All because i am african american and my last name is a french one, does automatica this mean im haitian!!!!!!

Question

i dont speak creole, my family doesnt look haitian..and being that isnt a bad thing but im african american, cheerokee and blackfoot and im sick of other assumming im haitian

Answer 1

Doesn't mean you are Haitian at all.  The southeast U.S. was dominately of French ancestry for quite some time, and many African decent people took on many of the names. It was very common. I live in northern Minnesota, and many Native American Indians have French names here too. That's because the French fur trappers were the first ones here in the 1700s.

Answer 2

not necessarily, as long as you were born in the us(or whereever), your heritage is genuine red white and blue(whatever), tell them that and dont ever change or back down,  where your ancesters originated is no ones business but your own and that is an item that you may elect to keep silent, the choice is yours  even if you have little green dots on your feet, its your business not theirs

Answer 3

Nationality is defined as "the status of belonging to a particular nation, whether by birth or naturalization". In other words, if you had been born in Haiti, you would be of the Haitian nationality. Since you were born in the US, you are American (race notwithstanding).

An ethnic group or ethnicity is a group of human beings whose members identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry. Ethnic identity is also marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and by common cultural, linguistic, religious, behavioral or biological traits.

Your ancestry might trace back toward Haiti, but that does NOT automatically make you Haitian.  For instance, I have a friend in Australia whose ancestry goes back to Ireland (his last name is Quin), but since he was born in Australia, he is Australian. My own family goes back to England (and possibly France--haven't got that far back yet), but I am 100% American.

They don't call the United States a "melting pot" for nothing. This country was built on the labor and sweat of the immigrants who came here to make a better life for themselves and their families. I've always said, if we all went back to where we came from originally, there'd be no one here but the Native Americans and even they came to the Americas by way of the Bering Strait land bridge 10,000+ years ago from Eastern Siberia/Mongolia**.    :)

Answer 4

National Geographic has a site that can identify your ancestry:

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/geno...

Answer 5

Why would it mean you are Haitian?  There are a lot of black people in France, they just don't have the discriminations that we do in the US.

Answer 6

I can't speak for whoever you are hanging out with..

In genealogy, NO ONE works with assumptions.  (well.. not supposed to, anyway).  My first suggestion is that you stop concerning yourself with your last name being French.. it is completely meaningless.  You also might stop to consider if you have any records/ documents to verify your Native background.

If someone is doing reliable and accurate research.. NOTHING is "known" without a valid record.. not even my own name.

Huge eye opener.. when people go by assumptions and what they know/ don't know.. it almost always leads to disputes.  On the other hand.. when you have a census record of your gr gr grandfather, which clearly states he was born in Virginia (or wherever), there is no opening for any dispute.

Disputes and assumptions are a real waste of your time and energy.  WHAT RECORDS do you have concerning your ancestors? and if you don't have them, we can help you search for those.

Answer 7

During the days of slavery (no offense) slaves who were owned by Anglos took the names of their owners (no offense), your ancestors may have been slaves who were owned by white people of French descent.  

I am so ashamed of my last name because it is associated with slavery, when I was a kid (no offense) i thought we might be African American becuase our surname is common among African Americans and my mom said that it's because they were owned by a white person with that last name.  I'm ashamed that I'm related to anyone that would do a thing like that but I know in my heart that if I lived in the days of slavery I would have spoken out against it.

Also, some American Indians spoke French because they dealt with French settlers... I don't know about the Blackfoot, but I know that the Cheyenne spoke French and the Cheyenne and the Blackfoot were both plains Indians... so if you are of Blackfoot descent that might account for the French part.

Answer 8

No. There are two other possibilities as well.

1) There are plenty of African areas that were French colonies as well. You aren't necessarily from the islands, you could be from Africa.

2) You could be descended from slaves who took a French name in America. Slaves sometimes used the slave owning family's name. And upon freedom, sometimes the newly free people chose a name. It may have had meaning to them, or it may have been the name of someone they admired, or they could have just made it up.

But remember, the line that your surname comes from is only one line out of many. You may have other interesting questions or answers in your family. Don't limit yourself to researching just the one family that gave you your surname.

Answer 9

Well it sounds like people you encounter just need to be educated.  By the way, what does a Haitian look like?  I'm married to one, and he has a narrow nose, thin lips and curly hair.  His dad is biracial Haitian/French and mom is Haitian.  He gets mistaken for hispanic.  There's no "look"  just like all black Americans don't look alike.  Besides black people from other places have French names too.

Answer 10

you are african american and native american not haitian.

Answer 11

W.E.B. DuBois was born in Massachusetts.  New Orleans is full of black Americans with French surnames.  Relax, this is a big, complicated country.

Answer 12

I always thought if was confusing when Africans had European names.