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Hi Pat, Claudia Bautista,Santa Monica, Calif. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. Burton, Richard D.E. Names and Naming in Afro-Caribbean Culture. New West Indian Guide/Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 73 (1999): 3558. 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. 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. One thing I envy about the Catholic church is the baptisms available for even the enslaved people there. In French-speaking Louisiana, Slave names reflected the dominant language and thus were generally different from those in the English colonies. Data from the 2010 Census tells a different story. Most Popular African Last Names Or Surnames. I am researching the surname Culbert worldwide, and the data can be found at: culbert.one-name.net There are a growing number of African Americans with this surname, which I believe originates in Scotland. In the 1930s, ex-slave Martin Jackson explained why he chose his last name after Emancipation: The master's name was usually adopted by a slave after he was set free. In addition to time and place, a likely variable is whether the birth rate, in a severely overworked and maltreated population, was sufficient to ensure a relatively stable population over several generations, or whether the high mortality associated with slavery led to declining numbers and hence to the frequent acquisition of new slaves. A. Mr. Thomas Jefferson of Louisville, bought me when I was three years of age from Mr. Dearing. This is another instance of oral history being a key component in tracing African American ancestry. The campaign in Britain to abolish slavery began in the 1760s, supported by both black and white abolitionists. Geographic names were common, as were the names of ships or distant ports for enslaved peopleborn in places such as Wilmington or New Bern. You can read the introductory maps for a high-level guided explanation, view the timeline and chronology of . American slave owners or slaveholders were owners of slaves in the United States which typically worked either as agriculture laborers or house servants. Well, I got to thinking about all us slaves that was going to take the name Fitzpatrick. Smithsonian Institution. Eliza Moore (1843 - January 21, 1948) Source = Pinimg. Robyn, youve done it again! Analyzing Creole names, especially those of African origin, demands a combination of historical and linguistic expertise that has not yet been systematically applied to slave names. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. -Hugh Kingsmill, "No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?" The most common origin for surnames is that enslaved people initially used the surname of either their mother or their father, if they knew what those names were. Seating is limited. After emancipation, he moved back with his mother, brothers and sisters and used the Cobbs surname. Derived from the word anull that is the Catalan language dominantly used in southern France, Anouilh means 'slow worm'. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on When they were sold away they remembered their loved ones and they created extended kinship networks. They were all sold to different owners: Connell, Rose, Johnson, and Hughes respectively. See flier for more details. Other common surnames included Jones, Matthews, Sinclair, and Bennett, Price, and Gray.. I was born in Montgomery County, Ala. the child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. Instead a wide variety of surnames came about that would be the family name for future generations. Delva The Genealogy Source Table Collection includes 10 blank, editable source tables for death certificates, city directories, obituaries and funeral programs. Abel, the name of Adam and Eve's unfortunate younger son, compensates with positive connotations: capable, competent, ready and willing. Table 7. Chapter 4 gives a brief and introductory outline of naming in the United States during slavery and its consequences in African American culture. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one" Herbert G. Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925 (1976). A krio from.Freetown Sierra Leone. Examples include: Francois, Jean, Pierre, and Leon for men; and Manon, Delphine, Marie Louise, Celeste, and Eugenie for women. Expand or collapse the "in this article" section, Slave Names and Naming in the Anglophone Atlantic, Slave Names on Emancipation and after Slavery, Expand or collapse the "related articles" section, Expand or collapse the "forthcoming articles" section, African Retailers and Small Artisans in the Atlantic World, Alexander von Humboldt and Transatlantic Studies, Atlantic New Orleans: 18th and 19th Centuries, Black Atlantic in the Age of Revolutions, The, Chinese Indentured Servitude in the Atlantic World, Cities and Urbanization in Portuguese America, Colonial Governance in the Atlantic World, Comparative Indigenous History of the Americas, Criminal Transportation in the Atlantic World, Domestic Production and Consumption in the Atlantic World, Economy and Consumption in the Atlantic World. Dorothy, Doris or Dora: Meaning 'gift of God', this Victorian girl's name was popular in the 19th century. CLARKE - The name comes from 'clerk, a clergyman, a scholar, one who can read and write' and is most prevalent in England, where some 89,337 people are recorded with this surname. A. Lottie Smith was my name and what they called me before I met Phillip and was married to him. Search 31 million family names. A. A. Mr. Thomas Jefferson of Louisville, bought me when I was three years of age from Mr. Dearing. (Media Note: If you quote a post, please credit me by name, Robyn N. Login Forgot . I was called mostly Lewis Smith till after the war, although I was named Dick Lewis SmithDick was the brother of John Barnett whom I learned was my father . Well, Ive gone off on a tangent again;) But thank you again for writing and thank you for the cemetery work (especially trying to include African-Americans you are doing that will be of benefit to others. