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>Brown, my last name, is the fourth most popular surname in the US. It was given to my ancestors by white slave owners who decided that they weren't worthy of b
by treis 8y ago
>Brown, my last name, is the fourth most popular surname in the US. It was given to my ancestors by white slave owners who decided that they weren't worthy of being called anything other than the colour of their skin.
This isn't accurate (or at least probably isn't). Brown is a common surname in England and also in other countries in the local language (e.g. Braun in Germany). Her ancestors were probably owned by someone with the surname Brown and that's where they got the name from.
- basetop 8y agoExactly. There are white people with Black and Green as surnames. It isn't because their skin color is black or green obviously. It isn't a secret that most african american's last names are derived from slave owners. It's one of the reasons why some african americans change their last name. One of the legacies of slavery and colonialism is that a significant portion of the world was given european last names. The most popular surnames in the philipines are spanish surnames because the indigenous filipinos didn't have surnames and they took the name their spanish masters and priests assigned them. Of course that also applies to their country since the Philippines was names after a spanish king.
- NikkiA 8y agoThey (Brown, Green, Red/Redd, and Black) usually derived from hair or eye colour at the point in the middle ages when surnames evolved out of nicknames.