Ideology and Identity Construction in Ibibio Personal Names

Sociolinguistic ISSN: 1750-8649 (print) Studies ISSN: 1750-8657 (online)

Article

Ideology and identity construction in Ibibio personal names

Eniola Boluwaduro

Abstract Existing studies on African anthroponyms have examined the implications of culture, history and language on individual identity constructions in personal names. However, few studies have explored the ideological processes involved in these identity constructions. To fill this gap, this study examines the concepts of ideology and identities in Ibibio personal names from ethnographic and ethnopragmatic perspectives. The data consists of eighty-five Ibibio personal names which were derived from oral interviews with Ibibio name-bearers and givers from Akwa Ibom State, South-eastern Nigeria. The names were categorized into four types: Christian religion, order of birth, endearment and character attribute, depicting the characteristics, cultural norms and religious beliefs of name-bearers. Family relationships, beliefs and knowledge of the culture are, therefore, important ideological indicators for constructing identities through naming. Thus, the names may either portray the bearer’s self-definition and identification or convey social biases. This article argues that identities constructed in Ibibio personal names are intrinsically localized within the name-bearers’ transfer of their cultural conceptualization of their personal names to their lived experiences. The study examines how these innate connections mirror the beliefs or ideologies of name-bearers.

KEYWORDS: IBIBIO, PERSONAL NAMES, IDEOLOGY, IDENTITY, LINGUISTIC ETHNOGRAPHY, ETHNOPRAGMATICS, NIGERIA

Afﬁliation

Redeemer’s University, Nigeria email : [email protected]

1 Introduction

Identities constructed in Ibibio personal names are intrinsically localized within the name-bearers’ transfer of cultural conceptualization of their personal names to their lived experiences. In this study, I examine the construction of identities in Ibibio personal names in an attempt to understand the ideologies that are mapped into these identity constructions. Though extensive research has been conducted on names from a wide range of perspectives, such as social (de Klerk and Bosch, 1996; Aarsand, 2008), cultural (Ansa and Okon, 2014), historical (Sánchez- Carretero, 2005) and linguistic (Mensah and Offong, 2013), only a few studies (for example, Kolawole, Otuyemi and Adeosun, 2009; Filani and Melefa, 2014; Mensah, 2016) have explored the ideological connections between personal names and identities. The term ‘ideology’ is a central theoretical proposition of social anthropologists and discourse analysts. As van Dijk (1998:viii) states, ideologies are ‘cognitive and discursive dimensions of ideas, beliefs and consciousness’. Therefore, ‘ideology shapes text and talk’, as expressed through discourse and communication. Sperber and Wilson (1995) postulate that every expression in discourse has the potential for indeterminateness and may need the social experience of people for a deeper understanding of the occurrence of speech. In line with these perspectives, Goddard (2006, 2007) asserts that ideologies are present in the indigenous and culture-specific speech practices of members of a speech community, and only an ‘insider’s view’ of their cultural values will show how they use language. Naming is a discursive practice. Names are mediums of communicating the ideas, thoughts, beliefs and idiosyncrasies of the person who bestows the name. Thus, personal names are significant in the construction of identities (Oduyoye, 2001) and also offer linguistic evidence for the cultural appreciation of a group of people. As reflections of social structures and social representations, naming ideologies are realized in the values that people place on their names (see van Dijk, 1998:4). Given this background, the term ‘ideology’ is operationalized in this study, to mean a people’s worldviews or beliefs which shape their outlook to life and their use of personal names. The study accounts for the link between the cultural and religious values of Ibibio names, and their significance to their bearers’ perceived identities and lived experiences. It further shows the ‘ethno’ properties in the Ibibio personal names, that is, how the names exemplify local models and indigenous values. The Ibibio-speaking people occupy part of the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. They are found mainly in Akwa Ibom State, South-east Nigeria. Ibibio represents both the language and the people and it belongs to the Lower-Cross family of the Cross-River group of languages of the Niger-Congo phylum (Faraclas, 1989). It is the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, after Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo (Essien,

IDEOLOGY AND IDENTITY IN IBIBIO PERSONAL NAMES 233

2000). With a population of about 3.97 million based on 2006 National Census demographic data (estimated to about 4 million people; cf. Bubu and Offiong, 2014; Mensah, 2015; Ekah, 2016), other related communities include the Anaang, Eket, Efik and Oron. Ibibio is a documented language, with a bilingual dictionary and various pedagogic resources (see Urua, Ekpenyong and Gibbon, 2004). Naming practices among the Ibibio-speaking people indicate that personal names are connotative, circumstantial and highly symbolic of Ibibio cultural, historical and religious norms (see Offiong, 1983; Udo, 1983; Essien, 1986, 2000; Mensah, 2015, 2016; Mensah and Offong, 2013 for extensive studies on the ingenuity of Ibibio names as reflections of cultural norms). These studies on Ibibio names emphasize their referential and culturally symbolic meanings. The present study contributes to the existing literature on Ibibio names by examining the relationship between ideologies in naming and the identities of name-bearers – a less researched area in the literature on African anthroponyms.

