Black Ghetto Baby Names | Terrell Darnell

Terrell Darnell

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In my research on Black Ghetto Baby Names, there is an entire class that I have come across that really begs discussion. The class is “First names that have become associated with blacks, but are really surnames of English lords.” There is a surprising number even on the list of most popular African American names. In this two-part article, the ones we will discuss are:

Terrell, Darnell, Marquis, and Tyrone. Yes, they are all former surnames of English lords.

Terrell

The Terrell family hearkens back to the middle ages, at a time when even the names very spelling was not standardized. For example, in those days Terrell could be spelled “Terrell”,”Tyrell”, “Tirell”, or “Turrell”. Kind of reminds you of the same variation you see in namings in the community, right? It’s difficult to trace this one back in time, but the 700 years since the middle ages finished is history enough isn’t it? This name came to America via Daniel Turrell, Edward Tirrell, Alice Turrell, and John Tirrell, all of whom arrived in the 17th century from Boston to Virginia to Barbados. My opinion is that the name was ingested by our community at the time of freedom, when we took our masters’ names and made them our own.

Darnell

The darnell family has a similar background. The names’ other spellings included “Darnell, “Darnall”, “Darnoll”, “Darnel”, “Darnhill”, and “Dartnell”. The name entered the American lexicon in 1684 with the immigration of Thomas Darnel. His descendants were probably slave owners, which pinpoints the time of interface between that family and African America.

In this short post, we have discussed how surnames of European lords have come to be adopted by the community here. It goes to show that, again, the majority of these names are not “Black Ghetto Baby Names” at all, but rather names used throughout history. If you will be naming your child Terrell or Darnell, just remember that really you are referencing the lords of England, from a time of fiefdoms and kings, a time that would never have imagined an African, much less an African named like an Briton.

That is all from Black Ghetto Baby Names this morning, and have a great weekend!

DeShawn.

If you found this post interesting, I hope you’ll check out our list of popular black names for similar posts on other historically black names.

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