Renty came from the Congo, and descendants took the name Thompson through property transfer

Evidence

Facts not in dispute are that Papa Renty or Renty Taylor, my great-great-great-grandfather, was born in the Congo, purchased by Colonel Thomas Taylor in the early 1800s, and enslaved on the Taylor Plantation in Columbia, South Carolina. Also not in dispute is the fact that my great-grandfather was born Renty Taylor and through the transfer of property assumed the name Renty Taylor Thompson. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1149

Categorization

• QUESTION: The phrase ‘through the transfer of property assumed the name’ is opaque — what mechanism attached the surname Thompson to the great-grandfather?