indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Gender Masculine
Usage Yoruba
Other Forms FormsKazoola (anglicization), Kossula (spelling used in Zora Neale Hurston's book)
Meaning & History
Means "I do not lose my fruits anymore" or "my children do not die any more" in Yoruba.This was the birth name of Cudjoe Lewis (c. 1841-1935), given to him by his mother. Lewis was the third to last adult survivor of the Atlantic slave trade between Africa and the United States.He was later personally interviewed by the American author Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), who was intending to write a book about his life. The manuscript for the book was completed by the end of 1931, but she was unable to get it published during her lifetime. It was finally published in 2018 under the title Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo". Hurston consistently spelled Lewis' birth name as Kossula in the book. It is unclear why other sources (such as Wikipedia) do not follow her example and instead use the spelling Kossola.