babygirl44 wrote:

My name says, "This is who I am. And what?! That's right."

.lol!. Really!? Thats classic, what is it exactly?

I'd have to get out of this stink ass area to change mine.

darth norman wrote:


Trying to escape that ridiculous gas bill are we?

[align=center][/align]
[align=center]**Merged**[/align]

Look at it this way-

when people convert to islam, they change their name but they also ditch their old lives (including family) and embrace their new muslim family. In this scenario, a name change is not a big deal.

But, you'll be keeping your old friends and family so there will be conflict there. Guaranteed.

I respect your attitude, but make no bones about it. It will be real tough.

darth norman wrote:

[align=center]The roots of what many now deem normal[/align]


"Early slaveholders in Pennsylvania, like their counterparts in other states, assigned names to the people they enslaved as a means not only of identification--few slaveholders wanted to bother to learn the African name of the person he had just bought--but also as a means of defining their authority in the new relationship of master and slave.........."


"Very few slaves show up in records with their original African names intact. Slaveholders disliked and discouraged the use of names which sounded strange to them, and as noted above, the power to rename a person at will reinforced the role of the slaveholder as the person in charge. Only one known slave was registered with a name which may be African in origin. William Hay of Londonderry Township, Lancaster County (later Dauphin County) registered a 26 year-old female slave named "Dembigh" in 1780. "Dembigh" is very close to the African "Dembi," a traditional male name meaning "peace." No other instances of traditional African names have come to light, showing how completely original African names were suppressed in slaves brought to Pennsylvania. One additional instance, from Philadelphia County, does specifically mention the slave's African name, and helps to explain this phenomenon. The item is a runaway notice from 1763, which advertises for the return of "Jupiter, though it is likely he may call himself by his Negroe Name, which is Moeyon, or Oantee." Despite the slaveholder's awareness of his slave's original African name, he refers to him by the slave name "Jupiter," and no doubt used that name in official papers concerning this slave. If not for the escape of this slave, the African names "Moeyon" and "Oantee" would never have been known."

http://www.afrolumens.org/slavery/names.html

My mother's father and uncles where Baptised as children and got these old-fashioned white names like Cyprian, Sabinus etc.

Their parents could not even pronounce their own childrens names. So after some time of fruitless efforts they africanized their names....Cyprian for example becam Chike...

My name is Ijeoma 'western name' 'nigerian surname'. Yet for some reason my parents call me by my second western name. Two of my brothers are called by their igbo names even though they have western names as well. My little sister only has igbo names.
I like my Nigerian name much better, my western name means nothing. Now when I meet new people I introce myself as Ijeoma.

I tell my old friends my actual name is Ijeoma, though I don't mind if they still accidentally call me 'western name' cause i often forget to correct them.

http://www.namesite.com/index2.php?v...g&gender=m

Man it is so interesting to see how the experiences of brothers and sisters from continental parents, suffered with the same madness as many in the Caribbean. Parents messing up their kids not vice versa in this instance.

@K I think reclaiming African names are important, but I also think there is far more to matters of cultural identity in all its diversity and possibly higher practices which can or should or could be reclaimed which are far more pressing than a name. I am definitely feeling Dogon on this one.

The reclaiming of basic fundamental moral values or higher human ones for that matter would be a greater priority for me.

FB

Hey Kunjufu,

I'm quite proud to have read about your choices to change your name to what you felt was right for you. I agree that names are important and do need to have meaning not just for the person you are at birth but also the person you will live to be.

I have several names some were given to me and one I have chosen. The names given to me when I was older mean "she who is agreeable" and "just soul". The name I chose for myself before receiving these was Talibah "seeker of knowledge. I don't mind as much when people call me by my "christian" name because that's what they know me as. I keep my cultural side and my dunya side seperate sometimes just to stay away from the ignorance. Those that know and need to call me by my Nubian names and I prefer it that way.

Allmy children have Nubian and Ashuric names although my daughters first name is a combination of mine and hubby's grandmothers names out of respect for them.All their names are on their birth certificates too but we have made theNubian names their middle names so that if they choose when they are older to use those names so be it.

At home and around family we call them by their Nubian names though. It's quite funny to hear the other family members get used to pronouncing them but they know what to expect from us by now LOL. We also have a naming ceremony7 or 8 days after each child is born and we decide based on how their characters seem once they're born.

It does help to know that these things do have a high level of importance to so many of us. It's just a shame that we still have what seems like a weight of judgement haning over us as to whether or not we recalim some form of culture. Geez sometimes it's like we can't have anything of our own. Take your name yes!

Hi, I remember a while ago (long,long time ago) there was a thread, think started by Kunjufu about rejecting his slave name and adopting an afrocentric surname instead. I'm 19 now and it's something I've been thinking about deeply for some years. I have a Jewish surname that doesn't reflect my heritage or the people that made me at all, we had 1 token jew in the family so it makes little sense to keep it.

I've spoken to some of my family about it in the past (a small portion are afrocentric) and their answer is 'Well we're not slaves now, and the surname means something different'. It's not just the issue of it possibly having been a slave name, it's more the issue of it doesn't say anything about my heritage at all. I understand that for some people the concept of 'Slave names' and rejecting them/keeping them is controversial to some, but for me it's a really important issue. Is it rejecting your family (as some of my relatives think), is it being too militant (which I have been called and disagree with). Would/have any of you changed your names, what was the process like and how did your families/friends react to it?

Anyway the reason for this post is because I couldn't find the original. Thanks