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. Besides the Morrows, whom else did you live with in Louisville? One thing for sure, historians are always expanding our knowledge on this topic.BTW, I am a big fan of your website and your work in the field! Both are excellent researchers and historians. I liked the name better than Octavia, and so I took it with me to Danville, and was never called anything else there than that name. It is not uncommon to see an African American family listed with one surname in 1870 and another in 1880. There are also a few problems with the original dataset in name transcription such that a small number of first names were transposed with last names. . Slave surnames | Vita Brevis Names and Naming, African | Encyclopedia.com Now, that parent's surname could very well be the surname of the most recent slaveholder or an earlier slaveholder. This causes many researchers to wrongly conclude that enslaved people did not have surnames until after emancipation, which was not the case. 43. 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 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 fifty most common Victorian surnames in England and Wales for 1853 are listed in alphabetical order below. If the slaveholder or another free white man was their father, many Creoles did use either is first or last name as a surname. 26 September 2021 [PAST EVENT]: Acclaimed genealogist Melvin Collier and I will be presenting an all-new 2-hour lecture titled More Than Just Names: Incorporating Social and Community History Into Your Research from 1:00-3:30 EST (please note it is Eastern Standard Time). common last names for slaves in the 1800s. A 2nd great grandmother for example was baptised Sarah Charlotte Chase; her mother is recorded as being Ann Lewis Chase. Slavery in America was the legal institution of enslaving human beings, mainly Africans and African Americans. Marking an 'X': Exploring the History of Grenada's Surnames Eliza Moore (1843 - January 21, 1948) Source = Pinimg. Thats high on my to do list. A small number of creoles in Louisiana also acquired surnames derived from ethnic identities in Senegal. One thing I envy about the Catholic church is the baptisms available for even the enslaved people there. 6. Benson 2006 is one of the few general discussions of slave names. Injurious Names: Naming, Disavowal, and Recuperation in Contexts of Slavery and Emancipation. In The Anthropology of Names and Naming. Enslaved people suffered constant sale, where children were frequently torn away from parents at young ages and spouses were often separated. Wesley is one of a group of W-starting surname names reminiscent of the Old West that are making a comeback -- though it's not as well used as it was in the 1970s, when he ranked as high as Number 66. In 1870, he is listed as John Washington. Another common way of distinguishing people would be 'son of', for example Johnson (son of John), Richardson, Wilson, Harrison etc. 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. Alfred "Teen" Blackburn (1842-1951), one of the last living survivors of slavery in the United States who had a clear recollection of it. Top 100 Best Names From The 1800s | Kidadl Thus, the patronymic surname can be effectively regarded as "keeper of the peace." This phenomenon is not unheard of with African American surnames. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on Index by slave owner's name | Surname unknown or illegible 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. Mary Deborah Petite, "1836 Facts about the Alamo and the Texas War for Independence". Although it is not widely known, some African Americans used surnames before they were emancipated. My mother's name was Octavia Smith and it was from her that I got it but where the name came from to her I never knew. The idea was for the children to enter the inhumane system of slavery protected by a sense of Selfhood and history. Spencer is a name that has everything: it's both distinguished sounding and accessible, dignified but Spencer Tracy-like friendly. Wood were recorded as slave. I found in the Civil War registry, an enslaved man who enrolled in the infantry under the name of Wash Ellis. Relish, (Old French Origin) Derived from relaisse meaning "flavor or taste". At her death when Thomas was ten, he was sold to Solomon Cobbs who lived nearby. I just cannot imagine (thankfully) the idea of my name being changed with every new owner, with not having any idea of what my parents surnames were, of having a white father but not being able to have a father/child relationship with himand all the other myriad of circumstances that enslaved people faced. Its knowledge that I think most Americans (not even just white Americans) dont have and it is endlessly fascinating and sobering both at the same time. Almost every major tome on slavery discusses slave naming practices in some form or fashion. When I was born my mother was known as Phillis Smith and I took the name of Smith too. 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. Well, I got to thinking about all us slaves that was going to take the name Fitzpatrick. Surnames. This was done more because it was the logical thing to do and the easiest way to be identified than it was through affection for the master. 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. 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. Abebe: The genesis of this Ethiopian name is Amharic, and it means 'flower' or 'blossom'. Baptiste Meaning: derived from the name Bautista; the Spanish form of Baptist Origin: Spanish 3. Slave name index - next1000.com Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. John Lewis was born in 1831; in 1844 he and several family members were given to George A. Washington of Wessyngton. They cut it off from OCTAVIA. [15] Alice Clifton (c. 1772-unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787. Several names have been added under the letter representing the person's last name. Slave Ship Manifests filed at New Orleans, 1807-1860 | National Archives On Anglican (Church of England) baptisms records the child legally and officially is documented with the surname of the mother if she and the father were not married. This may reveal your family used the surname of the slave owners wifes family. Places; Login. When they were sold away they remembered their loved ones and they created extended kinship networks. Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. They were Nelson Nunn and George Nunn and they may have changed their names to Crosby too because they were my fathers children.. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration 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. 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. 140+ Victorian Baby Names | Names from the 1800s | Peanut ", "Call it a clan, call it a network, all it a tribe, call it a family. Washington: The 'blackest name' in America | The Seattle Times Search 31 million family names. A Wessyngton slave named Bill who was the plantation's blacksmith was known as Billy the Smith during slavery. However, research byLisa D. Cook and colleagueshas revealed evidence of racialized names from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Allard. Robyn. In small communities when slaves were sold, they were often bought by someone in the area. For example, I know of one Louisiana family whose surname of Poulard evolved from a ancestor of the Poular nation(aka Fulani). Slavery existed in the United States from its founding in 1776 and became the main . 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. I presume no death certificate for her survives? 25 Haitian Last Names That Reflect The Country's Unique Culture And -Winston Churchill, "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." Hello Another myth is once African Americans were sold they never saw their families again. In Greek mythology, Daphne was the nymph daughter of Peneus, a river god. 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. If the name is spelled Rodrigues, the name is Portuguese but has the same meaning) 3. Extensive records of slaveholding over several generations exist for a number of North Carolina plantations, most notably the Skinner and Hayes plantations in Chowan County; Pettigrew plantations in Tyrrell, Washington, and Wake Counties; Bennehan-Cameron plantation in Orange County; Hargrove plantation in Granville County; Arrington plantations in Nash and Edgecombe Counties; Avery plantation in Burke County; and Lenoir plantation in Caldwell County. . 2023 The Voice of the Black Community in California. . 40. 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. I have been a researcher, writer, and lecturer for over twenty-five years. Ho Joanne, Enslaved women were raped, creating children with white fathers who in most cases did not claim them and even sold them away. 1760-1810 Persons declared to be "white by law" or "free" (part 1), (part 2) at Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library. . Also, the government seemed to be in a almighty hurry to have us get names. Fortunately, the French and Latin were excellent record keepers and the Catholics were obsessed with knowing the kinship of everyone. My great grandfather Wilson Percival was born in South Carolina and I believe he took his surname from last slave owners family. Q. My full name is Dick Lewis Barnett. African Americans tended to use surnames associated with their own families instead of the last slave owner. No superior alternative has yet been found. A. There are a wide array of sources that provide us with slave surnames, from the slave narratives and interviews, to freedmans bank cards, runaway ads and Southern Claims Commission records. While Smith remains the most common U.S. surname, for the first time, two Hispanic namesGarcia and Rodriguezmade the top 10. Q. For personal use and not for further distribution. I was only three years old when she died. -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?" . I hope this post also helps us to think about how the surnames former slaves had were connected to their experiences in slavery. Isaiah derives from the Hebrew Yeshayahu, containing the elements. Thanks for all you to do keeps us all so enlightened! 1. Who called you by that name and where was it done? It was after emancipation on that I went back to work for Col. Morrow and where I got the name Lottie, as already explained. This mini-lesson helps students define the term, learn what forms reparations can take, and consider what reparations should be offered for slavery and other racist policies. Enslaved peoplethemselves sometimes chose names denoting weather conditions at the time of their child's birth or some distinctive feature of his or her appearance. 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. 100 Most Common US Surnames Origins and Meanings - ThoughtCo ", "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? They identified 21 distinctly Black male names, among them biblical classics such as Abraham and Moses, and word names including Freeman and Prince. The brothers were sold when they were very young and remained with their last owners nearly thirty years. Thomas Black Cobbs was owned by a small slave owner Catherine Black. This had a profound impact on the Selfhood of each of the enslaveddisrupting ones presumed Mission in life, as indicated by ones name; shattering the sharing of personal and historical experiences, attitudes, and spirits towards life; and putting in disarray the philosophy of life framework and common sense values by which all Africans lived. 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. Brief, but stimulating and thoughtful for students coming new to the subject. Dick Lewis Barnett and Phillip Fry were African American veterans of the Union Army during the Civil War. The population was more than 16 million and the industrial revolution was under way, which debunks any perception of a broadly colonial society. 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. Brown: A common last name derived from an ancestor's complexion or the color of their hair. 