Notably lacking here is all the rest of Europe. It looks to me that Italians have almost completely assimilated, and various Slavic ethnicities are pretty close. When a TV show needs to mark a character as “just an ordinary guy”, they’ll usually give him a Polish last name (something with vowels, at least, but ending in -ski).
Two different migrations. The early Mormons were descended from English & saw the English as kin, & their first major mission was to England, & involved dragging a bunch more English to this continent. I was partially listing, not restating.
Ooh, good point.
There’s a large black family in Alabama with several prominent members (mostly in education, some have served in the legislature) with the surname Shakespeare for that reason.
There’s a popular conception that when the Civil War ended the freed slaves all took the surnames of their owners in 1865. It is true that many did but it’s arguable whether most did; most slaves already had last names when the war ended that might or might not have anything to do with the name of their owners. The census of Jefferson’s plantation at Monticello had about 18 different surnames for his 160+ slaves.
Many took the names of previous owners when they were sold or willed or otherwise left their places of birth and their families. In addition to the psychological benefit of carrying a piece of your past and your identity with you it had practical reasons- it distinguished you from other Jacks or Jills and it kept family relationships obvious , which was especially important on large plantations (those with 50 or more slaves)- it was sometimes important to remember that Mary is the daughter of Bob and Emma LITTLE the field hands as opposed to Mary the daughter of Rachel BROWN the cook.
Speaking of: Brown, Black, and Freeman were among the top chosen new surnames by freed slaves after the war. Some of the bolder took Turner (after Nat), though that could be inadvisable if whites knew you before the name change. Lincoln was rarely taken as a surname but was a not uncommon given name (one of the most famous being ironically Lincoln Perry who used the stagename Stepin Fetchit, a synonym for the servile and shiftless stereotypes of old Hollywood [though the actor himself joined the Nation of Islam in later years]).
Unless they are women or poor or have extreme political views or are gay or…
In your eyes. But if someone is a citizen, she or he is a real American. And any failure to acknowledge that is incredible.
And I say that with Scottish lines on both sides of my family and a Presbyterian background. So what? Those lines are only two of many lines that may lead to all sorts of places. The more I explore my ancestry, the more cultural links I find! I am more than my father’s last name or his mother’s maiden name or my mother’s maiden name. And looking at the last name of American presidents to determine what their ethnic background is is really silly unless the family had recently immigrated on both sides.
I like Scottish traditions, I belong to a Clan (USA), and I know where to order out-of-date canned haggis. But I’m a firm believer in the strength of the Melting Pot.
Love your posts, Sampiro!
When I was in my early 20s and decided I was going to embark on a career as a country singer (never actually got any further than singing at open mics), I was considering “stage names” because my actual first & last names together just don’t sound very “country”. I narrowed it down to two possibilities: flip-flop my first and middle name and become Dean Richards, or, even better, take my mother’s maiden name and bill myself as Rick (or Rich) McKinley.
Indeed, my ancestry is allegedly English/Scottish/Irish/Dutch/French, in order of prominence, but I tend to identify more as Scottish than English.
Well, New York City was originally called New Amsterdam.
I was very surprised when I discovered that my family name, “Osborne”, was derived from the Old Norse “Asbjørn”. I’d assumed for nearly 40 years that it was an ordinary English name that made reference to some ancestor’s birthplace.
Hmm. That might be the case in my family as well.
I would wager it has a lot to do with the fact that England was the specific country we declared independence from. The whole point of the Revolutionary War was that we wanted to stop being “English” and become “Americans” instead.
If anything, the S-Is fitted in so well because they were so well adapted to serve the interests of ruling classes. Their emphasis on warrior spirit, religious faith, and manual labor put them in an ideal place to work and fight like hell for interests that were not necessarily their own, and not to be any too troubled about doing so.