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African-American names are an integral part of African-American tradition. While many Black Americans use names that are popular with wider American culture, several specific naming trends have emerged within African-American culture.
Enslaved Black people remained legally nameless from the time of their capture until American enslavers purchased them. [1] Economic historians Lisa D. Cook, John Parman and Trevon Logan have found that distinctive African-American naming practices happened as early as in the Antebellum period (mid-1800s). [2] [3] However, those early names are no longer used. [2] [3]
It is widely held that before the 1950s and 1960s, most African-American names closely resembled those used within European-American culture. [4] Even within the European American population, a few very common names were given to babies of that era, with nicknames often used to distinguish among various people with the same name. [5] It was also quite common for immigrants and cultural minorities to choose baby names or change their names to fit in within the wider American culture. This applied to both given names and surnames. [5] [6]
Paustian has argued that black names display the same themes and patterns as those in West Africa. [7]
With the rise of the 1960s civil rights movement and the wider counterculture of the 1960s, there was a dramatic rise in African-American names of various origins. Jean Twenge believes that the shift toward unique Black American baby names is also the result of a trend in America that values individuality over conformity. [5]
In 2004, Fryer et al. examined the rapid change in naming practices in the early 1970s, with the rapid adoption of distinctively black names, especially in low-income, racially isolated neighborhoods. [8] They favor an explanatory model that attributes a change in black perceptions of their identity to the black power movement.
The most common and typical names among enslaved women in America included Bet, Mary, Jane, Hanna, Betty, Sarah, Phillis, Nan, Peg, and Sary. Private names were Abah, Bilah, Comba, Dibb, Juba, Kauchee, Mima, and Sena. Those enslaved in French Louisiana received names differing from English colonies in America: Francois, Jean, Pierre, and Leon for men; and Manon, Delphine, Marie Louise, Celeste, and Eugenie for women. Spanish colonies in America had Spanish names as Francisco, Pedro, and Antonio for enslaved men; and for enslaved women, the names were Maria, Isabella, and Juana. [9]
Lieberson and Mikelson of Harvard University analyzed black names, finding that the recent innovative naming practices follow American linguistic conventions even if they are independent of organizations or institutions. [10] Given names used by African-American people are often invented or creatively-spelled variants of more traditional names. Some names are created using syllables; for example, the prefixes La- or De- and the suffixes -ique or -isha. Also, punctuation marks such as apostrophes and dashes are sometimes used, though infrequent. [11]
While creoles of color historically had classical French names, many names of French origin entered the picture during the 1950s and 1960s in homage to the relative freedom that many African American expatriates in Paris had experienced during and after the Années folles . Opinions on the origins of the French influence vary, but historically French names such as Monique, Chantal, André, and Antoine became so common within African-American culture that many Americans began to think of them solely as "black names". These names are often seen with spelling variations such as Antwan, Antwaun or Antwon (Antoine) or Shauntelle (Chantal).[ citation needed ]
The Afrocentrism movement that grew in popularity during the 1970s saw the advent of African names among African Americans, as well as names imagined to be "African-sounding". Names such as Ashanti have African origins. [4] The Black Power movement inspired many to show pride in their heritage. Harvard University sociologist Stanley Lieberson noted that in 1977, the name "Kizzy" rose dramatically in popularity following the use of the name in the book and television series Roots . [4] [12]
By the 1970s and 1980s, it had become common within African-American culture to invent new names. Many of the invented names took elements from popular existing names. Prefixes such as La/Le, Da/De, Ra/Re, or Ja/Je and suffixes such as -ique/iqua, -isha (for girls), -ari and -aun/awn (for boys) are common, as well as inventive spellings for common names. The book Baby Names Now: From Classic to Cool—The Very Last Word on First Names places the origins of "La" names in African-American culture in New Orleans. [13] The name LaKeisha is typically considered American in origin but has elements drawn from both African and French roots.
Apostrophes are seen more often within African-American names than other American names, such as the names Mo'nique and D'Andre. [4] [14]
In his dictionary of black names, Cenoura asserts that in the early 21st century, black names are "unique names that come from combinations of two or more names, names constructed with common prefixes and suffixes...'conjugated' with a formula..." [15] "Da", "La", and related sounds may originate from the French spoken in Louisiana. Attached to a common name such as Seán and spelled phonetically, one obtains "DaShawn". Diminutive suffixes from French, Spanish, and Scottish, such as "ita", may be combined directly with prefixes or to a name, as is often found in other naming or nicknaming. Conventions followed usually make the person's gender easily identifiable. Following Spanish, masculine names frequently end in "o", e.g., "Carmello", while feminine names end with "a", e.g., "Jeretta". Following Irish and Italian, apostrophes may be used, e.g. "D'Andre" and "Rene'e". Parents' names may be blended, e.g., the son of "Raymond" and "Yvonne" might be named "Rayvon".