2 Personal names and identity

In the onomastic literature, there are two sides to the debate on personal names and individual identity constructions. On the one hand, scholars, particularly philosophers and semanticists, posit that names are mere identifying labels that cannot generate any intrinsic value to the name-bearers (see Palmer, 1976; Lindfors, 1976; Mabuza, 2016). These scholars argue that people have unique personalities based on several factors aside from the meaning of their names. Such factors include the environment where they were raised. Mabuza (2016:833) asserts that a person’s name is his or her parents’ choice and thus reﬂects only the parents’ taste. He further states that one does not choose one’s own name, and thus questions how a name could reﬂect one’s personality. On the other hand, sociolinguists argue that there is a close connection between names and individual or group identities. For example, individual identities are said to be constructed by name-bearers or by others, based on various perceptions about the person that is named, including perceptions of ‘self-representation’ and ‘self-knowledge’ (Watzlawik, Guimaraes, Han and Jung, 2016:1). Identity constructions in personal names are also related to gender-role stereotypes (de Klerk and Bosch, 1996), transnational existence (Sánchez-Carretero, 2005) and memberships of adolescent peer groups (Starks, Leech and Willoughby, 2012; Awad, 2012), youth groups (Lin, 2007; Faleye and Adegoju, 2012) and communities of practice (Aarsand, 2008). These perspectives suggest that the perceptions of personal names to its bearers, as well as the perceptions of others within associated social groups, play crucial roles in the kinds of identities ascribed to name-bearers.

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A close examination of studies on personal names in Africa is instructive for the arguments that are presented here. African names have been established as having socio-cultural significance (Ansa, 2003; Ansa and Okon, 2014). In a study of ‘factional struggles’ of succession during Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe, Nyambi (2016; cf. Nyambi, 2017) identifies the psychological and intra-personal significance of personal names, among other titles, as reflecting the nature of political problems and politicians’ attitudes. In the Nigerian socio-cultural context, research has equally shown that personal names operate within the socio-cultural dimensions of human identities, such as reflecting identity reinvention (Kolawole, Otuyemi and Adeosun, 2009; Filani and Melefa, 2014) and literary creativity (Odebode, 2005, 2013; Odebunmi, 2008; Boluwaduro, 2018). Hence, names in Africa are highly symbolic and imbued with significance. Closely related to the present study is Mensah’s (2016:184) research on the cognitive dimensions of identity in names. In a study of female nicknames in the Calabar metropolis, Mensah examines the ‘socio-cognitive forces’ of these names as well as their in- group integration and solidarity functions. He demonstrates how nicknames define the social contexts and living conditions of their bearers. According to the study, female adolescents use nicknames to critically resist the stereotyped image of women and illuminate the common good of being female. Such names are symbolic resources that enable their bearers to share female-centred experiences and renegotiate identities. The present study advances the discourse of ideology and identity in naming by examining how the notions of culture and other associated individual beliefs influence Ibibio personal names through the lens and perception of their bearers. It aims to show that names negotiate individual identity when the name-bearers activate their subjective beliefs about their names and transfer these beliefs to their lived experiences.

3 Theoretical framework

This study engages linguistic ethnography and ethnopragmatics as theoretical backgrounds in explicating the concepts of ideology and identity in the Ibibio personal naming system. Linguistic ethnography incorporates people’s social situation into ethnographic studies. Silverman (1993:60) describes ‘social situation’ as an ‘attempt to understand folk (ethno) methods for organizing the world… and locate the artful practices through which people come to develop an understanding of each other’. By considering the social situations of ethnographic subjects, the linguistic ethnographer describes their world as they see it. When conducting a linguistic ethnographic study, it is important to encourage a dialogue

