# Cuffee

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{{Short description|Anglicized Akan name found as both a first and surname in African-American culture}}
{{Not to be confused with|Coffee|Cuffee (Jamaica)|Cuffe|Coffy (person)|Original Koffee}}
{{Infobox family|name=Cuffee|native_name_lang=[Akan language](/source/Akan_language)|other_names=Cuffey Coffey|origin={{Flag|Ashanti}}<br/>[Empire of Ashanti](/source/Empire_of_Ashanti)|region=[United States](/source/United_States) and [Jamaica](/source/Jamaica)|etymology=[Kofi](/source/Kofi) (born on Friday)}}

'''Cuffee''', '''Cuffey''', or '''Coffey''' is a first name and surname recorded in [African-American culture](/source/African-American_culture), believed to be derived from the [Akan language](/source/Akan_language) name '''[Kofi](/source/Kofi)''', meaning "born on a Friday". This was noted as one of the most common male names of [West African](/source/West_Africa) origin which was retained by some American slaves.<ref name="Rodriguez2007">{{cite book|author=Junius P. Rodriguez|title=Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4X44KbDBl9gC&pg=RA1-PA394|year=2007|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-544-5|pages=1–}}</ref>

==Racist connotation==
[[File:Cuffee Dancing for Eels – Catharine Market (Life in New York) MET DP369453.jpg|thumb|A racist depiction of a scene in the Catherine market of [New York](/source/New_York_City) titled; "''Cuffee dancing for eels''" (1857).]]

The name was used in the United States as a derogatory term to refer to Black people.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5fiwomZF8DIC&q=cuffee+derogatory&pg=PA15 |title=Black New Orleans, 1860–1880 |first=John W. |last=Blassingame |date=September 15, 2008 |publisher=[University of Chicago Press](/source/University_of_Chicago_Press) |isbn=9780226057095 |access-date=8 August 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref>  For example, [Jefferson Davis](/source/Jefferson_Davis), then a US Senator from [Mississippi](/source/Mississippi) who later became the President of the [Confederate States](/source/Confederate_States), said that the discussion of [slavery](/source/slavery) in the [''Dred Scott v. Sandford'' case](/source/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford) was merely a question of "whether Cuffee should be kept in his normal condition or not."<ref>Speech to the United States Senate, May 7, 1860</ref> 

==Notable people==

=== Guyana ===

* [Coffij](/source/Coffij), leader of the 18th century [Berbice Rebellion](/source/Berbice_Rebellion) in Guyana.

===Jamaica===
* [Cuffee](/source/Cuffee_(Jamaica)), a [maroon](/source/Maroons) who waged a [slave rebellion](/source/slave_rebellion) against plantation owners in Jamaica in the early 1800s.

===United Kingdom===
* [William Cuffay](/source/William_Cuffay) (1788–1870), Chartist leader, the son of a former slave.
===United States===
* [Cuffee Mayo](/source/Cuffee_Mayo) (1803–1896), minister, laborer, and politician in North Carolina.
* [Ed Cuffee](/source/Ed_Cuffee) (1902–1959), a [jazz](/source/jazz) musician born in [Norfolk](/source/Norfolk%2C_Virginia), [Virginia](/source/Virginia) who moved to [New York City](/source/New_York_City) in 1920 to pursue his career as a [jazz trombonist](/source/Jazz_trombone).
* [Paul Cuffee](/source/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](/source/Akan_names).<ref name="Boskin1988">{{cite book|author=[Joseph Boskin](/source/Joseph_Boskin)|title=Sambo: The Rise & Demise of an American Jester|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IjLnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|year=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-505658-7|pages=29–}}</ref>
* [Paul Cuffee (missionary)](/source/Paul_Cuffee_(missionary)) (1757–1812), Native American (Shinnecock) Christian minister, missionary, and preacher.
* [James Cuffey](/source/James_Cuffey) (1911–1999), American astronomer
* Robert Cuffey (d. 1960), American singer, member of [The Five Sharps](/source/The_Five_Sharps)

==See also==
* Cuffey, fictional character from ''[North and South](/source/North_and_South_(miniseries))''
* John Coffey, fictional character from ''[The Green Mile](/source/The_Green_Mile_(novel))''
* [Quander family](/source/Quander_family), oldest documented [African-American](/source/African_Americans) family in the United States whose surname is of [Fante](/source/Fante_people) origin.
* [2334 Cuffey](/source/2334_Cuffey), minor planet

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:African-American masculine given names
Category:Masculine given names
Category:Surnames
Category:Given names

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cuffee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuffee) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuffee?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.