Free Blacks were excluded from most occupations and many turned to fi shing.
All Cape slaves were known in the community by their first names. The slave trader or the new owner gave slaves new names, and the legal transfer of ownership was the place to rename a slave. The daily, community-wide, repetitious use of the first name and no other was an important part of the process of socialising slaves into their status of unending childhood.
The names could be facetious (Clever or Slim, Sweet Potato or Patat), or were taken from calendar months (April or September) or the Old Testament (Solomon or Moses). Classical names (Cupido or Titus) and indigenous names were also given. Only rarely was the name that of the owner or his children.
