Would this help to wipe away some of the pain associated with the memory of slavery?



If you are not in favour, can you please state the reasons why you are against it.



If you are in favour, how then would a an African American/Caribbean go about finding the right name considering that most know so little about their ancestry, lineage and African naming customs.

That's up to African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans. We have no say on what you guys do.

Names mean nthng dis generation, and dt wud b a waste of tym

I think their names are ok as they are. The diaspora cannot be assumed to have no identity separate from Africa. They have also mixed with other races, hence their being a unique identity and they have a right to establish their own naming system, which I must say is so successful that some of their names are being picked up by Africans most of who, by the way, have not dropped the English first names imposed upon colonialism.

I know people with African American first names like bre, ashlyn, Ashley, I think they are even helping us discard our colonial master first names like John, Peter etc

I like the thought, but it's more so the last names that link us to slavery. most African Americans still carry the last names of the slave masters who owned our families, you will rarely find an African American with an African last name.

If it makes you feel better about yourself, sure. But I don't think it is something you guys absolutely have to do. The 'European' experience in the New World also forms part of your history, heritage and even genetic make-up...so, what's odd if you have European names?

I see no discussion being had on whether the Briggses and the Horsfalls and the Hallidays and the Silvas etcetera of Nigeria should change their family names to more African ones. A few have, most haven't. Personal decisions. It should be the same for New World Blacks.

The Main issue is the surnames and these surnames simply pass from generation to generation.

I am aware that some places in the New World many black people still retain African first names especially in places like Guyana and Suriname. In Guyana it is not unusual to hear Afro-Guyanese people with an Akan first name like Kwame.

Also there seems to be a general perception that every person from the New World is heavily admixed this simply is not the case.
Every country in the New World had a different colonial experience.

For instance in Barbados there was a law that prohibited mixing between blacks and whites during slavery, though it did happen at times it significantly minimised mixture in that population. This is why most Barbadian people like myself do not appear to have any admixture.

Jayvarley:


I am aware that some places in the New World many black people still retain African first names especially in places like Guyana and Suriname. In Guyana it is not unusual to hear Afro-Guyanese people with an Akan first name like Kwame

I have also come across a lot of women from Latin America called Ada (which means daughter in Igbo) and they know the meaning of their name

Well if you can take a DNA test that points you to a certain part of Africa like lets say NIGERIA... then you can take an Nigerian name of any ethnic group you like e.g. yoruba, igbo, hausa etc

Jayvarley:
Would this help to wipe away some of the pain associated with the memory of slavery?



If you are not in favour, can you please state the reasons why you are against it.



If you are in favour, how then would a an African American/Caribbean go about finding the right name considering that most know so little about their ancestry, lineage and African naming customs.

the names are not copyrighted.

Phut:


I have also come across a lot of women from Latin America called Ada (which means daughter in Igbo) and they know the meaning of their name

An interesting revelation.

I know that the Jamaican Maroons practice the Akan day naming system.

It just shows how marooned communities are able to retain their African cultural ties