Entry · catalog no. 7027
first lady
/ /fɜːrst ˈleɪdi/ /FURST-LAY-dee
n. · Black church tradition (South & East Coast) · 1900s
✓ Verified
1.
The wife of a pastor or bishop, honored with a title of her own within the congregation.
“The First Lady sat in the front pew in her Sunday hat.”
Origin & Attribution
A tradition of predominantly Black Christian denominations, especially across the South and East Coast, where the pastor's wife carries real weight in the life of the church and is honored as its First Lady. The honorific — man-made, not scriptural — grew as a way of saying "we see you" to the woman who shares the burden of the pulpit. It has since spread into charismatic circles beyond.
20th c.
Established in Black church congregations
2013
Reality series like The Sisterhood and Preachers of L.A. bring church First Ladies to television
present
Common across Black church life
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
Black church tradition (South & East Coast) · 1900s
Spoken by
Black church congregations
$FIRSTLThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady26 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
55/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@nolakid
New Orleans, LA
@htxdri
Houston, TX
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
'The Sisterhood' (TLC), following Black church First Ladies in Atlanta
2013
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+ Cite a source'Preachers of L.A.' (Oxygen), featuring pastors and their First Ladies
2013
See also