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts South Atlantic Creole Archipelagos There has been much debate among scholars, historians and genealogists whether enslaved African Americans used the surnames of their last owners, previous owners, or a surname that had no connection to slavery. You can find many more examples of the above in my post, The Mind of the Slaveowner. Ive taken back reclaimed some of that lost memory, especially that of my enslaved ancestors. Thank you as always, your posts are so helpful. Students explore the legacies of the Reconstruction era today, reflect on the idea of democracy as a continuous process, and consider how they can best participate in the ongoing work of strengthening our democracy. Introduction. Join my mailing list below to receive my posts and get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! However, many African Americans faced a problem when they applied for their pensions. Like most of the architecture and towns in Italy, they can also tell a story. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. Join me as I present this NEW webinar that covers why we miss our ancestors in these records and presents numerous strategies to assist in finding every clue in census records. Political Participation in the Nineteenth Century Atlantic Portugal and Brazile in the Age of Revolutions, Poverty in the Early Modern English Atlantic, Reconstruction, Democracy, and United States Imperialism, Settlement and Region in British America, 1607-1763, Slavery in British and American Literature, Slavery in Dutch America and the West Indies, Slavery in North America, The Growth and Decline of. 2023 The Voice of the Black Community in California. I found in the Civil War registry, an enslaved man who enrolled in the infantry under the name of Wash Ellis. 3. FamilySearch Centers. I have been a researcher, writer, and lecturer for over twenty-five years. Fortunately, the French and Latin were excellent record keepers and the Catholics were obsessed with knowing the kinship of everyone. Flora, the name of the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, who enjoyed eternal youth, is one of the gently old-fashioned girls' flower names we think is due for a comebackalongside cousins Cora and Dora. College Advanced AA Gen. Class, November 2012, Robyn, Aaron, Karen, Katherine and Michael, October 2014, African-American Family History Conference, February 2015, African-American Genealogy Group Conference, October 2016, Central Maryland AAHGS, with Alice Harris, September 2015, Howard Comm. The Missouri Compromisealso referred to as the Compromise of 1820was an agreement between the pro- and anti-slavery factions regulating slavery in the western territories. 30 January 2022, [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Join special guest genealogist Taneya Y. Koonce and I as we present our joint Zoom webinar, Organize Your Genealogy! He stated that he had always been known by his fathers surname Scott, even before he was freed. Evidence indicates that many enslaved parents named their children after the first generation or so of family members brought to America. My great grandfather Wilson Percival was born in South Carolina and I believe he took his surname from last slave owners family. Three formerly enslaved people discuss their names and the changes they underwent after Emancipation. I love that your example shows two brothers, who came to different conclusions about their surnames. Five of the slaves were sold to the Washingtons and brought to Wessyngton. Allard. Hi Rodney, Abara: Originating from the Igbo group of West Africa, Abara means 'spirit'. Finding the Slave Who Bore Philomene Daurat. There is also another historian, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall who did work on African ethnicities in Louisiana, you can read more of that here if you havent seen that yet: http://whitneyplantation.com/the-louisiana-slave-database.html, Again, I applaud you for doing the research on the history of the areas where your ancestors livedmany researchers dont realize how crucial that understanding is. . I hope youll sign up to receive my postsif you do, youll get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! Im very familiar with the work of Gwendolyn Hall and Elizabeth Shown Mills. Names from the Bible were another common practice, for given and surnames. But the Slaves generally had two namesthe one given by the slave owner (e.g. Used by permission of the publisher. Brief, but stimulating and thoughtful for students coming new to the subject. Louis (M) (English origin) means "famous warrior". Many names, whether African derived or English, refer to birth circumstances, including both the ubiquitous day-names, which derive from the West African Akan-Twi language group, and others such as birth order and time of birth (e.g., day of the week, month, or season). But I tell you, trying to document that all those names refer to the same person is hard, hard work! 43. A. