Overview of African Place Names in the United States
Joseph E. Holloway, Ph.D.
California State University Northridge

African place names in the American South are essential clues for tracing and documenting African migration in continental North America. Africans, including those brought to America by the slave trade, usually gave names to all the places with which they associated, including steams, hills, small communities, alleyways, and so on. A good example of this is Pinder Town in South Carolina, which preserved the Kongo Mpinda. Whites adopted this African name after it had become commonly used by both blacks and whites.

Many place names that were once believed to be Native-American in origin are actually rooted in Africa. Native-American place names are largely designations of animals, birds, fish, soil, plants, and trees, whereas African and African-American place names deal consistently with human or social situations.

Rather than using words that describe natural objects, many Africans named their towns (today and in the past) with words describing human experience, emotion, or action. Many African place names begin with the prefix tshi-, which indicates a marked or memorable experience. Some examples of African place names created by the Bantu people, who originated in Central Africa, are Tshifuaka (the great dying, many successive deaths in a short period), Tshimbundu Tshibue (the stolen bundle of cloth), Mudiandambo (ate a small portion), Mulonda Mbuji (followed the goat), Kolemashika (it got very cold), Kanyinganyinga (sadness), and Bululu (bitterness).

African place names in southern states provide a vivid, true-to-life commentary. Many reveal the uncertainty, indignity, and backbreaking toil enslaved Africans performed, while others throw light on the horrors of the enslavement experience. A few of these names, if read closely, disclose the African-American gift for character discernment that sees through sham and is capable of enjoying a bit of sly fun-poking at the master.

Some Bantu names in Africa also refer to the scars of slavery. One example is the Angolan town of Ambuila, where the decisive Portuguese battle against the Bakongo was fought. This name refers to the verb ambula (pick up, lift up a burden for someone else), implying the forced labor of slavery.

The distribution of African place names throughout the American South is a testament to the lasting influence of a people, their cultural history, and legacy. These place names are widely distributed along coastal areas and rivers, at ports of entry, and in population centers. They mark areas of African influence and settlement, and provide clues to the location of early plantation sites. The frequency with which they appear on our maps reminds us of the millions of Africans and African Americans who transmitted their culture and languages to the New World during and after the 200-plus years of enslavement.

Bantu Place Names: An Overview

The following series of maps reveals the persistence of Bantu place names in America. The maps picture the U.S. southern states in which slavery survived as the basic institution of life after 1830, representing the Bantu place names for which there is historical and linguistic evidence. They echo the presence of large numbers of enslaved Bantu and suggest how Bantu Africans changed the landscape and culture of the white world in which they were enslaved. Although Africans from all over the costal regions of West Africa were imported into North America, the Bantu people of Central Africa were among the most numerous. Exploring the linguistic impact of these people through surviving place names can serve as a starting point for tracing the cultural legacy of the Bantu and other West African cultural groups.

These sites identify towns, slave plantations, rivers, mountains or some natural feature. Many of these sites survived over time as post office destinations, while others no longer exist. The maps show us the connections between enslaved peoples brought from Central Africa to the southern United States and help us to identify Bantu cluster areas in the South. This is important for understanding the movements of Africans after they disembarked from their points of entry into North America. Included for each state map is an overview essay that briefly discusses important information about the African place names.

These names are scattered through the South. They occur where large groups of Central Africans and their descendents lived and worked. These names come from languages that originated in the Republic of the Kongo [Zaire] and Angola in Central Africa. As you will see when you look at the maps, we find 28 in Alabama, 18 in Georgia, 31 in Florida, 14 in Mississippi, 26 in North Carolina, 104 in South Carolina, and 26 in Virginia. The fact that the largest numbers of Bantu place names are found in South Carolina suggests that more Bantu-speaking Africans were enslaved in South Carolina as a single homogenous group than any other group of Africans.

