Briton is a name which seems to have come from his proprietors national pride. Quamin is a day name the same name and different form as Kwame indicating that he was from the area around the Gold Coast. You can find the complete chart if you lweb search. The men and women of that area are casually called by one of seven male or seven female names depending on the date of the week they are born. Osonko is also an African name. The Beckfords were one of the largest plantation owning families in Jamaica. Dawson was the white proprietor. The others are just standard European personal names.

Richard Bond wrote: >.... Quamin is a day name ..... > indicating that he was from the area around the Gold Coast. >..... Osonko is also an >African name. .... Both Osonoko (son of Tibby - I have not yet got to Tibby, so I don't know if she was African or Creole) and Quamin are noted as Creole. Can I take it that the names were given by their mothers, or did owners give African names (possibly at random) as well? My interest is not so much where what I think of as the "use" name came from, but *when* the formal names arose. I am informed that there was a move to baptise in the time frame I feel is correct for the names relating to the later proprietors (1810-1815), which satisfies me (though documentary sources would be icing on the cake). I now wonder how much choice slaves had in such baptismal names.