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries African-American slaves retained Africanisms in their naming practices. Ref. 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.". In 1870, he is listed as John Washington. In the 1760s Anglo-American frontiersmen, determined to settle the land, planted slavery firmly within the borders of what would become Tennessee. Just go to my Vimeo page and make your selection. My fathers name was Gilbert Jackson, and after I was set free I took the name of my father, and have been known by the name Smith Jackson. The last U.S.census slave schedules were enumerated by County in 1860 and included 393,975 named persons holding 3,950,546 unnamed slaves, or an average of about ten slaves per holder. I would still recommend all of these books, except the first one listed for obvious reasons. This may reveal your family used the surname of the slave owners wifes family. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), born into slavery in Maryland and escaped to the Northeast in 1838, where he became an internationally renowned abolitionist writer, speaker, and diplomat. The poster on each page *provides the link to the handout* for that lecture, so be sure to copy it. Hi Jann, Picked by several celebrities (a couple of times even for a girl), adding up to an enthusiastically recommended choice. Slavery. Popular English baby names by decade - 1840s - 1990s 1840s 5 Robert - 53 Margaret - 47 The 1860s first saw the Rimmers' use of 1870s Boys Girls Total registered births - 1,944 1 John - 160 Mary - 151 The 1870s first saw the Rimmers' use of What was the first girl's name in the 1900s? Most Popular Names. Edmon S. Conner Recalls About His Career", "Law and the Cultural Production of Race and Racialized Systems of Oppression", "Runaway Slaves and Servants in Colonial Virginia", Slavery in the Courtroom: An Annotated Bibliography of American Cases, "Soldier of Furtune: John Smith before Jamestown", "YSTUMLLYN, JOHN ('Jack Black') (d. 1786), gardener and land steward | Dictionary of Welsh Biography", "Strong, Jonathan (c. 17471773), de facto freed slave", "Juan Francisco Manzano | Slave Narratives | The MoAD Salon | MoAD - Museum of the African Diaspora", "Relatos sobre la India Juliana. Finding State Laws About Slaves and Free Blacks, More Suggestions for White Slaveholder Descendants, http://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2009/09/calvin-r-yarborough-where-it-all-began.html, http://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2013/11/many-rivers-to-cross-my-priscilla.html, https://www.historicpathways.com/articles.html, http://whitneyplantation.com/the-louisiana-slave-database.html. Bailey, Word Stories Surrounding African American Slavery. Robyn. Forenames. -Kendall Hailey, "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. John C. Inscoe, "Carolina Slave Names: An Index to Acculturation," Journal of Southern History 59 (November 1983). -Unknown, "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you might as well make it dance!" Even that feels like something. Place names that were disproportionately popular among Black Americans in history include Boston, Jamaica, York, and Africa. I took the name of Jackson for the reason that I preferred to go by my fathers name, rather than the name of my last owner.. Of course my mother wasnt a Bradley fore she married. 1760-1810 Persons declared to be "white by law" or "free" (part 1), (part 2) at Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library. If we consider the diverse circumstances that the tragedy of slavery created, we can understand the reasons why. 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. So just a few things to be aware of when researching any African-American ancestors. Drawing on extensive archival records, this digital memorial allows analysis of the ships, traders, and captives in the Atlantic slave trade. Some last names recognize certain histories or describe important events or narratives that mean a lot to the family. And my goodness, how kind of you to suggest a TED talk, maybe one of these days;) Genealogys pull is what initially pulled me into studying slavery, and also introduced me to the new understanding that historians are uncovering. I want.to.know.where we (who are.descendants.of.freed.people.who.got sent.back.to Sierra Leone.from.maybe Nova Scotia.) Unique Surnames to Grenada. The battle was long and hard-fought, with pro-slavery campaigners arguing that the slave trade was important for the British economy and claiming that enslaved Africans were happy and well-treated. 