Keyon

Keyon appeared on the Top 1000 list of American masculine names in 1997, following Keon which first debuted in 1978. African-Americans have a long history of creative naming styles and in many cases they have adopted lesser known Gaelic names in their own unique way (Keon is one example of this). Interestingly, other names of Gaelic origin (e.g., Malcolm, Kelvin, Kendrick) have also been embraced among Blacks. What’s noteworthy about this is that the African-Americans and Scots share an interesting history. In colonial times, many Scottish Presbyterians came to this new land to escape religious persecution back at home. It was they who introduced Christianity to the African slaves in the Carolinas and taught them their way of celebrating and worshiping through song. In the Scottish-Gaelic tradition of psalm singing, a psalm is called out and the congregation sings a response. This is perhaps the root of African-American gospel music. This same academic study by a Black professor of ethno-musicology (Willie Ruff) also concludes that Scottish-Gaelic (not English) was actually the first non-African language spoken by Black slaves. If this is true, then African-Americans and Gaelic Scots share a unique brotherhood in early America.