tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post5087464355105370108..comments2024-03-29T08:48:14.872-04:00Comments on pancocojams: Some Distinctive African American Female Names That Begin With "La"Azizi Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-5253905720965468542021-11-27T07:18:26.440-05:002021-11-27T07:18:26.440-05:00Thanks for sharing that information, Unknown.
I d...Thanks for sharing that information, Unknown.<br /><br />I didn't know that. I assume you are talking about personal names.<br /><br />That's interesting because my guess is that one of the major influences on the African American custom of adding "La" (pronounced "lah") to personal names is the name "Lafayette", the last name of the French man who served in the American Revolutionary War in support of the American colonist. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette</a>.<br /><br />My guess that Lafayette's title "Marquis" also influenced African American preference for that word being used as a personal name. Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-48705342880200048662021-11-26T11:01:41.620-05:002021-11-26T11:01:41.620-05:00In France. When you put 'la' in front of a...In France. When you put 'la' in front of a name it's disrespecful. Not polite. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07137778755020834949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-74399255864265314382018-08-18T08:55:11.505-04:002018-08-18T08:55:11.505-04:00I just happened upon this portion of an article en...I just happened upon this portion of an article entitled "Our Evolving Black American Naming Traditions"<br />by Elisabeth Pearson Waugaman Ph.D., Mar 01, 2015<br /><br /><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/whats-in-name/201503/our-evolving-black-american-naming-traditions" rel="nofollow">https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/whats-in-name/201503/our-evolving-black-american-naming-traditions</a><br /><br />"Because of the vibrant Creole culture in Louisiana, there is also a French influence in some African-American names. This includes not only French surnames but also given names beginning with “La,” (e.g. Lawanda), “De” (e.g. Deandre’) and with the use of apostrophes (e.g. Andre’, Mich’ele), that represent accents that were not yet available on American typewriters at the time.<br />-snip-<br />I hadn't considered the influence of French Creole culture on the use of "La" and "De" prefixes in African American names. That certainly may be a factor in the use of those prefixes among African Americans.<br /><br />However, I believe that the use of apostrophes (or hyphens) in African American names has to do with the way the name <i>looks</i> and <b>not at all</b> with how the name is pronounced. Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-40914902938388307732017-11-20T01:34:01.659-05:002017-11-20T01:34:01.659-05:00An African American female with an "La" ...An African American female with an "La" prefix also made the news on November 19, 2017:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/e2a94740-14cb-3fa9-b4a3-2159041b8078/ss_latoya-cantrell-becomes-new.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/e2a94740-14cb-3fa9-b4a3-2159041b8078/ss_latoya-cantrell-becomes-new.html</a><br /><br />"LaToya Cantrell becomes New Orleans' first female mayor<br />Los Angeles Times November 19, 2017<br /><br /><br />"LaToya Cantrell, a City Council member who first gained a political following as she worked to help her hard-hit neighborhood recover from Hurricane Katrina, won a historic election Saturday that made her the first female mayor of New Orleans."<br />-snip-<br />Also, note on the same day that an African American male with an "La" prefix name also made the news:<br /><br />https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/sports/lavar-ball-trump.html Trump Blasts LaVar Ball: ‘I Should Have Left Them in Jail!’<br />-snip-<br />For more information and comments about La Var Ball, read the comment section of the companion pancocojams post about Distinctive African American Names That Begin With "La". That post's link is given above. <br /><br />Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-45039607402473428932017-10-24T20:22:18.081-04:002017-10-24T20:22:18.081-04:00Dr. Farooq Kperogi is the author of a February 13,...Dr. Farooq Kperogi is the author of a February 13, 2017 Daily Trust [Nigerian] newspaper column entitled "Nigerian and African Muslim Personal Names Among the Gullah of Georgia and South Carolina". <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201602151888.html" rel="nofollow">http://allafrica.com/stories/201602151888.htmlM</a> <br /><br />That column includes a few examples of African personal names that African American linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner found among the Gullah people in the United States in the 1930s.<br /><br />Some of those names may help explain why African Americans seem to have a preference for the "La" prefix in personal names for females and males.