Names have great meaning in human civilization. They can have personal meaning and help create the foundation for a sense of self and identity. They are often rooted in a person's heritage and culture and therefore can serve to remind a person where they come from. They help create a sense of recognition and familiarity between people and, ultimately, a sense of solidarity and community. Names can also be used as a form of respect and affection or as signs of disrespect. These different roles that names play can be seen in Lawrence Hills' "Book of Negroes." In the novel, Hill repeatedly refers to the names and the meaning they carry for the novel's heroine, Aminata Diallo and her entourage. For Lawrence Hill and his characters, names and surnames themselves are powerful symbols of identity, family, culture, respect and their erasure is a powerful symbol of power and domination. Throughout Lawrence Hill's novel, names are often linked to identity and have importance to his characters. . For example, the character Aminata attaches great importance to her name. For Aminata, it is an inextricable part of her identity. This ties her to her native country and her family. When Chekura says her full African name, she is upset that anyone knows her name and describes how it makes her want to live. Making her real name known is a way of asserting her identity and helps her feel connected to her family, home and Chekura. In fact, Aminata's character defiantly refers to her full name, including the name of the town in which she was born. Retaining her name helps her stay connected to the land and people she left behind, as well as her own history and origins. Further emphasizing the importance of the names in middle of paper......after her mother, this represents the love and respect she has for Aminata and symbolizes Aminata's survival and her identity. It also immortalizes his memory for the students attending the school. This passage from the novel powerfully illustrates the importance Hill places on names and naming. In the novel “The Book of Negroes,” names serve a multitude of purposes. Names are presented as linked to identity, family, culture and respect as well as power and domination. For the author and his characters, the name can embody our life story and personal narrative. The novel argues that erasure or renaming is a way for the powerful to undermine and control those with less power, to claim them and erase their place in history. For Hill and her protagonist Aminata Diallo, claiming her name means asserting herself..