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. Robyn. Bernard Meaning: brave warrior Origin: French 4. 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. In many cases this is ignored and children use their fathers name! CLICK HERE TO SAVE YOUR SEAT! Archambeau. In small communities when slaves were sold, they were often bought by someone in the area. I hope youll sign up to receive my postsif you do, youll get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! Wheatley was traded into slavery at the age of 7 or 8 and imported to North America. common last names in the 1800s - stmatthewsbc.org 7. In another case Sukey Ann and he 4 children were manumitted by their Ashby owner with only their first names. Just go to my Vimeo page and make your selection. Injurious Names: Naming, Disavowal, and Recuperation in Contexts of Slavery and Emancipation. In The Anthropology of Names and Naming. My maiden surname is Williams. College, Advanced AA Gen. Class, September 2009, Alice, Robyn and Lajoye, CM AAHGS, September 2017, Robyn and Andrea, NGS Conference, May 2014. 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. A. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Search 31 million family names. Numerous historical sources confirm that enslaved people had surnames that they used among themselves and in many cases were known by their slaveholder. Rodriguez (Rodriguez is Spanish for the son of Rodrigo. 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. One of the largest sources are the Civil War pension records of the almost 200,000 black men who served in the US Army and Navy. 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. A. Lottie Smith was my name and what they called me before I met Phillip and was married to him. Florence, Fiorella, Fleur, and Flower are translations, but we like Flora best of all. 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 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. They were Nelson Nunn and George Nunn and they may have changed their names to Crosby too because they were my fathers children.. In 1911, Barnett and Frys widow, Mollie, both applied for pensions from the government. Even that feels like something. I was only three years old when she died. You should give a TED talk! I am the identical person who served in the said companies under the name of Lewis Smith. Each is present in your body. The brothers were sold when they were very young and remained with their last owners nearly thirty years. ", "Families are like fudge; mostly sweet with a few nuts. When they were sold away they remembered their loved ones and they created extended kinship networks. Im very familiar with the work of Gwendolyn Hall and Elizabeth Shown Mills. ", "Call it a clan, call it a network, all it a tribe, call it a family. 1. In the 1760s Anglo-American frontiersmen, determined to settle the land, planted slavery firmly within the borders of what would become Tennessee. 41. Last updated: November 1, 2003 "Dwelling No." 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. Jonah, the name of the Old Testament prophet who was swallowed by the whale, only to emerge unharmed three days later, is increasingly appreciated by parents looking for a biblical name less common than Jacob or Joshua, yet not too obscure. . British Surnames of the 1800s - Synonym I was called by that name all the time I was with the Morrows. In the. Interestingly, the five most common American surnames as of 2010 haven't changed that much over time and are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, and Jones. The following is a list of historical people who were enslaved at some point during their lives, in alphabetical order by first name. 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. These cookies do not store any personal information. Here, three different former slaves discuss their names and the changes they underwent after Emancipation. She was a Murphy.. CAs Push to Restore Voting Rights to System-Impacted Individuals Still in Custody, Eli Lilly to Cap Out-of-Pocket Insulin Costs, Asm. Q. One of the less well known aspects of the history of slavery is how many and how often non-whites owned and traded slaves in early America. Societies. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here. 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. There are so many examples of every kind of scenario, and I think it just speaks to the variety of experiences our ancestors had. 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. I presume no death certificate for her survives? They identified 21 distinctly Black male names, among them biblical classics such as Abraham and Moses, and word names including Freeman and Prince. Each is present in your body. My mothers name was Octavia Smith and it was from her that I got it but where the name came from to her I never knew. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. 1412 S. Spoede Rd., St. Louis, MO 63131-2557. please contact the History and Genealogy Department. ", "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. Free black slave holders could be found at one time or . List of slave owners - Wikipedia Proving their identity as former soldiers often revealed some of the most detailed explanations for former slaves choice of surnames. The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Familys Journey to Freedom is proudly powered by WordPress Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). 