#4098: Funny Names in Haiti : A comment from Bb Pierre Louis (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Moibibi@aol.com

Math, you don't seem to be aware of the fact that numerous families in Haiti, 
those "illeterate" as you choose to describe them, do have Latin or Greek 
names.

I can assure you that those people never use the "blue boxed" ajax scrubbing 
powder and would have no idea of what you are speaking about. Furthermore, 
you know that very well, my own cook who has been working with me for more 
than twenty years still asks me to buy the "white scrubbing powder" as well 
as the green "tochon".

In the times of slavery, French colons were very fond of giving Latin or 
Greek names to their slaves. Cupidon, Venus, Heracles, Appolon, Zeus, Athena, 
etc.  are often found on the slaves registers. It is a cultural tradition 
(kept in the "pitit ginen) to give the names of grand parents or ancestors to 
new borns. When I was initiated in Vodoun, I was given the African name of a 
deceased Manbo who was close to the heart of my initiating father. That name 
was purely African but it could have been one given by the settlers, should I 
have felt ashamed of it? Let me know.