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. This is due in part to officials imposing surnames on them based on their last owners. The same family may appear with different surnames in the 1870 and 1880 federal census records, and may appear in other records with either, both, or a third surname altogether. Here, our list of notable early African American names. "While African-American genealogical research in many ways is like all genealogical research, the era of slavery makes the task especially challenging. They identified 21 distinctly Black male names, among them biblical classics such as Abraham and Moses, and word names including Freeman and Prince. Caps statement implies that choosing his own surname was a part of exercising his newfound freedom. Thanks LaBrenda! Danish West Indies, Denmark, Records of Enslaved People, 1672-1917 After I had returned to Louisville from Danville, My sister, Lizzie White, got to calling me Mollie, and it was with her that the name started. ", "No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished? Remember me. 2023 Nameberry.com.Nameberry is a registered trademark of Nameberry, LLC. 7. Ho Joanne, This event is $25. In his pension file, my great great grandmother his widow expressed that he chose his former enslaver surname because his father had been enslaved by them, too. But, my mtdna also said I share ancestry with the Kru people of Liberia and the Mende from Sierra Leonne! 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. I am not able to find any slaveholders in the Versailes area by the name of Ellis. CAs Push to Restore Voting Rights to System-Impacted Individuals Still in Custody, Eli Lilly to Cap Out-of-Pocket Insulin Costs, Asm. The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Familys Journey to Freedom, A Thank You Letter from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Plantation Records Key Link to African American Past . Until recently, scholarly consensus was that early African American names did not differ significantly from those of white Americans. Bernard Meaning: brave warrior Origin: French 4. 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. Letter to James Edward Calhoun, August 27, 1831. Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno might inspire some parents. The table below shows the most common last names with statistics on the heritage and ancestry of those with the surname. For personal use and not for further distribution. Thomas: Thomas is a common surname of biblical origin meaning twin. Are you thinking this woman Eliza Ellis was married to Wash Ellis? . He decided that he didnt want to be known as Cap Sherrod and that he would vote and marry under his choice of names. In order to receive their pensions decades later, these former soldiers and their family members had to demonstrate to the government that they were who they claimed to be. Mary Deborah Petite, "1836 Facts about the Alamo and the Texas War for Independence". 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. A Wessyngton slave named Bill who was the plantations blacksmith was known as Billy the Smith during slavery. I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. 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. I am generally called Cap Sherrod but I was married under Cap Ross and have voted under the name Ross, A good many people call me Cap Sherrod because I belonged to Sherrod but I calls myself Cap Ross.. The majority of these slaves used the surname Lewis instead of Washington. Along with records from churches,manumission societies, enslavers, and estate settlements, these documents provide a vast pool of data from which to trace patterns and trends from the colonial period through emancipation. Practices undoubtedly varied, and different archival sources may yield different conclusions. The name James has been a popular Victorian male names in the 1800s. I hope you dont mind my sharing those posts. Newly emancipated slaves also frequently chose new first names, discarding those associated with slavery. In 1870, all of them were listed with the surnames of their last owner; however, each one of them named their sons for one of their brothers. 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 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. There are many factors to consider in determining what surnames African Americans used. 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. 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. . Miracle, (Old English and Latin Origin) Derived from the first name Mauritius meaning "dark". . 18. They are held at The National Archives (Kew, England). Robyn. I belonged to him until emancipation. But there was also the detective Nero Wolfe, hero of many mystery stories. Garcia (The Spanish form of Gerald, Garcia would be the son of Gerald. Along with Abraham and Prince, other early African American names currently in the US Top 1000 include Alonzo, Athena, Daphne, Elijah, Isaiah, Israel, King, Phoebe, and Titus. Explore the most common surnames in England. Here are an even dozen, pretty much forgotten slanglike words or sayings from the 19th century, rediscovered while delving in the archives and with added guidance from James Maitman's 1891 . At her death when Thomas was ten, he was sold to Solomon Cobbs who lived nearby. I have done quite a bit of genealogy for my own family, and it was difficult enough, but what you are doing, is incredible work. However, the enslaved occasionally had surnames, which became normal leading up to and after emancipation as a mark of assimilation into free society. In small communities when slaves were sold, they were often bought by someone in the area. The idea was for the children to enter the inhumane system of slavery protected by a sense of Selfhood and history.