Early African-American Names

This spelling variation of the Biblical place-name Sela is found on early American census roles, but Sela is more usual today. Cella is another early variation.

Cinderella stepsister type Victorian-valentine name.

Easter has been used as a name for several hundred years, as part of the day-naming tradition; now, this rarely heard holiday celebration name would make a novel choice for a springtime baby. Background:The early Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar Bede took the name of a goddess--Eostre-- whose feast was celebrated at the vernal equinox and gave it to the Christian festival of the resurrection of Christ.

This Puritan virtue name may be unstylish, but it is also sympathetic and appealing in these largely uncomfortable times.

With the tide coming in on a new wave of word names, this one just might catch on, especially for parents who relish sun, sand, and surf. Forest lovers can spell it Beech, like the tree.

Hagar is an Old Testament name with an unfortunate association with comic strip character "Hagar the Horrible."

Eighteenth-century nickname that still appears occasionally as an alternative to Suzy.

Juba, a strong and resonant unisex name, belonged to an ancient African king, is a city and river name, and is traditionally given to Ashanti (of Ghana) girls born on Monday.

Perlie, along with Pearlie and Purlie, was one of the 21 names identified by Lisa D. Cook and colleagues in their landmark study on distinctively Black names from history.

Very occasionally given to boys born on that day; Noel is a more common name for Christmas babies.

While we would think of Pearlie as a girlish pet form of Pearl today, it was a unisex name in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among males, it was disproportionately used among African Americans.

Roman statesman and Caesar rival whose name, like other classical choices, was occasionally used for enslaved people. The Pompeo version could rise again.

The Phillis spelling of this once-popular name lives on thanks to Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American to publish a book of poetry, in the 18th century.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Purlie was a distinctively Black name used primarily among baby boys. Purlie, along with alternate spellings Pearlie and Perlie, is virtually unheard of today.