IDEOLOGY AND IDENTITY IN IBIBIO PERSONAL NAMES 235 with the research subjects, but in their ‘own terms’, which can be achieved when the researcher avoids subjectivity (Goode, 1994:24). The linguistic ethnographic approach guided the content of the interview questions that were asked. The linguistic ethnographic approach is combined with the ethnopragmatic model. Ethnopragmatics is concerned with the culturally shaped ways of speaking that exists in every human society. These include, for example, speech routines and proverbs (Ameka, 1987), facial expressions (Ye, 2006), endearments and diminutives (Travis, 2006) and jocularly irony (Goddard, 2006). Such investigations are examined using several linguistic elements and argumentations (example, cultural scripts and social categories, cf. Wierzbicka, 2003), with the aim of understanding ‘the explanatory link between indigenous values and social models on the one hand, and indigenous speech practices on the other’ (Goddard, 2007:531). Goddard (2006:18) states that the ethnopragmatic project disfavours the ‘universalist pragmatics’ approach, which underestimates the cultural shaping of speech practices and imposes an ‘outsider perspective’ that is alien to the speakers concerned. Thus, the central theoretical thrust of ethnopragmatics is that discourse and communication are culture-specific. The linguistic ethnographic and ethnopragmatics perspectives are used because they are complementary in their explanations of culture-specific discursive practices. Since the present study focuses on naming practices within a specific cultural setting (Ibibio), both theoretical approaches will help uncover the significance of Ibibio personal names to the name-givers and name-bearers.

4 Data and methods

The researcher collaborated with two Ibibio native speakers for the data collection. These native speakers acted as field assistants and translators during a three-month ethnographic fieldwork at the University of Calabar, Nigeria, and its environs. Data for the research were gathered from participant observations and oral interviews with eighty-five Ibibio name-bearers and givers who live in Calabar South and Calabar Municipality Local Government Areas of Cross River State. Indigenes of Akwa Ibom State who speak Ibibio and who bear and use Ibibio personal names were selected for the study based on their deep cultural understanding of their names. Respondents were from four Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State: Nsit Ubiom, Ikono, Itu and Ibiono Ibom. These are some of the core Ibibio-speaking areas. Younger respondents (ages 16–39) were preferred based on their ability to question age-long cultural interpretations of indigenous names. Thus, the University of Calabar campus and its neighbourhood served as the study area where respondents were observed and interviewed.

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Two-hour interviews were conducted with Ibibio male (52.9%; n = 45) and female (47.1%; n = 40) respondents. Respondents were from various educational backgrounds. Some reported Senior School Certificate (SSC) as the current academic qualification (23.5%; n = 20), while others were undergraduate (47.1%; n = 40) and postgraduate (29.4%; n = 25) students. Job descriptions include trading (23.5%; n =20), civil servants (71.8%; n = 61) and unemployed students (4.7%; n = 4). All respondents reported Christianity as the predominant religious affiliation. Respondents’ characteristics show a fair distribution in gender stratifi- cation and representativity in terms of educational status and occupation. Name identities were recovered from these social strata rather than from a homogenous social class. Hence, the study benefits from a wide range of selected respondents who have diverse perspectives on naming ideologies. This wide-ranging choice of categories of respondents ensures that the study draws from various divergent views and responses that are necessary for broader interpretation of the data, although due to limits of time and resources the sampled population is limited to only eighty-five respondents. The researcher informally interacted extensively with respondents in their natural environment in personal circles and associations. I observed their experiences and aspects of their social scenes that involved the use of their names. I had a broad range of conversations with respondents regarding their family histories, parents’ occupations, local festivals, types of deities, order of birth and so on, and their relationship with personal names in order to gain penetrating insights and a highly contextual understanding of Ibibio names. I used unstructured interviews to uncover the meanings of their names and understand the perception and ideology behind each name. I interrogated the notion of local identity and sought to know from the respondents how their names fit into their social selves. The interviews were tape-recorded, translated and transcribed. Interview question types (key questions) were guided by Kvale’s (1996) Social Ecological Model (SEM),1 a theoretical approach in developmental psychology which describes the dynamics of people’s relationships with internal (personal) and external (environmental) factors.2 Data was subjected to a descriptive analysis.

