BreadFruit you hit the nail on the head with your last post analysis....I can tell that even before i became self aware, and gained knowledge of my true history, that i felt uncomfortable with my slave name.. it didn't fit and didn't suit my personality...plus i felt that it made me feel weak and appear weak in the eye of Europeans.. Which is principally why I threw it away..it didn't belong to me and did not speak to my personality or culture.

I can say hand on heart, thatI have never since reclaiming my proper name, felt inferior, felt weak and I have never had any European take me likely....


I would also make the point that whilst I agree the Surname is important...I think that the first name is vital as that is the name first called either socially or proffessionally...

TheDogon wrote: I think you missed the subtle joke Safety was playing.

Ke'al Wytee is pronounced almost as if you were saying "Kill Whitey!"...LOL.

Kunjufu wrote:

I hear that Brother.

Ifour political environmenthas not changed, if the oppression of the African has been continuous and is documented in history, then the African should de-construct, dismantle those sameconstant, persistentstructures, whether economic (reliance on non African means of production), political (thepuppet useof Africans who have the same interests as those who still oppress Africans en mass), or psychological( ideas that stop or hinder resistance to the ideology thatsees Africans as lesser than or the insignificant other); the sameinsidiouspsychological component of our lives that reactionaries constantly state is not important or has little effect on our lives and destinies.

It's a great contradiction to admit to the negative psychological/physical effects of name, language and cultural destruction as something that harmed our ancestors, yet today, while still living in environments that still seeAfricans as lesser than (institutionalized racist states),we, name ourselves after Europeans, but refuse to look at that samepsychological/culturalelement that weakened our ancestors.



This brother put it this way, over 40 years ago, but many still don't get..................



Who are you?

You dont know. Dont tell me Negro, thats nothing.

What were you before the white man named you a Negro?

And where were you?

And what did you have?

What was yours?

What language did you speak then?

What was your name?

It couldnt have been Smith or Jones or Bunch?? or Powell.

That wasn't your name. They don't have those kind of names where you and I came from.

No. What was your name? And why don't you now know what your name was then?

Where did it go?

Where did you lose it?

Who took it?

And how did he take it?

What tongue did you speak? How did the man take your tongue?

Where is your history? How did the man wipe out your history?

How did the man, what did the man do to make you as dumb as you are right now?

Malcolm X

I am in the same quandrary as its really my surname that I not neccesarily detest but do detest if it makes sense. The surname is linked to the f**ker who enslaved my ancestors and to me personally is the one link that I think should be severed more than anything else.

Equally your first name is as Kunjufu said/ is what your called all the time/ so it has equal importance if not more. But for some reason I find the surname more and more a thing I cannot deal with and is a unresolved part of my life which needs to be addressed.

My children can change their name if they like... Sistren makes a very valid point that its not so much a imposing but aduty (if I interpreted you correctly).It is with great regret that we named mychild aEuropean name..at times I feel I failed him in not being more culturally aware or not placing the utmost importance in his first name. And its not like I was ignorant to the facts at the time. In my defense the power of white norms and culture is great over us /even those that are more aware of the facts at play.

DNA tracing for the the source of a name is a great idea and I will explore it. Even as Mez says Africans have been migrating up to the last century.. so the names that proliferate in one district may not come from that place anyway. But that holds for all of the worlds continents still.

On top of all that my sister in law by chance last week/ picked up a letter a lady had dropped in a bankqueue/ which had my surname. When she ask where your family come from its the same district as my father. Damn its a wicked ting when you realise that they may be family or/ our ancestors shared the same fate on the same platation...??

Going off at a tangent how would you approch such a situation if they are not family. Should the common link to a terrible time be a source of empathy now between us now?In a place like America you probably had 1000s of names which are the same/ scattered across that vast country. In a small island like Jamaica chances are that same surname in the same district means your families histories are linked.

Im going to phone her tonight anyway and pursue the mystery since my brother aint too interested..

Kunjufu wrote:


I hear you and That is ultimately all any of us can do

Sistren - I know definitely in my school days even the Africans hid their real names but I've found while growing the men tended to see things for themselves and the women tended to more hold onto what their parents told them. Probably had a lot to do with men more likely to be on t he receiving end of the racist system.

I don't know if it is gender specific in America. Uncle Thomas Sowell and his gang are mostly "Black" males.


by Thomas Sowell
Posted Nov 29, 2005







People have always sought distinctions but the ways they have tried to distinguish themselves have varied widely. Some have let their achievements speak for them but others have let their clothes, their tattoos, their pierced body parts, or just their loud and strident talk establish their claims to be noticed.

