Evie (F) (English origin) means "life" or "lively". Most did not want to use their former owners surname, even through about 20% did use the slave owners name. common last names for slaves in the 1800s. African Americans in the U.S. Federal Census, 1870-1890 (National Dorothy, Doris or Dora: Meaning 'gift of God', this Victorian girl's name was popular in the 19th century. A. For personal use and not for further distribution. Some last names recognize certain histories or describe important events or narratives that mean a lot to the family. 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). 140+ Victorian Baby Names | Names from the 1800s | Peanut I make extensive use of tables for organization, analysis and citation in my research, and they have proven very popular with genealogists. I was bornthe child of Phillis Houston, slave of Sol Smith. . Currently, the most popular Black last name in America is Williams, with a total count of 774,920 people who have the surname. She served that family for a long time, perhaps more clues to her past lie in his family roots. He took his last enslaver surname. 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. Thank you for posing your question. Distinctively Black names were thought to have risen from the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, which promoted the use of names with connections to Africa. Dick Lewis Barnett and Phillip Fry were African American veterans of the Union Army during the Civil War. . Top 100 Best Names From The 1800s | Kidadl See footnotes for source information. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Surnames (not always those of former owners) would then be adopted as family names by former slaves and their descendants. 100 Victorian Last Names With Meanings And History | Kidadl Emphasizes the giving and repeated use of names as a performative act of domination. 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. "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? It helps me to understand the complexity of surname variation I have found in researching the ancestral patterns of an African-American cemetery in my local area. 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. Marking an 'X': Exploring the History of Grenada's Surnames Wonderful to have first hand account that help shine light on the attitudes of our ancestors. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. People of the Atlantic Slave Trade - Database Location the owner of ones ancestor is crucial for an African American genealogist to trace his family before 1870. 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. For example, I know of one Louisiana family whose surname of Poulard evolved from a ancestor of the Poular nation(aka Fulani). Manifests - Alphabetical by Slave Names Return to Slave Manifests main page Click on each Slave name to view information on that voyage. 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. James: (M) (Latin origin) means "heel" or "supplanter". The name James has been a popular Victorian male names in the 1800s. A valuable and incisive discussion, both theoretically and historically informed, of slave naming in two African societies, the Caribbean, and the American South. 100 Most Common US Surnames Origins and Meanings - ThoughtCo Slave Names of the 1800's by Emils M - Prezi They identified 21 distinctly Black male names, among them biblical classics such as Abraham and Moses, and word names including Freeman and Prince. Testimony of Dick Lewis Barnett, May 17, 1911: I am 65 years of age; my post office address is Okmulgee Okla. Chery Meaning: derived from the Latin Cariacus, which means "land belonging to Cariu"; darling Origin: French 5. As a newspaper that publishes in the spirit of the Black Press, the Black Voice News has given voice to the voiceless and shined a light on systemic inequities and disparities since 1972. Choose the best name for your child. And now that it's been chosen by Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, it could take off as their first son's nameKingstonhas. 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! Slave Names | NCpedia David Nicolle, Graham Turner: Poitiers AD 732: Charles Martel Turns the Islamic Tide. In another case Sukey Ann and he 4 children were manumitted by their Ashby owner with only their first names. The 2000 U.S. Census counted 163,036 people with the surname Washington. Examples include: Francois, Jean, Pierre, and Leon for men; and Manon, Delphine, Marie Louise, Celeste, and Eugenie for women. EDHASA, 2006, 359 pages, (. They are recorded with the Ashby surname on subsequent documents. In fact, the previous enslaver widow sold most of the slaves. An 's' at the end of a personal name also meant 'son of', for example Richards, Stevens, Williams and so on. -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?" Robyn. Robyn. Ho Joanne, LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. The slave schedules of 1860 Arkansas do not give the names of the slaves. Even that feels like something. 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. 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. 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. Abel, et al. They are held at The National Archives (Kew, England). 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. I took the name of Jackson for the reason that I preferred to go by my fathers name, rather than the name of my last owner.. common last names in the 1800s - conference.ase.ro Slave Ship Manifests filed at New Orleans, 1807-1860 | National Archives 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. Each is present in your body. The following is a list of historical people who were enslaved at some point during their lives, in alphabetical order by first name. Another myth is once African Americans were sold they never saw their families again. Students consider what it means to be free by learning about the choices and aspirations of freedpeople immediately after Emancipation. .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. Each name was a clue to her origins. They cut it off from OCTAVIA. 1760-1810 Persons declared to be "white by law" or "free" (part 1), (part 2) at Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library. Lists Of Most Common Bajan (Barbados) Last Names - Blogger Farley, (English Origin) Victorian-era last names meaning "fern woodland". It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl. After emancipation, he became William Smith. I did a post sometime ago about Slavery Studies, where I named some of the top books on the subject. . If you can identify your ancestor's master, this source will prove of tremendous value to your research. Forenames. Thank you so much for your kind words. Each is present in your body. This page is currently showing names ranked from 1 to 1000. . Spanish areas had male Slave names as Francisco, Pedro, and Antonio; and for females: Maria, Isabella, and Juana. Pinckney, Randolph, and Rutledgeappear only incidentally among any list of modern Black peoples names. Tracing Your Roots: Were Slaves' Surnames Like Brands? 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. I was only three years old when she died. And my goodness, how kind of you to suggest a TED talk, maybe one of these days;) Genealogys pull is what initially pulled me into studying slavery, and also introduced me to the new understanding that historians are uncovering. Trinidad and Tobago Slavery FamilySearch 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. List of slave owners - Wikipedia Harriet Tubman and some of the slaves she helped free. Slavery in America was the legal institution of enslaving human beings, mainly Africans and African Americans. Enslaved people suffered constant sale, where children were frequently torn away from parents at young ages and spouses were often separated. 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. 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) By examining periods of violence during the Reconstruction era, students learn about the potential backlash to political and social change. There has been much debate among scholars, historians and genealogists whether enslaved African Americans used the surnames of their last owners, previous owners, or a surname that had no connection to slavery. Best of luck to you in your research, Robyn. 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. Through Reclaiming Kin, I share tips on genealogy skillbuilding for all genealogists, and on researching slavery and the enslaved. Lori Wilson Picks Up Baton to Remove Slavery Language From Californias Constitution, New Assembly Bill Would Ban Use of Police Canines for Arrests, Crowd Control, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Leo (M) (Russian origin) means "lion". Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. He was sold to my master William Orr and he always went by the name Edward Orr after that.. It was after emancipation on that I went back to work for Col. Morrow and where I got the name Lottie, as already explained. 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. I am generally called Cap Sherrod but I was married under Cap Ross and have voted under the name Ross, A good many people call me Cap Sherrod because I belonged to Sherrod but I calls myself Cap Ross.. You are the continuation of each of these people.". Derived from the word anull that is the Catalan language dominantly used in southern France, Anouilh means 'slow worm'. I was only three years old when she died. Who called you by that name and where was it done? LOTTIE had been the name of the nurse before me and so they just continued that same name. Allard. Ive taken back reclaimed some of that lost memory, especially that of my enslaved ancestors. Many Welsh surnames follow this pattern, with Jones (from 'John's son) being the most common. Accueil > > Avr > 18 > Uncategorized > common last names for slaves in the 1800s. For more information about the records covered in this index,please contact the History and Genealogy Department. I would appreciate any constructive comments on this question, which can be posted to me via my website address above. Alfred Francis Russell (1817-1884), 10th President of Liberia. These people are referred to as slaves, or as enslaved people. 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. Societies. In 1870, he is listed as John Washington.