Runaway slave names recaptured: An investigation of the personal first names of fugitive slaves advertised in the Virginia Gazette between 1736 and 1776

Abstract

This investigation presents the analysis of 251 personal names found in 960 fugitive slave advertisements placed in the Virginia Gazette between 1736 and 1776. This collection of names was compiled from a digital corpus of more than 2,000 personal newspaper advertisements placed in 18th century United States American newspapers assembled as a part of the Virginia Center for Digital History Project. This article begins with a brief introduction to some of the past research conducted on slave names and a discussion of some of the practices surrounding the naming of African-American slaves in 18th Century America. This is followed by a classification of the collection of fugitive slave names into eight descriptive categories and a description of the assortment of personal names listed for the runaway slaves. For each onomastic category, illustrative examples are provided. Finally, the significance of the findings for the investigation of African-American naming patterns is given. Copyright 2006 by The American Name Society.