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Black History: Caribbean Ancestry and the Truth About Slave Names

Sunday 28th June 2026

What if some of the most familiar explanations for Caribbean surnames are incomplete?

In this online Black history talk, genealogist and author Paul Crooks explores the history behind so-called “slave names” and examines how widely accepted beliefs about Caribbean surnames developed. Designed for anyone interested in African-Caribbean ancestry, family history and identity, the session provides historical context that can help make sense of surname origins, naming patterns and some of the challenges encountered when tracing Caribbean family lines.

Drawing on a documented family history case study and historical records, the session examines how enslaved people’s surnames emerged, how common beliefs about those names developed, and why a deeper understanding of this history can help explain some of the challenges encountered when researching African-Caribbean ancestry. The talk connects Black history with family history, providing historical context that many researchers find missing from their ancestry journey.

Paul Crooks is a genealogist, author and speaker specialising in Black history and African-Caribbean ancestry. He is known for one of the earliest documented reconstructions of African-Caribbean ancestry from the Caribbean to Africa using archival records, tracing his own ancestry from London to West Africa via Jamaica.

His work explores themes including ancestry, identity, migration, slavery, emancipation, Windrush and the interpretation of historical records. He is the author of A Tree Without Roots: The Guide to Tracing British, African and Asian-Caribbean Ancestry and the novel Ancestors. His research has been featured by the BBC and has helped inspire thousands of people to explore their own family histories.

What You’ll Gain

• Why Jamaican family names do not follow a clear historical line
• Why names shift and appear differently across records
• Why individuals can appear under different names in the archive
• Where common assumptions about Jamaican and Caribbean name origins fall short
• A clearer understanding of how names function in Black ancestry research

Who This Talk Is For

• Those beginning to explore Black ancestry
• Individuals who have struggled to follow their family name through records
• Anyone working with African-Caribbean or African American family history
• Those seeking a clearer understanding of identity through historical records

Event Details:

Start Time: 7:00pm
Finish Time: 8:00pm

Tickets: From

£0 – £13.70

Location: Online

Ticket packages include optional digital resources such as the African–Irish–Creole Caribbean Culture Guide, Descendants eBook and DNA Testing Demystified.

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