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. In French-speaking Louisiana, Slave names reflected the dominant language and thus were generally different from those in the English colonies. No, I dont know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. Numerous historical sources confirm that enslaved people had surnames that they used among themselves and in many cases were known by their slaveholder. In 1800, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were able to escape their terrible life of enslavement and were able to help other slaves trapped in a world of forced labour and grant them freedom once again due to the Underground Railroads that helped him, his partner Anna Murray Douglas and many other fugitives sneak away from the horrible In many cases this is ignored and children use their fathers name! In small communities where census takers and county officials knew African Americans personally and their previous owners, they often recorded the former slaves with the surnames of their last owners. A. I was first called by that name in the family of Col. Morrow in whose service I was in Louisville, Ky., just after the war. 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. Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (1974). Ones occupation also set the naming method, such as Sheperd, Cooper, or Smith. They are recorded with the Ashby surname on subsequent documents. Also largely unrecorded are the alternative names the enslaved used among themselves, sometimes called country names or basket names; they may also, according to African practice, have had multiple names over a lifetime. I belonged to him until emancipation. Evie (F) (English origin) means "life" or "lively". After emancipation, he became William Smith. 2. 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? 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. After emancipation, he moved back with his mother, brothers and sisters and used the Cobbs surname. Thats a goal that I am working towards. Used by permission of the publisher. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Bailey, Word Stories Surrounding African American Slavery. Harriet Tubman and some of the slaves she helped free. An enslaved child sold away from their parents at a young age to the Deep South would probably have a different sense of naming than enslaved children who were able to grow up in the presence of their parents and extended family. Mining the Census: Are You Finding Every Clue? 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 . Anouilh. - Jane Howard, "Friends are God's apologies for relations." Newly emancipated slaves also frequently chose new first names, discarding those associated with slavery. African Americans in the U.S. Federal Census, 1870-1890 (National Until recently, scholarly consensus was that early African American names did not differ significantly from those of white Americans. I belonged to him until emancipation. Many Welsh surnames follow this pattern, with Jones (from 'John's son) being the most common. Brutus) and a private name (e.g. This event is $12. Of the 972 names of male Slaves recorded between 1619 and 1799 the leading ones were Jack, Tom, Harry, Sam, Will, Caesar, Dick, John, Robin, Frank, Charles, Joe and Prince. These require Microsoft Word and a Windows platform. The quote below, from a Southern Claims Commission file, is one of the most powerful and one of my favorites to use in lectures: I enlisted under Ross because that was my fathers name. They called me OCK. Some last names recognize certain histories or describe important events or narratives that mean a lot to the family. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Email:genealogy@slcl.org St. Louis County Library. For more details, see the flier here, and you can purchase them here. 12 Lost American Slangisms From The 1800s : NPR History Dept. : NPR She was a Murphy.. 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. 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. 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. Thanks for writing this post! Former slaves often made up surnames based on their occupations. This page is currently showing names ranked from 1 to 1000. I hope youll sign up to receive my postsif you do, youll get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! In 1911, Barnett and Fry's widow, Mollie, both applied for pensions from the government. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? Abel, et al. How did you ever come by the name of "Mollie"? Surnames (not always those of former owners) would then be adopted as family names by former slaves and their descendants. Slave rebellions | History, Examples, & Facts | Britannica The slave schedules of 1860 Arkansas do not give the names of the slaves. 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 . Even many given names of ancestors eventually became a surname, such as Todd or William. It is these single names that have been most often studied. This is another instance of oral history being a key component in tracing African American ancestry. Manifests - Alphabetical by Slave Names | National Archives However, a small change to searching on C?lbert, which accounts for the variations in spelling expands that initial list to 877 enslaved people owned by people with those names. 17. 1800s-1850s: Expansion of slavery in the U.S. - NBC News 100 Victorian Last Names With Meanings And History | Kidadl Former slaves also interchanged surnames on census records. Hi Jann, Benson, Susan. Although it is not widely known, some African Americans used surnames before they were emancipated. FamilySearch Centers. Q. Maria Aparecida Schumaher, Erico teixeira Vital Brazil. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. But once freed most immediately chose surnames, with or without keeping their accustomed name. 1850 US Census Name Frequencies - buckbd.com Introduction. Im jealous;) The common names there (Marie, Louise, etc) would test anyones genealogical skills, so I take my hat off to you. Slaveholders and African Americans 1860-1870 - RootsWeb Several of the other slaves were sold to various slave owners. Ethereal and delicate, Cassandra was in the Top 70 throughout the 1990s but is now descending in popularity. Fernsby, (Old English Origin) Derived from the old English words meaning "fern farmstead". 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 . Archambeau. I was bornthe child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. Following the emancipation of approximately 360,000 enslaved people in North Carolina, changes in African American names became indicative of a new value system and sense of self-identity among freedpeople. I hope you dont mind my sharing those posts. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies.

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