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. Rank. Dick Lewis Barnett and Phillip Fry were African American veterans of the Union Army during the Civil War. Robyn. Maria Aparecida Schumaher, Erico teixeira Vital Brazil. Plus, Jonah comes with a ready-made nursery-decorating motif. Famous name bearers: many King Louis of France, Sandra Bullock's son and actor Louis Partridge. A favorite of British novelists including Evelyn Waugh and P. G. Wodehouse, Ambrose has an air of blooming well-being and upper-class erudition. 5. Robyn. Each name was a clue to her origins. This reading contains quoted text not authored by Facing History & Ourselves. This database is a compilation of information on over four thousand slaves from Louisiana who were involved in manumission (the formal emancipation from slavery) between 1719 and 1820. 6. Thats high on my to do list. In the early years, especially between the 1860 and 1880s, families even changed a surname several times until they settled on a certain one. 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. 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. While Smith remains the most common U.S. surname, for the first time, two Hispanic namesGarcia and Rodriguezmade the top 10. While enslaved almost all had just one Christian name. The different spellings are due to the non-consistent spelling rules in Norway in the 1700s and 1800s. Spanish areas had male Slave names as Francisco, Pedro, and Antonio; and for females: Maria, Isabella, and Juana. (Media Note: If you quote a post, please credit me by name, Robyn N. Q. I am sure your father would also be very proud of your interest in family history. 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. 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. South Atlantic Creole A Spanish America After Independence, 1825-1900, Tudor and Stuart Britain in the Wider World, 1485-1685, Warfare, Medicine, and Disease in the Atlantic World. If searching for a slave owner with the same surname of your ancestor fails, check marriage records for the slave owners. . Testimony of Dick Lewis Barnett, May 17, 1911: I am 65 years of age; my post office address is Okmulgee Okla. All children of a female slave were automatically slaves, considered as belonging to the owner of the mother. > | Index main page>| Index by slave owner's name, 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). How lucky you were to find that Freedmans Bank document! Thank you for your kind comment and I am glad my post helped some with the complicated reasons behind the surnames enslaved people had. 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. My hat goes off to you and your passionate efforts. Women tended to have two names, and slaves often just had one. Explore the most common surnames in England. An accessible introduction to the field. I hope this post also helps us to think about how the surnames former slaves had were connected to their experiences in slavery. He was a slave owner and, in 1800 as Chief Justice of New Brunswick, he supported slavery in defiance of British practice at the time. Many Welsh surnames follow this pattern, with Jones (from 'John's son) being the most common. Renate, 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. The population was more than 16 million and the industrial revolution was under way, which debunks any perception of a broadly colonial society. 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. Ethereal and delicate, Cassandra was in the Top 70 throughout the 1990s but is now descending in popularity. . My Vimeo ON Demand video page lists six videos you can choose from to watch for 3 months ($15 each): -Finding the Last Slaveowner: Guidance and Case Studies, -Cluster Research: Using Groups of People to Find Your People, -Using Deed Records to Uncover Your Family, -Putting it All Together: Making Sense of All the Research You've Done and, -More Than Just a Name: Incorporating Social and Community History Into Your Research. Herbert G. Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925 (1976). Drawing on extensive archival records, this digital memorial allows analysis of the ships, traders, and captives in the Atlantic slave trade. I am not able to find any slaveholders in the Versailes area by the name of 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. is for you. By examining periods of violence during the Reconstruction era, students learn about the potential backlash to political and social change. 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. Enslaved people remained legally nameless from the time of their capture until their purchase by American enslavers. As a result, many slaves used the surnames of their owners wifes family. Abel, et al. I truly believe they used surnames of each of their former owners for some of their childrens middle names. 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. 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. 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). The practice was common until its abolition in 1865 with the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.. For the time being, we are using this as the Slavery Plantation umbrella or portal. I presume no death certificate for her survives? Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. It is not uncommon to see an African American family listed with one surname in 1870 and another in 1880. Manifests - Alphabetical by Slave Names Return to Slave Manifests main page Click on each Slave name to view information on that voyage. I have gotten so many requests over the years from those who couldn't make the live webinars so I hope you enjoy this new feature. My father once told me his grandfather ran away from the Carrington place and changed his name to Williams. Thats a goal that I am working towards. LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. 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. I focused on surnames but many of these books also discuss first names. 