<br /><br />Here are some excerpts from that article which I reprinted in this pancocojams post: <a href="http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/10/reprinted-nigerian-newspaper-column.html" rel="nofollow">http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/10/reprinted-nigerian-newspaper-column.html</a>* <br /> <br />"Among the hundreds of Yoruba names Turner recorded among the Gullah people in the 1930s are names like ... Alafia [ "Alafia" is an Arabic-derived word; see Arabized African names below], Alabo, Alade, Alawo....Otunla,...."<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />He [Lorenzo Dow Turner] also recorded names like.... Lafiya ( derived from the Arabic word for good health, which is borne as a royal name among the Borgu people in Nigeria and Benin Republic, and as an everyday personal name in Senegambia and other historically Muslim polities in West Africa; Laila; Laraba, a Hausa name given to a girl born on Wednesday, derived from al-arbi'aa', the Arabic word for Wednesday ....<br /><br />They also bear the names of West African ethnic groups as personal names, indicating the ethnic origins of some of the Gullah people. They bear names like Fulani, Fulbe, Fula (which refer to the same people)... according to Turner's records"...<br />-snip-<br /><br />* That pancocojams post also includes information about Gullah people in the United States, information about Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, and information about Dr. Farooq Kperogi.<br /><br />I have a copy of the book <i>The African Heritage Of American English</i>, editors Joseph E. Holloway and Winifred K. Vass (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1993) which is based on Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner’s 1949 book <i>Africanisms In The Gullah dialect</i>. I intend to compile some of those names and feature them in a future pancocojams post or posts.<br /><br />Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-44605026143372545332017-10-22T14:24:50.297-04:002017-10-22T14:24:50.297-04:00There's really no way to know if the Yoruba (N...There's really no way to know if the Yoruba (Nigeria, West Africa) name element "ola" is the reason for what is a long held Black American preference for the "lah" sound as a prefix in given (first and middle) names. <br /><br />But, given that the Yoruba prefix "ola" means "honor or wealth", putting that prefix before a name could have been a coded way for oppressed people to call into being their best hopes and wishes for their children who embodied those names.Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-55290285862955627922017-10-22T10:29:30.088-04:002017-10-22T10:29:30.088-04:00[I wrote parts of this comment for the pancocojams...[I wrote parts of this comment for the pancocojams post about "some distinctive African American male names that begin with "La"]<br /><br />I used Google search to see if I could find any names beginning with "L" and "La" in particular in certain traditional African languages. Here are my results:<br /><br />Swahili - no names beginning with "La" (male or female)<br /><br /><a href="https://jlalablog.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/african-congolese-names-or-zairian-names.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://jlalablog.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/african-congolese-names-or-zairian-names.pdf</a> <br />Lingala [language spoken in the Congo]<br />No female names beginning with La<br />6 female or male/female names beginning with L <br /><br /><a href="http://www.nairaland.com/1506134/lists-yoruba-names-english-meaning" rel="nofollow">http://www.nairaland.com/1506134/lists-yoruba-names-english-meaning</a> <br />no names beginning with “L” [on the] "LISTS OF YORUBA NAMES AND THEIR ENGLISH MEANING".<br /> <br /><a href="http://maternitynest.com/nigerian-baby-names-igbo-names-girls/" rel="nofollow">http://maternitynest.com/nigerian-baby-names-igbo-names-girls/</a><br />“Lotachukwu [variants] Lota, Lotachi Remember God<br />Lotanna [variants] Lota, Nna Remember the father/God”<br />-snip-<br />These names are unisex (i.e. They can be given to males or females].<br /><br /><a href="http://www.afropedea.org/akan-names" rel="nofollow">http://www.afropedea.org/akan-names</a> List of Akan (Twi, Asante) Names<br /><br />No Akan names beginning with L<br /><br />-snip-<br />However, there are lots of Yoruba names that either begin with or end with the element "ola".* <br /><br />Given that many people of Yoruba descent were enslaved in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America, and given how much Yoruba culture has influenced the cultures of the Americans and the Caribbean, perhaps the "ola" name element is one of the reasons why the "lah" sound appears to be so popular among African Americans.<br /><br />*Click <a href="http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/10/yoruba-nigerian-names-with-ola-prefix.html" rel="nofollow">http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/10/yoruba-nigerian-names-with-ola-prefix.html</a> for a pancocojams post about the "ola" prefix and suffix in Yoruba names.Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.com