slave names
Owners' chosen labels
Slave names are surnames imposed on enslaved people by slaveholders, typically the owner's family name.
After emancipation, many Black Americans kept these names while others chose new ones.
The term now appears in discussions of African American genealogy and identity: Malcolm X rejected what he called his slave name.
Some use it more broadly for any name seen as erasing cultural heritage.
Hereditary family identifiers
- genealogyStudy of family descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- family treeChart of ancestors
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
ancestry · forebears · descendants · bills of sale · manifests · oral history · DNA testing · reclamation
Legal right of possession
- propertySomething owned or inherent
- brandingCreating distinctive identity
- inventoryCatalog of held assets
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
title transfer · auction · inheritance · patronymic · Washington · Jefferson · descendants
Words implying smallness or affection
- AmericanizationAdopting US cultural norms
- anglicizationAdapting to English conventions
- CaesarRoman imperial title
- PompeyFirst Triumvirate member
Cato · Scipio · emancipation · Kunta Kinte
surnames
Hereditary family identifiers
- genealogyStudy of family descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- family treeChart of ancestors
roots · ancestry · forebears · descendants · bills of sale · manifests · oral history · DNA testing · reclamation · identity
ownership
Legal right of possession
- propertySomething owned or inherent
- brandingCreating distinctive identity
- inventoryCatalog of held assets
documentation · title transfer · auction · inheritance · patronymic · Washington · Jefferson · descendants
diminutives
Words implying smallness or affection
- AmericanizationAdopting US cultural norms
- anglicizationAdapting to English conventions
- CaesarRoman imperial title
Pompey · Cato · Scipio · emancipation · Kunta Kinte
- namessurnames, nicknames, forenames, surname, nickname
- slaverybondage, chattel, thrall, Middle Passage, slaveholders
- ancient namesZeus, Apollo, Athena, Venus, Mars
- inscriptionsinscription, epitaph, ancient inscriptions, stone inscriptions, gravestone
- Roman NamesAugustus, Marcus, Lucius, Publius, Titus
slave namesancestral names
Inherited family identifiers
traditional names · tribal names · indigenous names · birth names · family names
slave, slaves, slaved, slaving, slavish, slavishly, slavery, enslaved, enslave