival was born in South Carolina and I believe he took his surname from last slave owners family. Runaway ads illustrate how many slaveholders knew the surnames of their slaves. The link was not copied. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. "While African-American genealogical research in many ways is like all genealogical research, the era of slavery makes the task especially challenging. They called me "OCK". Samuel had only two slaves: the man that could be Wilson and a 42-year-old woman. He was sold to my master William Orr and he always went by the name Edward Orr after that.. . Or, the Slaves were given numbers or classical Greek names. Anthropologist Meyer Fortes's observation that the naming practices of any society "epitomize personal experiences, historical happenings, attitudes to life, and cultural ideas and values" holds particularly true for African American enslaved people. .When I got home after the war, I was wearing the name of Lewis Smith, but I found that the negroes after freedom, were taking the names of their father like the white folks. A. Lottie Smith was my name and what they called me before I met Phillip and was married to him. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Here, our list of notable early African American names. I would still recommend all of these books, except the first one listed for obvious reasons. . In doing slave research in Barbados, I have found one group of enslaved Chase ancestors who were manumitted (freed) and given the last name of the former slave owner. Wheatley was traded into slavery at the age of 7 or 8 and imported to North America. Bernard Meaning: brave warrior Origin: French 4. After Emancipation, many former slaves adopted new names and surnames. But there was also the detective Nero Wolfe, hero of many mystery stories. Five of the slaves were sold to the Washingtons and brought to Wessyngton. This happened mostly on large plantations where several individuals had the same first names and a surname was used to distinguish them from one another. Im very familiar with the work of Gwendolyn Hall and Elizabeth Shown Mills. For example, I know of one Louisiana family whose surname of Poulard evolved from a ancestor of the Poular nation(aka Fulani). Is this the work of the evil spirits or from my bad karma? Is this my fate!To worsen matters, a given new European label applied only to one aspect of the nature (whereas his/her original name referred to a total identity) of the enslaved and this was an effective way to try to fragment a victims mindset. There are so many examples of every kind of scenario, and I think it just speaks to the variety of experiences our ancestors had. Minerva is the long-neglected name of the Roman goddess of wisdom and invention, the arts and martial strength, one of the. 40. They cut it off from OCTAVIA. Here are some common black last names: Jackson Davis Brown Wilson Harris Lewis Clark Walker Hall Thomas Young Allen King Wright Scott Baker Adams Nelson Carter Mitchell Perez Roberts Turner Phillips Campbell Parker Evans Edwards Green Hall Baker Bell Coleman Crawford James Reyes Most Common Black Last Names Copyright 2023 Facing History & Ourselves. Names and Naming, African Africans arriving in the American colonies and later the United States continued to give their children African names well into the nineteenth century. Injurious Names: Naming, Disavowal, and Recuperation in Contexts of Slavery and Emancipation. In The Anthropology of Names and Naming. . 2023 Nameberry.com.Nameberry is a registered trademark of Nameberry, LLC. Slave Names Below are some best cute and catchy slave names: Infirm Mite Lunn Amanda Walter Garner Hannah Delia Bastard Inferior Weevil George O'Hanlon Jordan John Owen Rachel Fetid Spider Betty Nathan York John Wright Wicked Whelp Thornton Dick Field Robert Dick William Hunter William Sam Kiner Augustus Dick a/k/a Richard Ferguson Foul Beast So I asked my mother and she told me my father John Barnett, a white man, and I took up the name of Barnett . Societies. That is why you will find a lot of families in Louisiana with surnames like Baptiste, Narcisse, Jean-Louis, Nanette-Louise, Rene, Jacques etc Ive come across very few former slaves and fpoc using the surnames of their former owner. A Wessyngton slave named Bill who was the plantation's blacksmith was known as Billy the Smith during slavery. In the. Peneus saved Daphne from Apollos romantic obsessions by transforming her into a laurel tree. is for you. . Renate, 13 March 2022, 1-2:30pm [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Cant find some of your ancestors in the census? Search 31 million family names. But if Romeo and Venus are now deemed baby-appropriate, why not Apollo? 20 August 2022, 1-3:30 pm [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Join me for a two-hour lecture and workshop on Using Deed Records. In small communities when slaves were sold, they were often bought by someone in the area. Florence, Fiorella, Fleur, and Flower are translations, but we like Flora best of all. Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. I have been unable to trace several of his siblings and now wonder if it might be because others did not take that name. I communicate with them on Facebook. It had always been passed down in the family that Thomas has been owned by the Blacks. Q. Robyn N. Smith, [insert post title], Reclaiming Kin (https://reclaimingkin.com: accessed [insert date you read the post]), [insert the date the post was written]. Many of these were names of heroesbut not Lincoln. Ethereal and delicate, Cassandra was in the Top 70 throughout the 1990s but is now descending in popularity. Slavery's reach is still with us, and part of the gift of doing African-American genealogy, "The past is not dead. The name of the tragic mythological Trojan princess who was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but was condemned never to be believed, Cassandra has been used for striking characters in movies and soap operas. The box for father states unknown in law. Her marriage record states her name is Sarah Charlotte Gale, her father being John Sinclair Gale! Recognizable patterns of change in names and naming practices are evident from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century and on through the 1860s. It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl. Best of luck to you in your research, One given name the childs family selected and kept secret and one the child was known by given by the slave owner. Ninety percent of them were African-American, a far higher black percentage than for any other common name. By the late 19th century, England was home to about 300 surnames with traceable genealogy. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! Thanks for this very thoughtful article. In ancient history, Lysander was the name of an esteemed Spartan naval commander and his literary cred comes from one of the two star-struck young men in Shakespeare's. I worked for him as nurse for his children, and my full and correct name was OCTAVIA, but the family could not catch on to that long name and called me LOTTIE for short. For more information about the records covered in this index,please contact the History and Genealogy Department. And please do share posts that interest you. Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. Garcia (The Spanish form of Gerald, Garcia would be the son of Gerald. Allard. Emphasizes the giving and repeated use of names as a performative act of domination. 44. Join my mailing list below to learn about upcoming webinars. See more details in the flier here and they are available for purchase for $10 . . If the former slave had been befriended or assisted in getting established after the Civil War, they might have taken that persons name. They reflect an acculturation process by which generations of enslaved people, increasingly removed from the direct influence of their first enslaved African ancestors, adopted the conventions of their enslavers, eventually creating a culture and value system all their own. The Voice of the Black Community in California, Last Updated on October 14, 2010 by Paulette Brown-Hinds. This page is currently showing names ranked from 1 to 1000. E. Togo Salmon Conference, E. Togo Salmon Conference 1993 Mcmaster University: Goodyear III, Frank H. "Photography changes the way we record and respond to social issues". But once freed most immediately chose surnames, with or without keeping their accustomed name. . It comes from the same Greek root as 'ambrosia', the food of the gods, said to confer immortality. They ran away, fought back, feigned illness, destroyed tools, and clung to their families. Who called you by that name and where was it done? This topic interests me greatly and Id like to do more research. -Unknown, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city;)" All of them are alive in this moment. Location the owner of ones ancestor is crucial for an African American genealogist to trace his family before 1870. Places; Login. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? Danish West Indies, Denmark, Records of Enslaved People, 1672-1917 This reading contains quoted text not authored by Facing History & Ourselves. I would appreciate any constructive comments on this question, which can be posted to me via my website address above. This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 11:46 am and is filed under Civil War, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews. Wonderful to have first hand account that help shine light on the attitudes of our ancestors. Dick Lewis Barnett and Phillip Fry were African American veterans of the Union Army during the Civil War. . Slavery's reach is still with us, and part of the gift of doing African-American genealogy is recovering the stories of those caught in its grasp who could not in their own time leave their own witness.". Instead a wide variety of surnames came about that would be the family name for future generations. Benson, Susan. I was only three years old when she died. Major types on which most would agree are European place and literary names, European personal names in hypocoristic (pet or diminutive) form, biblical and classical names, and names of African origin. What are the most popular last names in the UK? Slavery. After the war ended and slavery was abolished, they exercised their freedom by changing their names. All of them are alive in this moment. I worked for him as nurse for his children, and my full and correct name was OCTAVIA, but the family could not "catch on" to that long name and called me "LOTTIE" for short. Besides the Morrows, whom else did you live with in Louisville? I am the identical person who was named called and known as Dick Lewis Smith before the Civil War and during the Civil War and until I returned home after my military service . In the context of The Bahamas, the surname appears to originate with Denys Rolle, an American Loyalist who re-settled on Exuma, one of the so-called Out Islands of The Bahamas, sometime in the mid-1780s. Also included here are common names among slaves, many of which were classical and had ties to the Bible or mythology, such as Keziah and Venus. American slave owners or slaveholders were owners of slaves in the United States which typically worked either as agriculture laborers or house servants.
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