How do black people get irish/scottish names like mcghee?

Answer 1

I think it has to do with taking on the names of their owners back in the days of slavery. Slave owners gave them "christian" names and when slavery was abolished they needed to have sir names and were given or took the last name of their previous owner or maybe even someone they admired. A lot of them also took on the last name of presidents.

Answer 2

A lot of the Black slaves took the names of their white masters. Not so much because they wanted them but because their real names were taken from them when they were brought to this country. But with all the intermarriages going on could be someone
along the way married a person of irish/scottish decent and that is how they got their last name.

I just also wanted to add don't be afraid to ask a question. I think it is sad for people to answer a question yet have to put their
sarcasm in their answer. We don't know the age of the people on line, we don't even know if they are from this country and are familiar with slavery. A person is asking a question and no question is a stupid one.

Answer 3

Most people here are saying that their owners were Scottish or Irish in the slave times. More likely they were descended from indentured servants who were little more than slaves themselves. after a rebellion such as the forty-five, rebel prisoners were shipped off en masse for the Caribean or the americas and they intermarried with blacks.
1656 Over 60,000 Irish Catholics had been sent slaves to Barbados, and other islands in the Caribbean by Oliver Cromwell.
In 1654, Oliver Cromwell transported five hundred Scots prisoners-of-war. Felons or political undesirables, such as the Covenanters, were sent to the islands in chains directly from Scotland. In addition, the English Privy Council regularly received petitions from planters requesting Scottish indentured servants. Because of this, a steady stream of indentured servants sailed from Scottish and English ports to the West Indies.

Answer 4

First off, there's always adoption. People who have been adopted might not have last names that are traditional for their ethnicity.

Secondly, just because a person looks black doesn't mean that they are limited to African-American heritage only. A person can be dark-skinned, and still have some European or Irish ancestory.

Thirdly, there's always marriage. A woman taking her husband's name might wind up with a last name that doesn't match what is typical for her ancestry.

Hope this helps...

Answer 5

2 ways. They either had an ancestor with that name, as indentured laborers from Scotland and Ireland were most likely to mix their blood with those of African/slave descent.
Or, many times Black Americans would get the last name of their owner when they were emancipated.

Answer 6

the assistant principal of my middle skool was named bertha mcghee and she was african american. i think it has to do with slave owners. i think a majority of blacks have ancestors who were african and in 1865 or 1866 when lincoln issued the emancipation of proclamation freeing slaves, they adopted their masters' names because they might have never had one that was african or reflected their culture. but i think they adopted their masters' names before the proclamation, or the masters named them that. these slave owners could've been irish/scottish.

also, blacks could've had interracial marriages and adopted their partner's surname which could've been irish/scotish in origin

Answer 7

Either they have relatives who have had some Scottish in them or that was the name of the slave owner who owned them

Answer 8

I suppose because when slaves lived, they took the name of their master. And when a master and his slave had a child, usually by force upon the slave, the child could have the last name of the master. Like the master cared though.

Answer 9

In the days of slavery, the slaves would all take the name of the plantation owner.

Answer 10

In former days their slave owners were Scots/Irish -Irish- Scottish.