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ArchivesOrigins of African-American names
Where does the popular prefix "de" and "la" (french?) come from ? For example DeAndre and Larhonda.
Why do African-Americans make up names but more importantly where does the inspiration come from?
Why do African-Americans make up names but more importantly where does the inspiration come from?
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I think the main reason for making up names is to detach themselves from white naming conventions.
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I remember hearing that a number of times.
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La- ultimately comes from the New Orleans area inspired by French
This message was edited 8/25/2016, 11:13 PM
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The same goes for de and le.
To the OP:
You will see a lot of creole style names that use surnames (ex. LeBron/LeBrun, LeMont, and Develson) as forenames and names that are of English descent with a La- (ex. LaRhonda, LaTonya), Le- (ex. LeVaughn, LeAngelo) or De- (as in DeShawn, DeMarcus) in front of them to create names appearing in that Creole surname style.
This evolved into other spellings, such as Lu- (ex. Lutawnya), Da- (ex. Dashawna), D' (ex. D'Antoine), L' (L'Shay), etc.
This then evolved into using a variety of other prefixes added to English names such as A- (ex. Amaria), Ja- (ex. Jakeisha), J' (ex. J'Sean), Ka- (ex. Kamisha), Ma- (ex. Maliyah), O- (ex. Omarion), Sha- (ex. Shamika).
A variety of spellings were then added (Amariya, Jakisha, Jayshawn, Meleah, etc.).
Additionally, some elements seem to be used often such as -asia, -ika, -ish-, -asha for females and Tre-, -toin/-twan, -dre, -onte for males with others overlapping such as -ique and -awn.
In the 80's there was a surge of Afro-centric names to feel connected with roots, such as Ebony, Zenobia, Kenya, Egypt, and Nubia.
Thats as much information as I have.
To the OP:
You will see a lot of creole style names that use surnames (ex. LeBron/LeBrun, LeMont, and Develson) as forenames and names that are of English descent with a La- (ex. LaRhonda, LaTonya), Le- (ex. LeVaughn, LeAngelo) or De- (as in DeShawn, DeMarcus) in front of them to create names appearing in that Creole surname style.
This evolved into other spellings, such as Lu- (ex. Lutawnya), Da- (ex. Dashawna), D' (ex. D'Antoine), L' (L'Shay), etc.
This then evolved into using a variety of other prefixes added to English names such as A- (ex. Amaria), Ja- (ex. Jakeisha), J' (ex. J'Sean), Ka- (ex. Kamisha), Ma- (ex. Maliyah), O- (ex. Omarion), Sha- (ex. Shamika).
A variety of spellings were then added (Amariya, Jakisha, Jayshawn, Meleah, etc.).
Additionally, some elements seem to be used often such as -asia, -ika, -ish-, -asha for females and Tre-, -toin/-twan, -dre, -onte for males with others overlapping such as -ique and -awn.
In the 80's there was a surge of Afro-centric names to feel connected with roots, such as Ebony, Zenobia, Kenya, Egypt, and Nubia.
Thats as much information as I have.
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Thanks:) great info
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It must be possible to track the names to the first person using them and ask how and why they came up with it? Somebody has to be the first to use these names right?
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