My great great grandfather in Mississippi took the surname of the previous SC enslaver, whose widow sold him away. By country & year of birth. Baptiste Meaning: derived from the name Bautista; the Spanish form of Baptist Origin: Spanish 3. . Thus, the patronymic surname can be effectively regarded as "keeper of the peace." This phenomenon is not unheard of with African American surnames. Here, our list of notable early African American names. I also have a Slavery and Freedom Collection available for $20. 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. Tell me the name you were called before you met Phillip Fry? 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. Im very familiar with the work of Gwendolyn Hall and Elizabeth Shown Mills. Derived from the word anull that is the Catalan language dominantly used in southern France, Anouilh means 'slow worm'. This article is from the Encyclopedia of North Carolina edited by William S. Powell. U.S. Slavery: Timeline, Figures & Abolition - HISTORY The association with the infamous Nero, the fiddling Roman emperor, would be unavoidable. . 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. Examples include: Francois, Jean, Pierre, and Leon for men; and Manon, Delphine, Marie Louise, Celeste, and Eugenie for women. ", "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you might as well make it dance! 41. But I tell you, trying to document that all those names refer to the same person is hard, hard work! The link was not copied. British Surnames of the 1800s - Synonym I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. Other common surnames included Jones, Matthews, Sinclair, and Bennett, Price, and Gray.. Prior to the emancipation of the American slaves in 1863, those African-Americans held in bondage had usually just one or two given names. Q. i did a simple search of the 1860 slave schedule using the name Culbert and came up with slaveholders in MS,VA,NC,AL,GA and SC holding 17 enslaved people. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 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. this page. 1754 Excerpts from the Courant for June 22 to 29, 1754 at Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library - contain the names of some "runaway slaves" or indentured servants, and information about them. 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 . Since those are the countries from which many of America's original settlers came, it's hardly surprising. 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. The surname Williams occurs roughly 550 times per 100,000 people in the U.S. You can find explanations for each of the table columns below, or use the following links to view more last names for different ancestries. It means 'raven'. 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. James) will have . 2023 The Voice of the Black Community in California. Ref. How lucky you were to find that Freedmans Bank document! 400 Catchy Slave Names That You Will Like - Worth Start . Slaveholders often renamed newly acquired slaves; but self-naming by slaves, which also occurred, is likely to be underreported in the records, which were mainly created by and for slaveholders. Brutus) and a private name (e.g. 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". They did so either to take on a surname for the first time, or to replace a name or surname given to them by a former master. Hello Another myth is once African Americans were sold they never saw their families again. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. An 's' at the end of a personal name also meant 'son of', for example Richards, Stevens, Williams and so on. One of my grandfathers in Africa was called Jeaceo, and so I decided to be Jackson. Phone: 314-994-3300, Hours & Locations Comments/Suggestions314-994-3300, Copyright 2023. Chery Meaning: derived from the Latin Cariacus, which means "land belonging to Cariu"; darling Origin: French 5. .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. If searching for a slave owner with the same surname of your ancestor fails, check marriage records for the slave owners. A. Lottie Smith was my name and what they called me before I met Phillip and was married to him. I especially recommend Mother, Thy Name is Mystery! I was born in Montgomery County, Ala. the child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. Enslaved women were raped, creating children with white fathers who in most cases did not claim them and even sold them away. -William Faulkner, "Call it a clan, call it a network, all it a tribe, call it a family. My maiden surname is Williams. Thats high on my to do list. Osprey Publishing 2008. Most Popular Names. . You are the continuation of each of these people.". Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Can you steer me in the right direction? Florence, Fiorella, Fleur, and Flower are translations, but we like Flora best of all. "Slave revolts in Puerto Rico: conspiracies and uprisings, 17951873"; by: Guillermo A. Baralt; Markus Wiener Publishers; harvnb error: no target: CITEREFAssociation_of_Muslim_Social_ScientistsInternational_Institute_of_Islamic_Thought2008 (, sfnm error: no target: CITEREFSmith2001 (, sfnm error: no target: CITEREFWhite2016 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFBrands2012 (, sfnm error: no target: CITEREFMcFeely1981 (, Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 03:19, sued her master for her freedom on that ground, United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, Diego Pacheco Tllez-Girn Gmez de Sandoval, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, South Carolina's 5th congressional district, List of the last surviving American slaves, Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom, Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, National Museum of African American History and Culture, "What is the divine purpose for sending prophets? I first wrote about this in this 2009 post: http://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2009/09/calvin-r-yarborough-where-it-all-began.html, And,then, more recently in 2013, here: http://justthinking130.blogspot.com/2013/11/many-rivers-to-cross-my-priscilla.html. -Unknown, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city;)" After emancipation, he became William Smith. Bradley was the last man owned em. No superior alternative has yet been found." common last names in the 1800s Patronymic surnames such as Jansen/Janssen, Hansen, and Petersen are the most common names in the far north (Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein). 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. In the 1760s Anglo-American frontiersmen, determined to settle the land, planted slavery firmly within the borders of what would become Tennessee. Thank you for posing your question. The most common of 603 names of female Slaves were Bet, Mary, Jane, Hanna, Betty, Sarah, Phillis, Nan, Peg, and Sary. Thomas Black Cobbs was owned by a small slave owner Catherine Black. In fact, it's not even past. Where did you get the maiden name of Smith from? Ebba: One of the more unique girl names from the 1800s. An accessible introduction to the field. Early African-American Names | Nameberry On all subsequent census records, he is listed as John Lewis. But, my mtdna also said I share ancestry with the Kru people of Liberia and the Mende from Sierra Leonne! 