Rather uncommonly or unconventionally, some non-African Americans have been given names that are usually perceived or seen as typically carried by their black fellows. [16] An example of a European American with an explicitly Afrocentric name is Miss Michigan USA 2014 winner and a Miss USA 2015 delegate, Rashontae Wawrzyniak. [17]
Islam has been an influence on African-American names. Islamic names entered African-American culture with the rise of the Nation of Islam among black Americans with its focus upon black supremacy and separatism. The popular names Aisha, [4] Aaliyah, [18] and others are also examples of names derived from Islam.
Several African-American celebrities began adopting Muslim names (frequently following a religious conversion to Islam), including Muhammad Ali, who changed his name in 1964 from Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. Other celebrities adopting Muslim names include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (formerly Lew Alcindor) and Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones). [12] Despite the Muslim origin of these names and the place of the Nation of Islam in the Civil Rights Movement, many Muslim names such as Jamal and Malik entered popular usage among black Americans simply because they were fashionable, and many Islamic names are now commonly used by African Americans regardless of religion. [4] [12] Also, there have been a few non-black, non-Muslim Americans who bear those names. [19]
Some Black Americans gave and still give their children ethnic African names or names derived from African concepts. Some celebrities like Nas, named Olu Dara, have an ethnic Yoruba name, a West African language. Singer Ashanti was named after the Ashanti Empire and the people of Ghana. [20]
Some Black Americans also changed their birth names to those which they felt matched their African identity, like Ntozake Shange. [21] Born Paulette Williams, Shange asked South African musicians Ndikho and Nomusa Xaba to give her African names and she was given Ntozake Shange from the Zulu and Xhosa languages. Shange's sister Wanda also changed her name to Ifa Bayeza later in life - Ifa being a Yoruba word and concept. Actor Donald Cohen changed his name to Obba Babatunde - first name Oba meaning king in Yoruba, spelled with two Bs in his name; and Babatunde, a Yoruba name meaning Father has returned, signifying a belief in reincarnation and honoring a deceased father or male ancestor of the parents.
Also, in 1968, at 21, Alice Williams changed her name to Afeni Shakur; Afeni is a Yoruba word for "lover of people". [22] These names were based on pride in African ancestry, not necessarily individual claims of being from the particular ethnic groups the names were taken from. Black Americans are mixed with several African ethnicities; the naming conventions were out of inspirational or popular or well-known African ethnic groups they could get information about or felt connected to.[ citation needed ] Also, Sade or Shade also spelled Sharday or Shardae in the west is an African name which has grown in popularity among Black American names. It is a Yoruba name popularized by the singer Sade Adu.
Even with the rise of created names, it is still common for African Americans to use biblical or European names. Daniel, Christopher, Michael, David, James, Joseph, and Matthew were among the most common names for African-American boys in 2013. [4] [23] [24]
In recent years, some evidence points to workplace discrimination based on names. A study in the early 2020s concluded that applicants with traditionally black names have 2.1% less chance of getting a call back after an interview. Studies at the University of Chicago and the University of California Berkeley, in which over 83,000 entry-level job applications were submitted, showed that 7% of all jobs in the experiment were against traditionally black names. This research asserts that candidates with black names were less likely to get a callback. [25]
Hoodoo is an ethnoreligion that, in a broader context, functions as a set of spiritual observances, traditions, and beliefs—including magical and other ritual practices—developed by enslaved African Americans in the Southern United States from various traditional African spiritualities and elements of indigenous American botanical knowledge. Practitioners of Hoodoo are called rootworkers, conjure doctors, conjure men or conjure women, and root doctors. Regional synonyms for Hoodoo include rootwork and conjure. As an autonomous spiritual system it has often been syncretized with beliefs from Islam brought over by enslaved West African Muslims, and Spiritualism. Scholars define Hoodoo as a folk religion.
Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians are people from Trinidad and Tobago who are of Sub-Saharan African descent, mostly from West Africa. Social interpretations of race in Trinidad and Tobago are often used to dictate who is of West African descent. Mulatto-Creole, Dougla, Blasian, Zambo, Maroon, Pardo, Quadroon, Octoroon or Hexadecaroon (Quintroon) were all racial terms used to measure the amount of West African ancestry someone possessed in Trinidad and Tobago and throughout North American, Latin American and Caribbean history.
African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. African-American culture has been influential on American and global worldwide culture as a whole.
Ntozake Shange was an American playwright and poet. As a Black feminist, she addressed issues relating to race and Black power in much of her work. She is best known for her Obie Award–winning play, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1975). She also penned novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Liliane (1994), and Betsey Brown (1985), about an African-American girl run away from home.
The Akan people of Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. These "day names" have further meanings concerning the soul and character of the person. Middle names have considerably more variety and can refer to their birth order, twin status, or an ancestor's middle name.
Africanisms refers to characteristics of African culture that can be traced through societal practices and institutions of the African diaspora. Throughout history, the dispersed descendants of Africans have retained many forms of their ancestral African culture. Also, common throughout history is the misunderstanding of these remittances and their meanings. The term usually refers to the cultural and linguistic practices of West and Central Africans who were transported to the Americas during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Africanisms have influenced the cultures of diverse countries in North and South America and the Caribbean through language, music, dance, food, animal husbandry, medicine, and folklore.
