Carolina Slave Names: An Index to Acculturation

Who named slaves and their children? Names and naming practices among enslaved Africans brought to the Americas and their descendants with focus on Brazil

“…The question is thus whether the presence of African names proves that the owners always named their slaves. Inscoe (1983), who studied records of 11,000 slave names in the United States between 1670 and 1865, cites, among other data, an advertisement that suggests that the rejection of names given to them by their owner could be the reason why two slaves ran away: 'one of them... calls himself GOLAGA, the name given him here ABEL; the other a black fellow...calls himself ABBROM, the name given him here BENNET ' (1983, 533). At the very least, the advertisement clearly shows that the two slaves were reluctant to use the names given to them by their owner.…”

“…It is difficult to say. Inscoe (1983) believes that some slaves in North America, who apparently were able to name their own children 'were allowed to keep either their original African names or names given them elsewhere, as indicated by the frequent use of Spanish and Portuguese names retained by slaves brought from the Caribbean Islands or South America' (Inscoe 1983, 529).…”

“…It is also known that, in North America, slaves used to obtain specific types of European names from their owners: 'foreign names' (French or Spanish), Biblical names such as Abraham, puritan names such as Charity, classical names as in the case of Venus, titles such as King, plane names as in Cambridge and the names of famous people such as Lafayette (Inscoe 1983;Cody 1987;Wilson 1998, 308-309). The classical names, for example, were never present in other social groups, and for that reason, they became typical 'slave names' in the sociocultural contexts of North American slavery systems (Inscoe 1983, 547).…”

“…As in other Afro-American and Afro-Latin-American contexts, Brazilian slaves had several types of names: Biblical, as in Matias, Lucas; puritan, such as Clemência; classical, such as Anacleto, Apolinário; names of famous persons, as in the case of Viriato, Torquato; and derivates or diminutive forms of European names, as in Laurentino, Claudina (Freire 1963;Inscoe 1983;Handler and Jacoby 1996;Wilson 1998).…”

Lest We Forget: Exhibiting (and Remembering) Slavery in African-American Museums

“…This is indicative as many slaves were adamant in their rejection of an owner's name. However, Inscoe (1983) identified several reasons for slaves retaining their master's name; such as religion, family, and attachment. For instance, many slaves kept their names as it was also the name of either one or both of their parents, thus making identification with family a primary reason for its continued used.…”