[Ads-l] Origins of "Bojangles"

[Rich Lowenthal]

FWIW, here's the explanation of the "Bojangles" name from James 
Haskins's "Mr. Bojangles: the biography of Bill Robinson." (The Lemmeul 
cited was a friend of Robinson's.) Of course, other explanations have 
been offered for the name as well.

'But it was one "mis-cheeviously misappropriated" item, a beaver hat, 
that led to Bill Robinson being given the nickname "Bojangles." A man 
named Lion J. Boujasson owned a hatmaking and hat-repair shop in the 800 
block of Broad Street. The neighborhood youngsters, confronted with such 
an unfamiliar name, called the man "Bojangles." Lemmeul recalled, "One 
day a beaver disappeared. A beaver was a tall hat, you see. Now that 
beaver disappeared and we, between the two of us, we couldn't sell it. 
So, I saddled the thing on Bill Robinson." The episode became a joke on 
the street. "Who took Bojangles's hat." someone asked. "Why, Bojangles 
took it," another would reply, parodying the hatmaker's name and 
pointing at Bill. The name stuck.

'Others tried to claim credit for having given Robinson his famous 
nickname, but Bill himself stated he had gotten it back in Richmond. 
There is a ring of authenticity to this story of children mispronouncing 
an unfamiliar name and jokingly parodying that name.'


------ Original Message ------
>From "Shapiro, Fred" <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 8/22/2025 16:50:07
Subject Origins of "Bojangles"

>Instead of my usual historical lexicography, here's some historical onomastics.  The name "Bojangles" is well-known as the nickname of the most prominent African American entertainer of the first half of the 20th century (Bill Robinson), and as the title of Jerry Jeff Walker's 1968 song "Mr. Bojangles."  I have often wondered about the etymology of this name, and decided to look into it.
>
>There has been mention on this list of the so-called "Shapiro's Law": A surprising number of words and phrases are found earliest in the names of racehorses.  The earliest trace of "Bojangles" I have found is as the name of a horse in racing reports in Montreal and Buffalo newspapers on Newspapers.com.  For example, the horse Bojangles in discussed in the Montreal Daily Star, July 14, 1900, p. 16.  The Star spells the name several times as "Bojangles" but in one instance spells it "Bowjangles."  Unfortunately there is no explanation of the etymology.
>
>Fred Shapiro (who, with his wife, owns a horse named Tiger — his full name is Tigerote Juno, given by a previous owner who clearly took the "ote" part from Don Quixote, we don't know why "Tiger" is in the name, he doesn't have stripes)
>
>

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