Nigerian Americans are Americans who are of Nigerian ancestry. The number of Nigerian immigrants residing in the United States is rapidly growing, expanding from a small 1980 population of 25,000. The 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) estimated that 712,294 residents of the US were of Nigerian ancestry. The 2019 ACS further estimated that around 392,811 of these (85%) had been born in Nigeria. This puts the American-born Nigerian American population a little over 400,000. Similar to its status as the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria is also the African country with the most migrants to the US, as of 2013. In a study which was carried out by consumer genetics company 23andMe which involved the DNA of 50,281 people of African descent in the United States, Latin America, and Western Europe, it was revealed that Nigeria was the most common country of origin for testers from the United States, the French Caribbean, and the British Caribbean.
Betsey Brown is an African-American literature novel by Ntozake Shange, published in 1985.
Whitewash is a 1994 television special and animated short film that was based on a true story. The program was produced and directed by Michael Sporn with a screenplay by Ntozake Shange. Ruby Dee and Linda Lavin provide voices for the animated characters.
for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf is a 1976 work by Ntozake Shange. It consists of a series of poetic monologues to be accompanied by dance movements and music, a form which Shange coined the word choreopoem to describe. It tells the stories of seven women who have suffered oppression in a racist and sexist society.
The Yoruba people are a West African ethnic group who mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by the Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 50 million people in Africa, are over a million outside the continent, and bear further representation among members of the African diaspora. The vast majority of the Yoruba population is today within the country of Nigeria, where they make up 20.7% of the country's population according to Ethnologue estimations, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Most Yoruba people speak the Yoruba language, which is the Niger-Congo language with the largest number of native or L1 speakers.
A choreopoem is a form of dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song. The term was first coined in 1975 by American writer Ntozake Shange in a description of her work, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Shange's attempt to depart from traditional western poetry and storytelling resulted in a new art form that doesn't contain specific plot elements or characters, but instead focuses on creating an emotional response from the audience. In Shange's work, nontraditional spelling and African American Vernacular English are aspects of this genre that differ from traditional American literature. She emphasizes the importance of movement and nonverbal communication throughout the choreopoem so that it is able to function as a theatrical piece rather than being limited to poetry or dance.
The United States has very few laws governing given names. This freedom has given rise to a wide variety of names and naming trends. Naming traditions play a role in the cohesion and communication within American cultures. Cultural diversity in the U.S. has led to great variations in names and naming traditions and names have been used to express creativity, personality, cultural identity, and values.
Thulani Davis is an American playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter. She is a graduate of Barnard College and attended graduate school at both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.
nappy edges is a collection of poetry and prose poetry written by Ntozake Shange and first published by St. Martin's Press in 1978. The poems, which vary in voice and style, explore themes of love, racism, sexism, and loneliness. Shange's third book of poetry, nappy edges, was met with positive reviews and praise from critics, like Holly Prado of the Los Angeles Times who said of it that "this collection of poems, prose poems and poetic essays merges personal passion and heightened language."
Dianne McIntyre is an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Her notable works include Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Dance Adventure in Southern Blues , an adaptation of Zora Neal Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, as well as productions of why i had to dance,spell #7, and for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, with text by Ntozake Shange. She has won numerous honors for her work including an Emmy nomination, three Bessie Awards, and a Helen Hayes Award. She is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the Dramatists Guild of America.
Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo is a 1982 novel written by Ntozake Shange and first published by St. Martin's Press. The novel, which took eight years to complete, is a story of three Black sisters, whose names give the book its title, and their mother. The family is based in Charleston, South Carolina, and their trade is to spin, weave, and dye cloth; unsurprisingly, this tactile creativity informs the lives of the main characters as well as the style of the writing. Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo integrates the whole of an earlier work by Shange called simply Sassafrass, published in 1977 by Shameless Hussy Press. As is common in Shange's work, the narrative is peppered with interludes that come in the form of letters, recipes, dream stories and journal entries, which provide a more intimate approach to each woman's journey toward self-realization and fulfillment. The book deals with several major themes, including Gullah/Geechee culture, women in the arts, the Black Arts Movement, and spirituality, among many others.
The Sweet Breath of Life: A Poetic Narrative of the African-American Family is a 2004 photographic poetic narrative by Ntozake Shange and the photography collective Kamoinge Inc. The Kamoinge Workshop was founded in New York in 1963 to support the work of black photographers in a field then dominated by white photographers. The book was first published on October 26, 2004, through Atria Books and was edited by Frank Steward, the president of Kamoinge Inc.
if i can cook / you know god can is a culinary memoir by Ntozake Shange. It was originally published by Beacon Press, in Boston MA, United States, in 1998. The piece is both memoir and cookbook. Short essays precede recipes written in personal vernacular, and these recipes cover locations such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the United States.
Margaret Rose Vendryes was a visual artist, curator, and art historian based in New York.
