Methods

To sort the names into classifications, I made the following assumptions:

• The patronym “Abdullah” indicates conversion to Islam, so all slaves named “bt. Abdullah” were converts.
• Slaves were allowed to keep their birth names until they converted, so any slave with a recognizably Ottoman Turkish name was a convert, even if the record did not give their patronymic.
• The people who named freeborn converts had an interest in establishing new Muslims as respectable members of free society.
• Slavery was stigmatized. Freeborn people did not want to bear the names of slaves.

With these assumptions in mind, I examined the table of name frequencies and developed this list of rules:

1. If a name is borne only by freeborn women, or by both free and ambiguous women, then it is a free woman’s name. The ambiguous women who bear it are most likely freeborn converts.
2. If a name is borne only by slaves, or only by slaves and ambiguous women, then it is a slave name. The ambiguous women who bear it are most likely freed slaves.
3. If a name is borne by both freeborn and slave women, the frequency determines the name classification.
   1. If there is a clear majority of free women, the name is free. Kamer belongs to 16 free women, 12 ambiguous converts, and 6 slaves. Kamer is a free name, albeit one that’s uncommonly popular among slaves as well.
   1. If there is a clear majority of slaves, the name is marked in the name frequency table as “tilted toward slave,” and is classed as ambiguous in the complete list of names. All the names with a clear majority of slaves also had a significant percentage of freeborn women, so the names were acceptable to freeborn women despite the association with slavery. However, the association with slavery was too strong to ignore.
   1. If the same number of slave and free women bear the name, or the spread otherwise makes it difficult to determine a clear majority, the name is marked “ambiguous” in the table and is classed as ambiguous in the complete list of names.
4. If a name is borne only by ambiguous converts, it is marked “probably slave” in the name frequency table and is listed in the Likely Slave Name section of the complete list of names. This determination was made based on a comparison of the names with the known free and slave names.