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. Slavery in the 1800s - The history of slavery 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. However, research byLisa D. Cook and colleagueshas revealed evidence of racialized names from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Voice of the Black Community in California, Last Updated on October 14, 2010 by Paulette Brown-Hinds. After emancipation, they all used the Terry surname because their families had been with the white Terry family for generations. European, Javanese and African and Indentured Servitude in First Contact and Early Colonization of Brazil, France and its Empire in the Indian Ocean, France and the British Isles from 1640 to 1789, George Montagu Dunk, Second Earl of Halifax, Green Atlantic: the Irish in the Atlantic World, Histories and Historiographies of the Atlantic World, Impact of the French Revolution on the Caribbean, The, Indentured Servitude in the Atlantic World, Indian, Internal Slave Migrations in the Americas, Interracial Marriage in the Atlantic World, Liverpool in The Atlantic World 1500-1833, Maritime Atlantic in the Age of Revolutions, The, Marriage and Family in the Atlantic World, Material Culture of Slavery in the British Atlantic, Money and Banking in the Atlantic Economy, Napolon Bonaparte and the Atlantic World, Nation and Empire in Northern Atlantic History, Native American Histories in North America, Native Americans and the American Revolution, People of African Descent in Early Modern Europe, Pets and Domesticated Animals in the Atlantic World. Common African American Last Names | GenealogyBank The population was more than 16 million and the industrial revolution was under way, which debunks any perception of a broadly colonial society. Phillis Wheatley (May 8, 1753 - December 5, 1784) Source = Wikimedia. Besides the Morrows, whom else did you live with in Louisville? The different spellings are due to the non-consistent spelling rules in Norway in the 1700s and 1800s. Allard. Kindest regards, Instead a wide variety of surnames came about that would be the family name for future generations. 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. Hi Rodney, I belonged to him until emancipation. A. Mr. Thomas Jefferson of Louisville, bought me when I was three years of age from Mr. Dearing. 3. Trinidad and Tobago. I was only three years old when she died. Therefore, a few of the most common first names of the time such as Mary (rank 815) and Sarah (1010) will appear in the list and surnames which correspond to personal names (e.g. It means 'bought land'. Another common way of distinguishing people would be 'son of', for example Johnson (son of John), Richardson, Wilson, Harrison etc. Thank you for commenting, and continued luck to you in your research. Thank you for your kind comment and I am glad my post helped some with the complicated reasons behind the surnames enslaved people had. 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 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. I was born in Montgomery County, Ala. the child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. by John C. Inscoe, 2006; Revised May 2022 by NC Government & Heritage Library. They are part of Records of the U.S. Customs Service . Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one", "Friends are God's apologies for relations. 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. Thanks for your comment, The following documents are excerpts from government records in which Dick Barnett and Mollie (Smith) Russell explain when and why they changed their names. They are recorded with the Ashby surname on subsequent documents. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Available from https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2014.174.8?destination=/explore/collection/search%3Fedan_q%3Denslaved%26edan_fq%255B0%255D%3Dobject_type%253A%2522Photographs%2522 (accessed May 6, 2022). For example, Roll, Jordan,Roll has an entire chapter called The Naming of Cats, discussing slave names and The Slave Community has a very good chapter called The Slave Family. Two other books I like are Been In The Storm So Long by Leon Litwick (pgs 247-248)and Joining PLaces: Slave Neighborhoods in the Old South by Anthony Kaye. Trinidad and Tobago Slavery FamilySearch Q. . My mothers name was Octavia Smith and it was from her that I got it but where the name came from to her I never knew. Nameberry is a registered trademark of Nameberry, LLC. Enslaved people often transferred such names to later generations in modified form or relied on African naming traditions, such as "day names" or names reflecting the order of birth among siblings. Students examine the factors that led many northerners to turn against federal policies passed during the Reconstruction era that protected freedpeople. Others were more promiscuous. "While African-American genealogical research in many ways is like all genealogical research, the era of slavery makes the task especially challenging. Surnames like Chantimel have disappeared, while names like Horsford and Ackie, coming from Antigua (where they are common), or Quarless, Dowden, Chandler, and Dottin from Barbados, have enriched Grenada's family history and cultural identity. This topic interests me greatly and Id like to do more research. Renate, Location the owner of ones ancestor is crucial for an African American genealogist to trace his family before 1870. Letter to James Edward Calhoun, August 27, 1831. Robyn. I especially recommend Mother, Thy Name is Mystery! Some of these individuals probably lived through the Civil War to become named citizens in Ashley County, Arkansas and may have taken the last name of Hollaway/Holaway or Terry/Tery. Or, the Slaves were given numbers or classical Greek names. Q. Sabe, Anque, Bumbo, Jobah, Quamana, Taynay, and Yearie) used in the Slave quarters. Now, that parent's surname could very well be the surname of the most recent slaveholder or an earlier slaveholder. 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. 