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. No, I dont know to whom she belonged before she was brought from Virginia to Kentucky. It was after emancipation on that I went back to work for Col. Morrow and where I got the name Lottie, as already explained. Even that feels like something. He took his last enslaver surname. Place names that were disproportionately popular among Black Americans in history include Boston, Jamaica, York, and Africa. These cookies do not store any personal information. But the bureau also compiled lists of the fastest-growing surnames in the United States and these include Zhang, Li, Ali, Liu, and Khan - a testament to the wonderful diversity of our nation. Miracle, (Old English and Latin Origin) Derived from the first name Mauritius meaning "dark". 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.. Slave surnames | Vita Brevis . Harris: A patronymic meaning son of Harry. Another slave named Bill who attended the sheep became Bill Shepherd. 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. 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 2001, I began a process of transcribing names of some of the largest slaveholders and matching the surnames with numbers of African Americans on the 1870 . Although it is not widely known, some African Americans used surnames before they were emancipated. Popular Last Names in the 1920s Gatsby Flapper Girl Thanks for your comment, List of slaves - Wikipedia Letter to James Edward Calhoun, August 27, 1831. 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.) Entre la construccin de la memoria y la ficcin histrica", "From Africa to India: Music of the Sidis and the Indian Ocean Diaspora (review)", "Mark and Phillis Executions, Burned at the Stake and Gibbeted in Puritan Massachusetts", "Letter from Paul Revere to Jeremy Belknap, circa 1798", "Re: Nancy Titsworth-1800-Livin - Genealogy.com", Association of Muslim Social Scientists & International Institute of Islamic Thought 2008, "Creolizing Natural Liberty: Transnational Obligation in the Thought of Ottobah Cugoano", "Madison and the White House, Through the Memoir of a Slave", "Black Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in the Native American South, by Barbara Krauthamer (2013) Not Even Past", "Timeline of Missouri's African American History", "So Tom e Prncipe recorda o Rei Amador", "Black Christian Republicans: Delegates to the 1847 Liberian Constitutional Convention", "A Slave's Service in the Confederate Army", "Slavery and French Cuisine in Jefferson's Working White House", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_slaves&oldid=1140857860, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 03:19. 9 of the Biggest Slave Owners in American History - Atlanta Black Star Pinckney, Randolph, and Rutledgeappear only incidentally among any list of modern Black peoples names. ", "If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. common last names for slaves in the 1800s. Ive taken back reclaimed some of that lost memory, especially that of my enslaved ancestors. Many took the surname of famous or celebrated people; such as Lincoln, Grant, and Washington was very popular. Former slaves also interchanged surnames on census records. I did a post sometime ago about Slavery Studies, where I named some of the top books on the subject. Fortunately, the French and Latin were excellent record keepers and the Catholics were obsessed with knowing the kinship of everyone. Instead a wide variety of surnames came about that would be the family name for future generations. Spanish areas had male Slave names as Francisco, Pedro, and Antonio; and for females: Maria, Isabella, and Juana. 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. Robyn. Robyn. Thanks for all you to do keeps us all so enlightened! 140+ Victorian Baby Names | Names from the 1800s | Peanut A. Surnames for African-Americans - Former Slaves Danish West Indies, Denmark, Records of Enslaved People, 1672-1917 It is not uncommon to see an African American family listed with one surname in 1870 and another in 1880. 1850 US Census Name Frequencies - buckbd.com 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. They are recorded with the Ashby surname on subsequent documents. This page is currently showing names ranked from 1 to 1000. 43. Surnames Used by African American Slaves - Wessyngton Through a video-based activity, students examine Americas struggle for a stronger democracy during Reconstruction and today. 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. A Wessyngton slave named Bill who was the plantation's blacksmith was known as Billy the Smith during slavery. Nameberry is a registered trademark of Nameberry, LLC. While Smith remains the most common U.S. surname, for the first time, two Hispanic namesGarcia and Rodriguezmade the top 10. . Victorian Surnames in England and Wales - Geri Walton 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 . . 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). Robyn. Index by slave owner's name | Surname unknown or illegible. Common African American Last Names | GenealogyBank Search 31 million family names. . I communicate with them on Facebook. So I asked my mother and she told me my father John Barnett, a white man, and I took up the name of Barnett . 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. Im jealous;) The common names there (Marie, Louise, etc) would test anyones genealogical skills, so I take my hat off to you. 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 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. One given name the childs family selected and kept secret and one the child was known by given by the slave owner. I focused on surnames but many of these books also discuss first names. This unique-sounding French last name means 'bold' or 'daring'. Until recently, scholarly consensus was that early African American names did not differ significantly from those of white Americans. Here, our list of notable early African American names. Each name was a clue to her origins. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Proving their identity as former soldiers often revealed some of the most detailed explanations for former slaves choice of surnames. One frequently occurring name is Rolle. I would still recommend all of these books, except the first one listed for obvious reasons. Some last names recognize certain histories or describe important events or narratives that mean a lot to the family. My great grandfather Wilson Percival was born in South Carolina and I believe he took his surname from last slave owners family. 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. Practices undoubtedly varied, and different archival sources may yield different conclusions. Sabe, Anque, Bumbo, Jobah, Quamana, Taynay, and Yearie) used in the Slave quarters. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website.