5 Types of Ibibio personal names

Based on the data, all Ibibio personal names originate from the cultural and religious beliefs of parents or name-givers, as a result of their membership of the Ibibio socio-cultural communities (in-group). Thus, an in-group membership represents 100% of personal name types with regards to the origin. The names are

IDEOLOGY AND IDENTITY IN IBIBIO PERSONAL NAMES 237 grouped into four operationalized types: Christian religion (35.3%; n = 30, Table 1), order of birth (23.5%; n = 20, Table 2), endearment (32.9%; n = 28, Table 3) and character attribute (8.2%; n = 7, Table 4). Ibibio personal names that originate from Christian religion depict Christian faith and beliefs (see Table 1). In their lexical choices, these names explicitly reﬂect ‘God’ as a spiritual entity who directs the course of one’s life. The names serve either as a form of praise or gratitude to God (cf. Ameka, 2006), as thanksgiving to God for a joyful incident or as a salient prayer. The names may also reﬂect the character of God. For example, the name Údúák-Ábàsì ‘God’s will’ describes God’s sovereign power that supersedes the mortal preferences of mortal man. The name Ámánám ‘You have done it’ is meant as a praise to God for the birth of the name-bearer. In some cases, such names are also meant to thank God for a positive or joyful event in the family. Other examples include names like Ékọ́m Ọ́ bọ́ñ ‘Thank God’ and Údémé Ọ́ bọ́ñ ‘God’s share’.

Table 1. Ibibio personal names depicting the belief in Christianity.

Ibibio personal names Gloss (Christian religion) Ékọ́m Ọ́ bọ́ñ Thank God Àbàsì-Dó There is God Ńsíkàk-Ọ́ bọ́ñ What is difﬁcult for God Údúák-Ábàsì God’s will Ítóhó Ówó Not from man Íkọ Ọ́ bọñ Gospel Údémé Ọ́ bọ́ñ God’s share Inyene Ọ́ bọ́ñ God’s wealth Ámánám You have done it Ésìt Ábàsì God’s mind Ánìéiﬁọ́k (Àbàsì) Who knows (God)

Names indicating birth position (see Table 2) originate from people’s order of birth within their immediate families. Referring to personal names that indicate birth position among the Eﬁk, Ansa and Okon (2014) state that they are ‘house names’ (cf. Essien, 2004). Among the Ibibio, birth positions are important because they indicate people’s responsibilities regarding certain cultural expectations, including the relationship of the name-bearers with other siblings. For example, marriage rites differ in some villages depending on the birth position within the family. Charles (1996) reports that for marriages that involve agnatic kin, as practised in Ikono and Uruan villages, ritual separation is observed for each daughter in the family due to different sacred kinship bonds. Thus, the

238 SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDIES ritualistic traditional practices for Ádiághá ‘First daughter’ would be different from Nwà ‘Second daughter’. Also, names that show endearment are given by friends or family to reﬂect deep affections that are felt towards the name-bearers (see Table 3). Oftentimes, they are used as praise names (Essien, 1986) to eulogize and carry ‘positive emotions’ (Mensah, 2015:122). This is evidenced in names like Ímá ‘love’, Èmè ‘Jewel’, Èkà Ékà ‘Mother’s mother’, Ọ́ bọ́ñ-Ánwàn ‘Queen’ and Ńsọ́ñùrùá ‘Precious’.

Table 2. Ibibio personal names depicting birth position.

Ibibio personal names Gloss (birth position) Ádiághá First daughter Nwà Second daughter Nwà Third daughter Ákpán First son Údọ́ Second son Údọ́ údọ́ Third son

Table 3. Ibibio personal names depicting terms of endearment.

Ibibio personal Gloss names (endearment) Ímá Love Èkà Ékà Mother’s mother Èmè Jewel Ọ́ bọ́ñ-Ánwàn Queen Èkà Ọ́ bọ́ñ King’s mother Ènò ḿfọ́n Free gift Èdídèm King Été Father Ákwâ Òwò Big person (an elder) Ímọ́ Wealth Kókó Namesake Ńsọ́ñùrùá Precious

Ibibio personal names may also reﬂect connections between the name-bearer and the acceptable value categories in the immediate or extended families (see Table 4). For example, the bearer of the name Étídò ‘Good character’ is expected to exhibit good character in all his or her endeavours. This cultural value mirrors the Yoruba adage: Ìwà ni èsó ̣ ènìyàn [character BE cloth person] ‘Character is a person’s ornament’, which indicates that good character is equated with an expensive jewel that should be highly regarded and valued. Character attributes also indicate the notion of greatness and excellent quality of the name-bearers.

