Early African-American Names

Prince rose to its highest ranking in a century in 2015, and the tragic death of its most famous bearer in April 2016 propelled it even higher. The Purple Rain legend isn't its only tie to pop royalty: Michael Jackson chose it for not one but two of his sons. Royal names such as King and Prince, once thought of as canine, have begun to be used by human non-royals for their sons.

This surname of an ancient Roman invader of Africa is an intriguing, undiscovered option.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Among the least gimmicky, most appealing and colorful of all the names found in the atlas, Jamaica almost sings out the rhythms of the West Indies.

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.

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

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

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.

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.