Because of the fact that the term Mammy was invented during a time in which slavery was still accepted, the term is generally acceptable to whites but totally unacceptable to African Americans! ...
I love learning and just the other night; I met a young Ghanaian nurse named Mamme (Pronounced /ma-may/ ) while working on a nursing unit other than my assigned unit. Being that I’m originally from the South, it sounded much like the archetype of African American slave women called Mammy’s. For fear of pronouncing her name wrong, I chose not to speak her name.
The next night which was the last night I worked with her, I decided to ask her for the meaning of her name which she stated meant “Mother” in Ghanaian culture. It was as if a “light bulb turned on in my head”. At that moment, I explained to her that I was afraid to say her name because of the derogatory way in which it was used in the Southern slave times and she was also able to correlate the name probably was a name given to Ghanaian girls born to Ghananian women.
Simply amazing and now I have a whole new insight on the name Mammy and the southern way of how they messed up such a wonderfully meaningful name by pronouncing it with a "drawal" and calling all Black caretakers Mammys unlike the nice way Nanna or Nanny is used. Interesting stuff, eh! Featured Blog Photo of "Mammy's Cupboard," 1940 novelty architecture restaurant in Adams County, Mississippi
Read More on the Mammy archetype
The word mammy originally first started seeing usage in the southern parts of the United States during the Civil War. She is often portrayed within a narrative framework or other imagery of a domestic servant of African descent, generally good-natured, often overweight, and loud.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammy_archety... Southern name Maime \ma(i)-me\ (probably is a variationof the African name Mamme...) Also Maime as a girl's name is a variant of Mamie. The baby name Maime sounds like Mayme and Mame. Other similar baby names are Jaime and Maire.
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Popularity of Maime
Maime is not a popular first name for women and an equally uncommon surname or last name for all people. (1990 U.S. Census) See Displayed at the link below the baby names popularity of the name Maime for girls. (2010 statistics) Compare Maime with its source form and related girl baby names.
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Ma...
Posted By: Jen Fad
Tuesday, June 14th 2011 at 12:34PM
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