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These traits are reﬂected in names like Ọ́ bọ́n-Été ‘Great man’ and Étí ‘Excellence’. Furthermore, respect for the name-bearer or giver is shown in the name Úkpónó ‘respect’. Such a name may also indicate respect for the Christian God, ancestors or other objects of worship to reﬂect a strong symbolic association of the name-giver with his faith or belief. Personal names originating from character attributes indicate the expectation that name-bearers already possess some inherent character traits that will be exhibited during their lifetime.

Table 4. Ibibio personal names depicting character attributes.

Ibibio personal names Gloss (character attribute) Étídò Good character Úkpónó Respect Ànìétié (nte Abasi) Who is like God Ọ́ bọ́n-Été Great man Íﬁọ́k Wisdom Ákámbá Senior Úkémé Ability Étí Excellence

6 Cultural meaning of Ibibio personal names

Ibibio personal name-bearers partly agree with the cultural meaning of their names. As shown in Table 5, this attitude is borne out of a range of factors, including positive orientations to in-group membership as well as knowledge of family backgrounds and cultural backgrounds. These factors form the ideological bases that determine the extent to which the name-bearers ascribe personhood and identities to their names. Of the three factors identiﬁed, positive orientation to in- group memberships has the highest percentage. This means that in-group membership is the most crucial factor that determines respondents’ orientations to the cultural meaning of their names. Thus, identities are constructed in Ibibio personal names when individuals show positive orientations to existing in-groups, including families, provided these socio-cultural groups make signiﬁcant contributions to the bearers’ lives.

Table 5. Orientations to origins of Ibibio personal names.

Positive orientation to in-group memberships 70.6% Knowledge of family backgrounds 17.6% Knowledge of cultural backgrounds 11.8%

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Family members who appreciate values, morality, goodwill, good religious practices and success usually serve as role models. They inspire other community members with the values represented in their names, and create a sense of awareness and identity with such names. These factors are more evident when they already form the creeds of the name-bearers. For example, the name Inyene Ọ́ bọ́ñ ‘God’s wealth’ reflects Christian religious beliefs. The name implies that riches and wealth come from God. Thus, the bearer asserts that her family’s relationship with God agrees with hers, and this is an essential requirement for the name to release all its potency. In other words, God’s provision of financial, social and economic wealth becomes feasible only because the family’s Christian religious values are appreciated. For Èmè ‘Jewel’, being the only female child of seven children means that she is the family’s jewel. Also, due to her Christian religious belief, her understanding of the origin of her name (endearment terms) shows that she is positively disposed to accepting her family’s reasons for giving her the name. Similarly, the name Ákwâ Òwò ‘(An) elderly person’ is interpreted by the bearers’ family as ‘greatness’. The bearer was named after his father’s deceased friend. The father believes in the legacies of his deceased friend and expects that his attributes will be replicated in his namesake. Consequently, greatness was ascribed to the bearer from birth. This name supports the reason for this character attribution by showing positive connections with the circumstances that surround the name bestowal. The name Údọ́ ùdọ́ ‘Third son’ indicates that there is solidarity with community membership. Although in this case the bearer does not understand why he was given the name, he believes that the name is a constant reminder to his friends, family and community of the benefits that should accrue to him as a third son. Reiterating this notion, Ákámbá ‘Senior’ confirms that he will continually increase in physical strength only because his family refers to him as ‘sizeable’, that is, physically huge. Another conceptualization of this name is that the bearer is named after a respectable ancestor in the family. The ancestor is believed to have transmigrated into the name-bearer and this is a deliberate strategy to enliven the memory of the ancestor. Essentially, positive in-group memberships, specifically at the level of the family unit, suggests that when certain religious and moral connections are established with the family, the socio- cultural significance of Ibibio personal names are better appreciated and positively oriented to. Thus, respect for cultural values is an important requirement for creating identities in Ibibio personal names. The study discovered that limited knowledge of one’s family background also influences identity constructions in the Ibibio personal naming system. Whereas a name-bearer has a choice to respect his family values, he or she may also disagree

