African-American Culture - Names

Names

See also: Slave name

African-American names are often drawn from the same language groups as other popular names found in the United States. Most surnames are of Anglo origin. The practice of adopting neo-African or Islamic names did not gain popularity until the late Civil Rights era. Efforts to recover African heritage inspired selection of names with deeper cultural significance. Prior to this, using African names was uncommon because African Americans were several generations removed from the last ancestor to have an African name, as slaves were often given European names. There has also been a trend of moving away from historical names altogether adopting uniquely African-American names. African-American female names may have origins in many languages including French, Latin, English, Arabic, and African languages. Many have the popular prefix of "La" or "Le" (Latoya, Lashawn, Latrice, etc.) and also "Da" and "De" (Denelle, Danisha, etc.) Names such as Tanisha (meaning the name of a day indicating birth on a Monday) originate in Africa from the Hausa language. Other African languages include Zulu, Swahili, Igbo, and Yoruba. African-American boy names also have origins in many languages including French, Latin, English and various languages in Africa. Many have connections to Greek and Classical literature, the Bible or reflect noble positions such as Earl or Earle. Some also include the prefixes of "La"/"Le" and "Da"/"De", such as Lamarr or DaJon.

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Famous quotes containing the word names:

    “And even my sense of identity was wrapped in a namelessness often hard to penetrate, as we have just seen I think. And so on for all the other things which made merry with my senses. Yes, even then, when already all was fading, waves and particles, there could be no things but nameless things, no names but thingless names. I say that now, but after all what do I know now about then, now when the icy words hail down upon me, the icy meanings, and the world dies too, foully named.”
    —Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)

    “If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will—the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.”
    —William Hazlitt (1778–1830)

    “The names of those who in their lives fought for life,
    Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre.
    Born of the sun they traveled a short while towards the sun,
    And left the vivid air signed with their honour.”
    —Stephen Spender (1909–1995)