Exhibitionists have been especially rampant in our times. In an earlier era, Joe Louis wore the same regulation boxing trunks as other fighters, unlike some of today's boxers, who sport all sorts of wild colors and patterns. But Joe Louis is remembered for being a great champion and for his dignity as a man.

One of the ways some people seek special distinction today is in the names they give their children. Not only are the names themselves distinctive, these names remain distinctive only in so far as other people do not give their children the same names. So names today have a much faster rate of turnover than in the past.

Back in 17th century Massachusetts, more than half of all girls were named Mary, Elizabeth, or Sarah. Mary remained the most popular girls' name, nationwide, throughout the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. Today it is not even among the top ten.

In fact, none of the top ten girls' names in 1960 were still among the top ten girls' names in 2000.

What does all this mean?

Maybe it means that we are preoccupied with standing out -- without doing anything that merits our standing out. Maybe we want distinction on the cheap.

Maybe we don't even understand what an achievement is. There was a time when people who were neither rich, nor celebrities, nor outlandish in name or appearance, were nevertheless noticed and well regarded as pillars of their communities because of their personal qualities and character.

Names are just one of the superficialities of our time that have replaced character, wisdom and achievement.

The turnover in names in part represents people from lower economic levels imitating the names of people in the upper income brackets. "Heather" used to be a name that was fashionable in upscale circles. Over the years, however, it has become so common among people with lower incomes and less education that it has now faded among the elites.

None of the top five girls' names among low-education families is among the top five girls' names among high-education families. The same is true of boys' names.

Blacks and whites used to give their children pretty much the same names. No more. Since the 1970s, racial segregation has returned, this time in names.

California is one of the most extreme examples of this, as it is of so many other extreme trends. More than 40 percent of the black girls born in California during a given year have a name not found among even one white girl born in the same state.

Asian Americans have not joined this name fad, as they have by and large avoided other fads. Maybe their emphasis on achievement has made these other claims for attention unnecessary.

"What's in a name?" Shakespeare asked. These days, sometimes a lot.

There have been studies claiming racial discrimination by employers who are more likely to reject a job applicant named DeShawn or Jamal than one named Jack or Scott.

Names are indicative of more than race, however. They are also indicative of values and attitudes in the families from which particular people came. So are other indicators. A lady working in an employment office contacted me a while back because her boss had told her to reject job applicants with gold teeth. She wondered if that was morally right.

I have had no experience hiring people with gold teeth, so I have no idea how reliable that is as an indicator. But, since the employer pays the price of being mistaken, it is his call, not mine.

Parents who think they are doing something clever or cute -- or just "making a statement" -- when they name their children might consider what the consequences might be later on. They might also consider giving their child some more solid foundation than a name for achieving something worthwhile in life.

Its ok to call your your child a Swedish, or Norwegian first name if you wish.

OH YES nutin wrong with this at'll. Why......... because its an individual thing. Individual to you. We must still maintain these rights at'll costs. Parents sometimes name their children in memory of an important person, or someone honourable, such as the white-man who donated the only matching organ in the worldto keep their baby son alive.My reasoning as to why the first name is not as important in the grand scheme of things is mainly because it will not impact upon the future identities of our race. Itsfact but not material. Its physcological but some of us dont need props inthis way in order to support our consciousness.

I mentioned MOTIVE being key. If 'reclaiming your identity' is the only reason for your name change, then this can ONLY include changing your surname, as changing the first name soleyreclaims nothing really. Im struggling with reasons outside of claiming ones identity, as being valid enough reason to justify changing your name.

Kunjufu wrote: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
blkclapblkclapblkclapblkclapblkclapGood move Kunjufu. I wish more Diasporan Africans will follow suit as the journey to our roots and culture begin with our names. I know my kids will get all African names and no European first names as was the practise in our parents generations.

Shemsi en Tehuti wrote: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just to add to what is being discussed. My ethnic group is found in three Countries because of Colonialism, in Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, and as a result I have relatives and family living in all three Countries. The damn Europeans divided our land among three Countries.

As to the issue of choosing which names and from which part of Africa; I would say it really does not matter where the name comes from as long as it is African. For instance my family name is also found among the Zulus of South Africa and we do share some names even though the Zulus are at one end of Africa and we are in the other end. Africans have always migrated and the history of our people states that we migrated Southwards from the North; somewhere close to Egypt and some claim we come from somewhere in Northern Ethiopia moving south slowly and intermarrying and intermingling along the way. Further examples of intermarrying is on my Mothers side, myGrandmothers clan/tribe actually came from the Northern Part of DRC near to Central Africa, migrated to Sudan andwere absorbed into my Grandfathers tribe. As a result some of the names we use are also found inother countries because of all this movements.