Am I correct in assuming that during the slave trade ages in the United States, slaves took on the last names of the people that kept them? Or is there another reason such as European rule in some African nations?
I often see African-Americans in the US with what seem to be European last names, Williams being the one that sticks out to me. (I know that my family came to the United States to escape genocide and translated their name to English to avoid dealing with prejudices against them, and also did not speak their native tongue in public.) While I don’t like to assume, one would think that we would see Africans with African surnames (Ibe, Mwanajuba, etc.) especially seeing as some Africans do not take their father’s last name but instead receive a last name dependent on the circumstances of their birth.
Africans subjected to the transatlantic slave trade were barred from practicing traditions, including the use of African names. Often slaves went nameless or were simply numbered until their death or were resold to owners who used European names, eg “John,” “Sarah.” Slave owners used naming as an integral part of the transfer of slave possession from previous owners. In some cases slave owners created surnames, and others gave their slaves their own surname.
https://etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/document/get/osu1338404929/inline
This is a secondary source but it goes over this question in depth.