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. It means 'raven'. PDF Lists of Slave owners with names of slaves 781 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. In 1801, the British government took the first census for Great Britain and Ireland. Hi Donna, To date there are no book-length studies covering the naming of slaves across the Anglophone Atlantic, but Burton 1999 and Kaplan and Bernays 1997 provide useful entry-level discussions for the Caribbean and mainland United States, respectively. Five of the slaves were sold to the Washingtons and brought to Wessyngton. Picked by several celebrities (a couple of times even for a girl), adding up to an enthusiastically recommended choice. Q. On all subsequent census records, he is listed as John Lewis. 100 Most Common US Surnames Origins and Meanings - ThoughtCo But the Slaves generally had two namesthe one given by the slave owner (e.g. They cut it off from OCTAVIA. Practices undoubtedly varied, and different archival sources may yield different conclusions. -George Burns, "Where does the family start? Of course my mother wasnt a Bradley fore she married. If the name is spelled Rodrigues, the name is Portuguese but has the same meaning) 3. Edited by Gabriele vom Bruck and Barbara Bodenhorn, 178-199. They cut it off from OCTAVIA. I would appreciate any constructive comments on this question, which can be posted to me via my website address above. It was after emancipation on that I went back to work for Col. Morrow and where I got the name Lottie, as already explained. No, I don't know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. 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. Place names that were disproportionately popular among Black Americans in history include Boston, Jamaica, York, and Africa. My surname of SAM originated from Sem or Sam FUSELIER, a free man of color who freed my ancestor,Jean-Louis, out of slavery in 1811. Louis (M) (English origin) means "famous warrior". By examining periods of violence during the Reconstruction era, students learn about the potential backlash to political and social change. Although enslavers often assigned names to newly acquired enslaved peoplethat were whimsical, satirical, or condescending in intent, the frequent appearance of classical names-Venus, Cato, Hercules, Bacchus, Pompey-reflect enslavers' own educations and libraries. The existence of those surnames in the area would help to verify, but also, you are fortunate to have the important oral history of that name change in the first place, since so many of us dont. New surnames were created from a local regions name such as Smithfield the name taken might be Smith or Field. Testimony of Dick Lewis Barnett, May 17, 1911: I am 65 years of age; my post office address is Okmulgee Okla. Burton, Richard D.E. Names and Naming in Afro-Caribbean Culture. New West Indian Guide/Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 73 (1999): 3558. . 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]. "Albumen print of enslaved women and their children near Alexandria, Virginia." Former slaves often made up surnames based on their occupations. Melvin, One ancestor was known as Baber Masse, Elizabeth SENET and Elisabeth Leveille in different documents. He stated that he had always been known by his fathers surname Scott, even before he was freed. When retained, a given name was generally changed to its full form: Thomas, not Tom; Elizabeth, not Bet. Rather than being derived from the supernatural world, European given names were a mere handle or tag. common last names for slaves in the 1800s. 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. No superior alternative has yet been found." We had to register as someone, so we could be citizens. Geographic names were common, as were the names of ships or distant ports for enslaved peopleborn in places such as Wilmington or New Bern. 1. It is these single names that have been most often studied. Whereas names withAfrican, classical, or other unique origins were popular during enslavement, --- often continuingfrom one generation to the next and creating a distinctive nomenclature unlike that of southern whites -- free black peopleoften used more traditionally Anglicized versions of their first names. Isaac evolved from the name Yitzchaq, derived from the Hebrew word, Lysander is a distinctive Greek name that could be thought of as a more creative cousin of Alexander. After the war ended and slavery was abolished, they exercised their freedom by changing their names. Ethereal and delicate, Cassandra was in the Top 70 throughout the 1990s but is now descending in popularity. A. And even though slave marriages were not legal, many enslaved people followed the practice of the wife taking her husbands surname: My mother was named Mary Bradley and my father was named Hilliard Bradley. Dick Lewis Barnett and Phillip Fry were African American veterans of the Union Army during the Civil War. Love you, I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. The most common of 603 names of female Slaves were Bet, Mary, Jane, Hanna, Betty, Sarah, Phillis, Nan, Peg, and Sary. Post Author: Post published: 18 avril 2022; Post Category: . Facing History & Ourselves, "Changing Names," last updated May 12, 2020. 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. I love to hear from my readers. 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. 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. John C. Inscoe, "Carolina Slave Names: An Index to Acculturation," Journal of Southern History 59 (November 1983). Slavery. Augustin Meaning: a descendant of Augustine Origin: English 2. 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. American slave owners or slaveholders were owners of slaves in the United States which typically worked either as agriculture laborers or house servants. Names from the Bible were another common practice, for given and surnames. Thank you, my dear friend, for adding this about enslaved people owned in the Caribbean is really important, as some of the customs were certainly different. This causes many researchers to wrongly conclude that enslaved people did not have surnames until after emancipation, which was not the case.