common last names for slaves in the 1800s common last names for slaves in the 1800s

Renate, Former slaves often made up surnames based on their occupations. It prohibited. Benson 2006 is one of the few general discussions of slave names. 43. Chapter 4 gives a brief and introductory outline of naming in the United States during slavery and its consequences in African American culture. 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. . By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Many enslaved people were allowed to keep their original African names or names assigned them elsewhere (as reflected by the frequency of Spanish and Portuguese names among the first generation of enslaved people in the Carolinas.) When they were sold away they remembered their loved ones and they created extended kinship networks. Copyright 2023 Facing History & Ourselves. Most Popular Names. Most Popular African Last Names Or Surnames. Or, the Slaves were given numbers or classical Greek names. However, many African Americans faced a problem when they applied for their pensions. Percy is an adorable old name that is finally shedding its pampered Little Lord Fauntleroy image in this new era of boys with soft yet traditionally, Titus, once seen as a slightly forbidding Roman, New Testament, and Shakespearean name, was brought back to contemporary life in the USA by the TV series, French surname from place name Perci-en-Auge, Latin, meaning unknown, possibly "title of honour". Rounding out the Top 40, here are the next 30 most common names among African-Americans and Caribbean people: Taylor (Jayceon Terrel Taylor "The Game") Wilson (Charlie Wilson) Moore (Shemar Moore) White (Barry White) Lewis (Carl Lewis) Walker (Jimmie J. J. Walker) Green (Al Green) Thompson (Kenan Thompson) Washington (Denzel Washington) . Farley, (English Origin) Victorian-era last names meaning "fern woodland". At your request I have finally made available for viewing past popular webinars! 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. My father would be 105 if he were alive. This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 11:46 am and is filed under Civil War, Genealogy & DNA, Interviews. I hope this post also helps us to think about how the surnames former slaves had were connected to their experiences in slavery. It can be a difficult path, but just might be reachable. CLICK HERE TO SAVE YOUR SEAT! Mary Deborah Petite, "1836 Facts about the Alamo and the Texas War for Independence". Please subscribe or login. James) will have . Thank you for your kind comment and I am glad my post helped some with the complicated reasons behind the surnames enslaved people had. Names of prominent slaveholderse.g. Even tiny steps are huge in someones life. 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. A. Leo (M) (Russian origin) means "lion". So far Ive found no one who can give me any information about how these people assumed the Culbert surname. Florence, Fiorella, Fleur, and Flower are translations, but we like Flora best of all. The new surnames, usually not taken from a former slave owner, included: Williams, Jones, Johnson, Smith, Jackson, Thomas, Brown, Walker, Davis, Green, Robinson, Scott, Harris, Turner, and Anderson. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. The naming of slaves has not been treated in dedicated monographs, but it often figures in general accounts of plantation culture and the practices of enslavement. If the former slave had been befriended or assisted in getting established after the Civil War, they might have taken that person's name. Explore the most common surnames in England. Enslaved women were raped, creating children with white fathers who in most cases did not claim them and even sold them away. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! Geographic names were common, as were the names of ships or distant ports for enslaved peopleborn in places such as Wilmington or New Bern. Some scholars of slavery have come to view the names and naming of enslaved people as agauge of many aspects oflife and culture during enslavement and of howcustoms changed over time. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. In more than thirty years of researching my ancestors and hundreds of others enslaved on one of Americas largest plantations, slaves owned by mid-sized planters and small farmers, reviewing thousands of documents I have come across various situations that might give others clues on what to look for. Each name was a clue to her origins. Women tended to have two names, and slaves often just had one. (Media Note: If you quote a post, please credit me by name, Robyn N. Gerald, however, is a Germanic name meaning ruler) 2. How lucky you were to find that Freedmans Bank document! It means 'clerk' or 'secretary'. You are the continuation of each of these people.". 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 belonged to him until emancipation. My father once told me his grandfather ran away from the Carrington place and changed his name to Williams. Sabe, Anque, Bumbo, Jobah, Quamana, Taynay, and Yearie) used in the Slave quarters. Archambeau. My fathers name was John Crosby and he lived in the town of Geneva, Alabama, I had two brothers and one sister. 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. I was called by that name all the time I was with the Morrows. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. See flier for more details. And again, as a white Southerner whose ancesters were NOT slaveowners, your blog is helping me to understand the real and horrible legacy of the peculiar institution. Ninety percent of them were African-American, a far higher black percentage than for any other common name. Abebe: The genesis of this Ethiopian name is Amharic, and it means 'flower' or 'blossom'. But I tell you, trying to document that all those names refer to the same person is hard, hard work! . The Genealogy Source Table Collection includes 10 blank, editable source tables for death certificates, city directories, obituaries and funeral programs. Jackson: This name is a patronymic of Jack. Bailey, Word Stories Surrounding African American Slavery. The resources Im getting from my colleagues through Facing History have been just invaluable. Evidence indicates that many enslaved parents named their children after the first generation or so of family members brought to America. Unique Surnames to Grenada. All of them are alive in this moment. Students consider what it means to be free by learning about the choices and aspirations of freedpeople immediately after Emancipation. "Albumen print of enslaved women and their children near Alexandria, Virginia." Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Just go to my Vimeo page and make your selection. 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. Place names that were disproportionately popular among Black Americans in history include Boston, Jamaica, York, and Africa. This meant that army records documented their service with their old names instead of their new ones. 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. This old French surname has Germanic origin, and means 'noble'. Danish West Indies, Denmark, Records of Enslaved People, 1672-1917 In many cases this is ignored and children use their fathers name! I find it interesting that they often used the strange phrase he calls himself in the ads, as if having a given name and a surname was silly: Ran away from the subscriber on the 25th of October, a well set dark mulattoe man named Jem, but calls himself James Ferguson.. Here, our list of notable early African American names. In Greek mythology, Daphne was the nymph daughter of Peneus, a river god. Thank you. It is from this myth that the plant genus, Phoebe is the Latin variation of the Greek name Phoibe, which derived from. Seating is limited. It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl. The three databases below provide details of 36,000 trans-Atlantic slave voyages, 10,000 intra-American ventures, names and personal information. 3. This financial assistance was available to all Civil War veterans and their families. I would appreciate any constructive comments on this question, which can be posted to me via my website address above. By examining periods of violence during the Reconstruction era, students learn about the potential backlash to political and social change. Slavery is a social-economic system under which people are enslaved: deprived of personal freedom and forced to perform labor or services without compensation. Students consider how US history books, films, and other works of popular culture have misrepresented the history of the Reconstruction era. 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. Brown: A common last name derived from an ancestor's complexion or the color of their hair. See flier here. Free black slave holders could be found at one time or . My full name is Dick Lewis Barnett. by John C. Inscoe, 2006; Revised May 2022 by NC Government & Heritage Library. Thank you for your comment, Robinson: A patronymic of the name Robin. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher. 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. See more details in the flier here and they are available for purchase for $10 . I was born in Montgomery County, Ala. the child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. Corbin Corbin has an Old English origin. No superior alternative has yet been found. Login Forgot . 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. Remember me. He took his last enslaver surname. Surnames. Relish, (Old French Origin) Derived from relaisse meaning "flavor or taste". . Several names have been added under the letter representing the person's last name. Manifests - Alphabetical by Slave Names Return to Slave Manifests main page Click on each Slave name to view information on that voyage. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! -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." Thanks for this very thoughtful article. All children of a female slave were automatically slaves, considered as belonging to the owner of the mother. Because I like to let formerly enslaved people speak for themselves, here are several examples of freedmen and women discussing their surnames. College, Advanced AA Gen Class, September 2011, AAHGS Annual Genealogy Conference, November 2008, Howard Comm. 13 March 2022, 1-2:30pm [PAST EVENT], Eastern Standard Time: Cant find some of your ancestors in the census? Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. 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. David Nicolle, Graham Turner: Poitiers AD 732: Charles Martel Turns the Islamic Tide. Delva 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. 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. My mother then told me my fathers name was John Barnett, a white man, and I took up the name Barnett., My mothers name was Jane and she was called Jane Nunn because she belonged to the Nunns. Letter to Armistead Burt of September 1, 1831, sfn error: no target: CITEREFCalhoun1837 (. One name you find frequently used was Freeman or Freedmen to declare their new freedom. The name James has been a popular Victorian male names in the 1800s. They were Nelson Nunn and George Nunn and they may have changed their names to Crosby too because they were my fathers children.. .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. 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). 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. But there was also the detective Nero Wolfe, hero of many mystery stories. Used by permission of the publisher. 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. Just from the detail in your first comment, I knew there was a good chance you were already familiar with those authors. Q. See flier for details; cost of this event is $25. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. And you get to tell the story of Jean-Louiss life in slavery and also in freedom. This is common. Fernsby, (Old English Origin) Derived from the old English words meaning "fern farmstead". Numerous historical sources confirm that enslaved people had surnames that they used among themselves and in many cases were known by their slaveholder. If the slaveholder or another free white man was their father, many Creoles did use either is first or last name as a surname.