IDEOLOGY AND IDENTITY IN IBIBIO PERSONAL NAMES 241 with such values if he or she has a limited knowledge of the origin of the name. In this situation, Ibibio name-bearers may identify with the cultural import of their names, but this knowledge may not reinforce a positive attitude. As van Dijk (2017:36) states, the role of knowledge in discourse production ‘consists of the personally and socially shared knowledge of language users as social actors and members of epistemic communities’. In other words, individuals’ epistemic status plays a crucial role for and in discourse production. Hence, while some respondents know the cultural substance of their names, the names may create identities that are not relevant to them. For example, my interview with a name- bearer Údọ́ ‘Second son’ evidences that he possesses some knowledge of naming culture among the Ibibio, but lacks a full understanding of the reasons why his family named him so. His name is given to every second male child by Ibibio families, hence it is culture-based. However, the name does not leave any impression on him. Another respondent, Ádiághá ‘First daughter’ relates the culture-based import of her name which originates from her order of birth. She states that her name makes her position in the family easily identifiable among the Ibibio people. Other than this socio-cultural function, this name does not connote any other sense of identity. However, among the Ibibio, the first daughter is usually regarded as the light in the family. She usually acts in the role of the mother and becomes the rallying point for other children. Her marriage is greatly prioritized and is expected to attract a greater dowry than other female children. Probably a more distant identity construction is the respondent who bears to the name Nwà ‘second daughter’. She asserts that her name holds cultural relevance but leaves no further impression on her. This assertion portrays a type of ideological disposition. As far as she knows, the name was bestowed on her as a result of her birth position and cultural requirement. She views the name as the simple, yet popularly accepted naming norm for second daughters among the Ibibio. Similarly, another respondent, Ímá ‘Love’, states that she is the first daughter of seven children and the meaning of her name is central to her self- definition and in evaluating her experiences. For the name-givers, the name foregrounds an expression of love and the bearer is equally expected to show deep feelings towards her siblings and acquaintances, a responsibility that is conferred by her birthright. The study also found that limited knowledge of the Ibibio cultural background influences identity constructions through the resources of Ibibio personal names. With limited cultural knowledge, the beliefs of name-bearers are prioritized over respect for family and culture. For example, religious ideologies reflect name- givers’ transcendental experience, and for name-bearers, such identities serve as

242 SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDIES effective means of coping with life events and personal challenges. One of the respondents, Ànìétié (nte Abasi) (who 3sg–be like God) ‘Who is like God’, confirms that he has grown to acknowledge the fact that God is able to do all things. The more he reflects on his name, the more he is connected to his belief in God as his name offers some sense of security and protection. His attitude towards his name is attributed to an ideology that defines his personhood and a sense of individualism. He suggests that his belief in God transcends mere reflections on spirituality, family relationship and cultural affiliations. This is because he personally acknowledges the character of God, which includes responsibility and greatness. Another respondent, Í-tó-hó Ówó [3sg–direction person] ‘It is not from man’, states that his name reflects his personality because of the things he has achieved in life. This opinion validates how his name reflects on his identity, based on his subjective experiences, which does not emerge from any cultural prescription. His achievements in life require extraordinary attributes that will not come from man but from God, hence, his assumed extraordinary personality. The name-bearer has thus claimed his identity from a deeply rooted religious ideological stance. Another respondent, Íkọ Ọ́ bọñ ‘Gospel’, emphasizes strong affiliations with Christian religious beliefs. She sees her name as an endorsement of her religious essence and as a resource for functioning in a complex world. She is one of the few respondents who locates the spiritual import of her name by additionally creating a connection between her name and other spiritually related concepts. She asserts, for example, that the words ‘gospel’ and ‘peace’ are conceptually and religiously related, hence the name-bearer states that since she has identified with the religious connotation of her name ‘Gospel’, her personal identity should also portray peace-making abilities. Self-identification as a function of Ibibio personal names is portrayed as a positive ideology that is borne out of a true reflection of one’s personality or self in everyday life. Respondents who express passive opinions about the origin of their names and their cultural implications also tend to identify with what their names mean to them personally. Subjective opinions are characterized as mental models which index contexts of generic knowledge in discourse production (van Dijk, 2017). However, beliefs or opinions may be positive or negative, depending on the relevant discourse interpretation. Identities related to Ibibio personal names often reflect the respondents’ beliefs in contexts that reveal a deep conviction about the significance of their names. For names like Úkpónó ‘Respect’ and Étídò ‘Good character’, their meanings become central to the bearers’ self-definition and identification. The names evoke an instinctual connection that epitomizes the essence of the bearers’ being.