Bantu Place Names in Mississippi

Place Name	Origin	Meanings
Alcolu	Alakana	hope for; long for; desire exceedingly
Ampezan	Ampeje	let him give to me
Ashepoo	Ashipe	let him kill
Attakulla	Atuakuile	let him intercede for us, speak on our behalf
Becca	Beka	exaggerate; go beyond the bounds
Beetaw	Bita	handcuffs; manacles; shackles used in slavery
Boyano	Mbuy’enu	your friend
Boo-Boo	Mbubu	imbecile; a stupid person
Booshopee	Bushipi	murder; killing
Bossis	Botshisha	be beaten down, trampled upon
Canehoy	Kenahu	he isn’t here
Calwasie	Kaluatshi	short battlefront; line formed for the chase
Caneache	Kenaku	he isn’t here (at this spot)
Cashua Neck	Kashia	river eel
Chachan	Tshiatshiakana	not know what to do, where to turn for help
Chebash	Tshibasu	chieftain’s seat (symbolic block of wood on which chief sits)
Cheeha	Tshipa	make a vow; curse
Chepasbe	Tshipese	any small portion, piece, bit broken off or taken from the whole
Chichessa	Tshitshenza	big doing; important events; happening
Chick	Tshika	guard; keep a secret (imperative)
Chinch Row	Tshinji	bug; insect
Chiahao	Tshiahu	working group, field gang; family that works together
Chiquola	Tshikole	strong; well; grown; mature
Chota	Tshiota	the clan; extended family group
Chukky	Tshuki	don’t answer; don’t replay; be closemouthed (imperative)
Cofitachequi	Kufitshishi	don’t allow to pass over; don’t let cross over to the other side, go over the boundary
Combahee	Kombahu	sweep here (imperative)
Cumbee	Nkumbi	large, wedge-shaped, slit drum beaten on both sides
Coosabo	Kusabo	they shake their heads, say "no"
Coosa	Nkusa	louse, lice
Cooterborough	Nkuda	turtle, terrapin; cooterpaw
Cuakles	Kuakkulas	to talk, converse (slang form)
Cuffee	Kofi	Cuffee Town; Akan day name for male child born on Friday
Cuffie Creek	Kufi	don’t die
Dibidue	Ndubilu	it is quickness, speed
Dongola	Ndongola	I fix, prepare, work on
Eady Town	Idi	they are (common form of verb to be).
Ekoma	Ekoma	finish up, come to an end or a conclusion
Elasie	Elasha	cause to pour, pour out; cause to throw
Flouricane	Mvula ikenya	a storm is threatening
Gall	Ngala	an embankment; raised walk between two flooded fields; a dam constructed in a river or steam for fishing purpose (Horse Gall, Cane Gall, Spring Gall, Dry Gall)
Gippy or Jippy	Tshipi	short; Tshitupa tshipi; in a short time, in a jiffy
Hoot Gap	Huta	drag; drag away something very heavy, such as from a cleared area (imperative)
Jalapa	Shalapa	remain here (imperative)
Kecklico	Kekelaku	ignore, demean, deliberately snub (me) (imperative)
Kissah	Kisa	hate; be cruel, vicious, sadistic (imperative)
Lattakoo	Luataku	get dressed; put on clothes (imperative)
Lobeco	Lobaku	steal; take by stealth; nibble away at (imperative)
Loblolly Bay	Lambulula	distill, extract (turpentine, liquor, etc.)
Lota	Lota	dream (imperative)
Malpus Island	Mapusa	gun wadding
Mazych	Majika	finished, completed
Mepkin	Mapeku	shoulders
Muckawee ‘	Muka wee!	Get out! Get gone! Scram!
Mump Fuss Row	Mumpas!	Give it to me! (slang form)
Oniseca	Anyishaku	! traditional Luba-Kasai greeting
Oshila	Oshila	set fire to, burn up for someone else
Opopome	Apopome	let him be blind
Palachocolas	Palua tshikole	when the strong one comes
Palawana	Palua wanyi	when mine comes
Parachucla	Palua tshikula	when the old one comes
Peedee	Mpidi	dark cloth worn during mourning, during time that all sexual relations are banned
Pinder Town	Mpinda	peanut; a town where enslaved Africans grew peanuts
Pockoy Island	Mpoka	frankness, truth, sincerity
Pooshee	Mpuishe	one who always completes, finishes his tasks
Quocaratchie	Kuokolatshi	to remove a heavy object, such as a log, from the forest
Saluca	Saluka	be in disorder; society all disrupted, upset, in turmoil
Sauta	Saula	weep, cry aloud
Shiminally	Jiminayi	get lost; disappear from sight (imperative)
Teckle-gizzard	Tukulukaji	numbness in limbs from circulation cut off by tight bindings, ropes, chains
Toogoodoo	Tukuta	we are satisfied, filled (with food)
Toobedoo	Tub-etu	our language, our "Kituba"
Tomotely	Tumutele	let us name him, mention his name
Tucapau	Tukupau	we give it to you
Tullifinny	Tula mfinu	pull off, pluck off undeveloped ears of corn; undeveloped peanuts in farming
Una	Unua	drink, drinking
Untsaiyi	Utusadila	serve us, be in servitude to us; wait on us
Wadboo	Wa ndapu	place of joking, teasing, relaxed conduct, indiscretions; African-American community
Wambaw	Wambau	say it
Wampee	Wampe	give to me
Wantoot	Wan tutu	place of the elder brother
Wappoo	Wapu	give it
Wappaoolah	Wapaula	lay waste, pillage, loot (imperative)
Watacoo	Wataku	be naked, without clothing
We Creek	We!	Hey, you!
Weeboo	Weba	chase; put to flight; make a fugitive of someone.
Weetaw	Wetau	ours, our very own!
Wimbee	Muimbi	a singer
Wosa	Wosa	do, make, produce, prepare (general verb for all types of work; imperative)
Yauhaney	Ya uhane	go that you may sell, barter
Yeka	Yika	talk, converse, have conversation with
Yoa	Yowa	be thin, emaciated, weak from hunger;
Zemps	Zemba	come to a halt, be immobile, paralyzed, unable to do or act for oneself

Adapted with permission from "A Reconsideration of the Sources of the Slave Trade to Charleston, S.C.," an unpublished essay by William S. Pollitzer.