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. Table 7. Slaves are identified by given name under their masters. So I asked my mother and she told me my father John Barnett, a white man, and I took up the name of Barnett . Genealogy becomes so much more than just names and dates, it really feels like a true passion indeed. Unique Surnames to Grenada. In freedom, Jean-Louis was known as Louis SEM or Louis FUSELIER until finally using SAM. And now that it's been chosen by Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, it could take off as their first son's nameKingstonhas. . It prohibited. This meant that army records documented their service with their old names instead of their new ones. This lively Old Testament nature name (belonging to one of the three beautiful daughters of Job) may be missing from the current US Top 1000 list, but it ranks highly here on Nameberry making it one to watch! Brutus) and a private name (e.g. 2023 The Voice of the Black Community in California. 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. In 1911, Barnett and Fry's widow, Mollie, both applied for pensions from the government. 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. 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. Q. This event is $12. 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. Slavery existed in the United States from its founding in 1776 and became the main . By the late 19th century, England was home to about 300 surnames with traceable genealogy. David Nicolle, Graham Turner: Poitiers AD 732: Charles Martel Turns the Islamic Tide. Others who wanted no connection to their former owners used surnames like Freeman or Freedman. 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. I have been unable to trace several of his siblings and now wonder if it might be because others did not take that name. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! Perhaps this caused some Slaves to ask: Am I my new name or am I still my old name? Q. Until recently, scholarly consensus was that early African American names did not differ significantly from those of white Americans. Use the form below to get in touch with me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Derived from the word anull that is the Catalan language dominantly used in southern France, Anouilh means 'slow worm'. The association with the infamous Nero, the fiddling Roman emperor, would be unavoidable. Karen Halttunen, Murder Most Foul, p. 175. Slave Names Below are some best cute and catchy slave names: Infirm Mite Lunn Amanda Walter Garner Hannah Delia Bastard Inferior Weevil George O'Hanlon Jordan John Owen Rachel Fetid Spider Betty Nathan York John Wright Wicked Whelp Thornton Dick Field Robert Dick William Hunter William Sam Kiner Augustus Dick a/k/a Richard Ferguson Foul Beast They called me "OCK". Enslaved people suffered constant sale, where children were frequently torn away from parents at young ages and spouses were often separated. The fifty most common Victorian surnames in England and Wales for 1853 are listed in alphabetical order below. 1. The origins of this last name date back to the pre-medieval period. A small number of creoles in Louisiana also acquired surnames derived from ethnic identities in Senegal. 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 was after emancipation on that I went back to work for Col. Morrow and where I got the name Lottie, as already explained. I would appreciate any constructive comments on this question, which can be posted to me via my website address above. Through a video-based activity, students examine Americas struggle for a stronger democracy during Reconstruction and today. 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. The most common of 603 names of female Slaves were Bet, Mary, Jane, Hanna, Betty, Sarah, Phillis, Nan, Peg, and Sary. I especially recommend Mother, Thy Name is Mystery! George Duncan Ludlow (1734-1808), colonial lawyer. There are 15 tables, blank and editable for you to populate, as well as samples of using each. Ref. She served that family for a long time, perhaps more clues to her past lie in his family roots. One name you find frequently used was Freeman or Freedmen to declare their new freedom. But there was also the detective Nero Wolfe, hero of many mystery stories. Thanks for all you to do keeps us all so enlightened! Copyright 2023 Facing History & Ourselves. This is another instance of oral history being a key component in tracing African American ancestry. Currently, the most popular Black last name in America is Williams, with a total count of 774,920 people who have the surname. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Many took the surname of famous or celebrated people; such as 'Lincoln', 'Grant', and 'Washington' was very popular. 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. 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. Peneus saved Daphne from Apollos romantic obsessions by transforming her into a laurel tree. ", "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you might as well make it dance! Through a video-based activity, students explore how Radical Reconstruction changed the nature of voting rights and democracy in the South. Proving their identity as former soldiers often revealed some of the most detailed explanations for former slaves choice of surnames. 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. Thank you as always, your posts are so helpful. Were there any famous slaves? Data from the 2010 Census tells a different story. -Thich Nhat Hanh, evolve theme by Theme4PressPowered by WordPress, Maryland Genealogical Society Holiday Luncheon, December 2017-2, Washington FHC Annual Conference, May 2011, Baltimore Family History Conference, October 2017-2, International Black Genealogy Summit, September 2016-2, Carroll County Genealogical Society Dinner, June 2018, Baltimore Family History Conference, October 2017, Reginald Lewis Museum, September 2011-2.jpg, Maryland State Archives Family History Festival, October 2014-2, Central Maryland AAHGS Meeting, March 2013, Robyn, Vonda, Andrea and Glenn, NGS Conf., May 2014, Maryland Genealogical Society Holiday Luncheon, December 2017-1, Howard Comm. Label vector designed by Ibrandify - Freepik.com, 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.
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