African-American Culture - Names

Names

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.