Jamaican 'Pet Names'

Almost ninety five percent of Jamaicans do not have their right surnames as a result of slavery. We were given the surnames of our slave masters. This was what happened all over the Caribbean, and the American. Anyway, what I really want to concentrate on is pet names people were known by. Sometime we didn't know their real names. Names like, Son-Son, Papa-Son, One-Son come to mind. Other familiar names were Bwoy-Bwoy, Whitey, Brown-Man, Yellow-Man, Girly, Miss Daughter, Mamma G. Other names were Big Boy, Little Man, Blacka, Man-Man, Miss Little. Nobody felt offended as sometimes it was your parents or friends who gave you that name. I believed that most people in our village had a pet name. Some persons even had nicknames which they abhorred but I won't go there.

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