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7 The ethnopragmatics of identity construction in Ibibio personal names

From the foregone, we examined how Ibibio name-bearers orient to the conceptualization of their personal names in three ways, with positive orientations to in- group memberships having the highest percentage from the interviews conducted (70.6% of respondents’ responses). Thus, a larger percentage of respondents tend to create identities with their names when they show respect for cultural value categories, much more than when they possess limited knowledge of family and cultural backgrounds. These orientations to personal names’ meanings already form a basis on which identities are constructed, and two broad perspectives are identified: names that portray bearers’ self-definition, identification and reference point in interacting with their world, and names that convey social biases. With positive orientations to religious beliefs, most of the names that originate from the Christian belief, such as Ékọ́m Ọ́ bọ́ñ ‘Thank God’, Àbásì-Dó ‘There is God’, Ńsíkàk-Ọ́ bọ́ñ ‘What is difficult for God’, Údúák-Ábàsì ‘God’s will’, Íkọ Ọ́ bọñ ‘Gospel’, Ámánám ‘He has done it’, Ésìt Ábàsì ‘God’s mind’ and Ánìéifiọ́k (Àbàsì) [who 2pl–know God] ‘Who knows (God)’ show positive self-reflections and identification. Bearers of these names attribute the godly character to their achievements in life. Their religious affiliation eventually becomes a legacy from their parents, which they hold in equally high esteem. Thus, Christianity is a vital prerequisite for constructing identities in Ibibio personal names. This is probably due to the predominantly Christian religious affiliation of the Ibibio people (cf. Ekah, 2016). Chiluwa (2010:233) also reiterates this possibility by asserting that the discourse of naming among Christians in Nigeria portends ‘religious thoughts, moral qualities and ideological assumptions’. These names also serve as a reference point to connect with other people within and outside the socio-cultural community in order to share faith and passion for the gospel of Jesus. The names are expected to determine people’s life and how they react to external (physical) and spiritual forces. Thus, such names serve as an opportunity to connect their bearers with religious feelings and sympathies. It is also used to appreciate God for testimonies of victory, and to ward off evil from people’s life. Ibibio personal names may convey social biases that may affect the bearer’s personality and social presence. Based on my findings, social biases may be either positive or negative: names may promote the bearers’ personality by imposing positive virtues that the bearer hopes to possess in the future. Such names originate from character attributes. As previously mentioned, the name-bearers may have limited knowledge of the cultural background that influence these names. However, they construct individual beliefs from the social imports of these names. Names like Étídò ‘Good character’, Úkpónó ‘Respect’, Ọ́ bọ́n-Été

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‘Great man’, Ífiọ́k ‘Wisdom’, Ákámbá ‘Senior’, Úkémé ‘Ability’ and Étí ‘Excellence’ already convey some ideologies that reflect on the bearers’ strong social presence and self-confidence that may influence their approach to life, mental dispositions and relationships with other people. For a name like Étí ‘Excellence’, the culture of excellence becomes the expectation from the bearer himself, and from other people within similar cultures. The name becomes a guiding light that directs and redirects the bearers’ path, while equally reinforcing his or her associations with people who can understand the essence of the name. Similarly, Úkémé ‘Ability’ symbolizes one’s ability to achieve great heights in life, while a name like Ífiọ́k ‘Wisdom’, indicates that the bearer is expected to possess great wisdom in his or her dealings. Conversely, names may convey negative social biases when the beliefs of their bearers have not been activated in order to create deep connections with the meaning of the names. For example, some respondents who bear names that originate from order of birth, for example, Ádiághá ‘First daughter’, Nwà ‘Second daughter’, Nwà ‘third daughter’, Ákpán ‘first son’, Údọ́ ‘Second son’ and Ètùk ùdọ́ ‘Third son’ did not show any other connection with their names. From their own perspectives, the names are not significant to their lived experiences, partly due to limited knowledge of the culturally explained origins of the names. Furthermore, some names that are sourced from endearment terms are disconnected from the bearers’ personal beliefs. For example, Kókó means namesake – on the surface, it associates its bearer with another important person who bears the same name. Among the Ibibio, namesaking is a naming pattern that is used to confer values and establish a genetic bond between the name-bearer and the person he or she is named after (Mensah, Dzokoto and Rowan, forthcoming). Such names are used to convey genetic relatedness and share kinship bonds. Similarly, the name Ènò ḿfọ́n ‘Free- gift’ is borne out of the parents’ experiences. As the name-bearer states, her name implies that she is valued as a gift because her parents were childless for several years before her arrival. Other than this explanation, there is no other evidence that the name is an essential tool for directing the course of the bearer’s life. The discussion in this section has shown that the bestowal of personal names is not a fluid or mobile linguistic practice. Such practices are historically constructed, socially maintained and permanent in constructing identity and individuality. We see the age-long cultural interpretation of personal names that are identified with but also contested, and also the self-created attributions to personal names that portray bearers’ ‘ownership’ of their ‘selves’. Thus, individual ideologies have implications for personal naming and identities among the Ibibio. Given all of this, the present study has discovered that the culture-internal understanding of the meanings of these names is key in the performance of identity and ideological leanings of name-bearers.

