Cuffee
Anglicized Akan name found as both a first and surname in African-American culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cuffee, Cuffey, or Coffey is a first name and surname recorded in African-American culture, believed to be derived from the Akan language name Kofi, meaning "born on a Friday". This was noted as one of the most common male names of West African origin which was retained by some American slaves.[1]
AshantiEmpire of Ashanti
| Cuffee Cuffey Coffey | |
|---|---|
| Current region | United States and Jamaica |
| Etymology | Kofi (born on Friday) |
| Place of origin | Ashanti Empire of Ashanti |
Racist connotation
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The name was used in the United States as a derogatory term to refer to Black people.[2] For example, Jefferson Davis, then a US Senator from Mississippi who later became the President of the Confederate States, said that the discussion of slavery in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case was merely a question of "whether Cuffee should be kept in his normal condition or not."[3]
Notable people
Guyana
- Coffij, leader of the 18th century Berbice Rebellion in Guyana.
Jamaica
- Cuffee, a maroon who waged a slave rebellion against plantation owners in Jamaica in the early 1800s.
United Kingdom
- William Cuffay (1788–1870), Chartist leader, the son of a former slave.
United States
- Cuffee Mayo (1803–1896), minister, laborer, and politician in North Carolina.
- Ed Cuffee (1902–1959), a jazz musician born in Norfolk, Virginia who moved to New York City in 1920 to pursue his career as a jazz trombonist.
- Paul Cuffee (1759–1817), a Massachusetts freeman and shipping magnate. Cuffee rejected the surname of his former owner, Slocum, and replaced it with his father's Akan name.[4]
- Paul Cuffee (missionary) (1757–1812), Native American (Shinnecock) Christian minister, missionary, and preacher.
- James Cuffey (1911–1999), American astronomer
- Robert Cuffey (d. 1960), American singer, member of The Five Sharps
See also
- Cuffey, fictional character from North and South
- John Coffey, fictional character from The Green Mile
- Quander family, oldest documented African-American family in the United States whose surname is of Fante origin.
- 2334 Cuffey, minor planet