Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/98

 Doubtless, in the greatest number of instances, the negroes who were brought to Virginia from Africa were renamed as soon as they came into the possession of the planters, but this custom is not likely to have been observed so much in the case of slaves who had been drawn from the Spanish islands in the West Indies. The patents from decade to decade are strewn with names of Spanish origin, and traces of African names are also to be detected. Mingo, a contraction of Domingo, was as common at that early date as it was at later periods. Hardly less frequent is the occurrence of such names as Pedro, Sancho, Lopez, Carlos, Francisco, Dago, Magdelena, Andrea, Jubina, Cinchenello, Maria, Palassa, and Antonio, and also Sonora, Rommo, Tomora, Dondo, Wortello, Nandino, Sonero. In several instances whole lists of names are exclusively African in character. The purchaser of imported slaves was evidently frequently at a loss in finding names for his chattels. When they had come from an English Colony in the West Indies, he was in the habit of retaining their English designations, and this accounts in part for the number of Jacks, Kates, Pegs, Toms, Dicks, and Bobs in the lists in the patents. He was, however, in large measure responsible for the Biblical names which are found so frequently, such as Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Daniel, Isaiah, Emanuel, Ruth, Stephen, Hagar, and Jacob. It was also he who drew on the resources of ancient history, as exhibited in the great number of Alexanders, C&aelig;sars, Pompeys, Scipios, Hannibals, and Neros. Modern history was also ransacked, and sable Cromwells, Robin Hoods, and Rosamunds appeared in Virginia. Mythology offered too rich a fund of names to be allowed to remain unused. Jupiter, Juno, Cyclops, Priapus, Hero, Leander, Pallas, Athena, and Minerva, Mars, Vulcan, and Pan were common. Many of these