People’s names matter: they signify a meaning; they tell of a relationship and thus they reveal much. Owners generally chose the names of those they had enslaved. The names chosen reflected owners’ self-conceit: they selected names to display the owners’ education and piety and to belittle or mock those they had enslaved. Yet some enslaved people in Brookline (and elsewhere) kept names from what are now Senegal and Ghana. None of the enslaved bore last as they were not seen as adults. For some enslaved people, there is not even a record of their names.” Three babies who died in their first year had no recorded names. For some only a generic word appears: “Negro,” “Molatto” or “servant”.
Enslavers generally chose from six types of names:
The owners displayed their education and knowledge of the classical world.
Further, by using classical names the owners also mocked the enslaved who could never be a Caesar or a Venus. Ten people carried such names:
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The owners gave Biblical names to seven slaves.
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The owners sometimes chose nicknames or diminutive names.
While White children may have had a nickname as a child, it was a rare man or woman known by a nickname. Thus, a nickname given to enslaved adults signified that the owners saw them as nothing more than children.
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The owners sometimes gave names that directly mocked the enslaved.
One man was called Prince, joining the above mocking names of Venus, Maximus and Primus. One of the seven enslaved Native men carried the name Tonnequin, reflecting his heritage. Another showed pride in who he was: Great David. The five others carried English names.
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Occasionally the owners chose the name of a slave ship or the ship’s city of origin or destination.
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However, ten of the roughly ninety enslaved did carry names directly from their West African heritage.
How African names continued to be used is not currently known. Five different people bore the name Cuff or its variants.[1] Cuff is a common name, even today, among the Akan people, who live in what is now Ghana. Kofi Annan, for example, is the name of a former UN Secretary General. Other people with Akan names in Brookline were Quaco, Ackey, Jack and Jackie.[2] A Brookline man was given the name Sambo, a Senegalese name that remains common today and holds no pejorative meaning in Senegal. |
Notes and Citations
{1} http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/06/racist-lyrics-in-song-sources-of-and.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ve_Been_Working_on_the_Railroad accessed July 12, 2020.
[1] Variants of Cuff were Cuffe, Coff and Cuffie.
[2] Ackey, Jack and Jackey are directly derived from Akan names, only pronounced and written a bit differently.
[1] Variants of Cuff were Cuffe, Coff and Cuffie.
[2] Ackey, Jack and Jackey are directly derived from Akan names, only pronounced and written a bit differently.