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8 Discussion

Findings show that all respondents are positively associated with in-group memberships while also having limited cultural and family backgrounds. These factors inform the ideologies that Ibibio name-bearers construct for themselves. Respon- dents identify more closely with the significance of their personal names when the names express religious beliefs. Personal names in this category indicate that beliefs are ‘cognitive notions’ which play a ‘fundamental role of mental representations’ (van Dijk, 2017:28). While social knowledge may be categorized as beliefs, van Dijk (2015:69) emphasizes that certain ‘forms of social (often evaluative) beliefs are only shared by specific groups’, to equate epistemic asymmetries within such groups. In other words, generic knowledge differs from the concrete beliefs shared among group members and each individual, and this notion determines ‘attitudes and ideologies’. Thus, beliefs are powerful indicators of self and group perceptions. Little wonder that respondents orient positively to personal names that index religious in-group ideologies, specifically those shared within family units. However, limited knowledge of family and cultural background means that respondents do not fully identify with family and cultural values when constructing identities. Thus, the significance of Ibibio personal names to its bearers becomes gradable – it establishes the difference between the semantics of naming and individuals’ ideological orientations to its culture-bound meaning. Overall, one could argue that identity configuration is a response to the ideology contained in the bearers’ personal names. It may seem that an individual will struggle to live up to the meaning of his or her name. It also appears that naming is a sort of social security or guiding lamp that in understanding the content, an individual would want to align with its philosophy (cf. Bubu and Offiong, 2014). This means that the concept of identity construction may be superimposing the imagination of others, while the name-bearers live up to someone else’s expectations. Nevertheless, this article has shown that the activation of beliefs is essential for identity constructions in the Ibibio personal naming system. Future studies may focus on the ideological construction(s) of identities in personal names from other cultures, to further understand the social trajectories, histories and locally constitutive dynamics of personal names while identifying their symbolic values to their bearers.

9 Conclusion

Studies on African anthroponyms have established that personal names index individual identities, belonging and positioning. The primary goal of this research has been to examine how bearers of Ibibio personal names construct identities, based on various ideological trajectories. This study has speciﬁcally focused on the cognitive processes of identity construction through the resources of Ibibio

246 SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDIES personal names by analysing data which were recovered from eighty-ﬁve Ibibio personal name-bearers and users. Using ethnographic and ethnopragmatic paradigms as analytical tools, this study examined the ethnopragmatic and surface meanings of Ibibio names. It also sought to understand the social and cultural motivations of each name, to understand the bearers’ attitude towards their names and the perception of community members to each name. Giving the surface meaning of Ibibio personal names, the following four operationalized name types were recovered: religious, order of birth, endearment and character attributes. These social categories inﬂuence the kinds of identities that name-bearers create, such as being inherently religious, culturally oriented and socially motivated. However, the impact of the lived experience of the name-bearer is the major factor for constructing identities with the names; hence, emphasizing the impor- tance of beliefs or ideologies in identity construction in Ibibio personal names.

Notes

1. Introductory, transition and prompt questions not included. 2. Bio-data question 1 was repeated as key question 1, to test the consistency of the respondents’ responses in the written and verbal forms.

Acknowledgments

This article beneﬁtted from critical comments of three anonymous reviewers whose ideas and perspectives redeﬁned this research. I wish to acknowledge Queen Linus Davis and Itoro Berenice Ikpo for collaborating with me on data collection. I thank the respondents who participated in this study. Stephen Boluwaduro is appreciated for proofreading an earlier draft of this article. A special appreciation goes to Dr. Eyo Mensah for tone-marking the Ibibio name data and for offering highly insightful advice on data sorting and analysis. The remaining errors are mine.

About the author

Eniola Boluwaduro is a Lecturer in the Department of English, Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun state, Nigeria. She received a PhD degree in English Linguistics from the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Her research areas include conversation analysis, discourse analysis and pragmatics. Some of her latest publications have appeared in Discourse and Communication and Journal of The Linguistic Association of Nigeria (JOLAN). She is a member of the American Name Society (ANS), Society for the Study of Names in Nigeria (SSNN), International Pragmatics Association (IPrA), Nigerian Pragmatics Association (NPrA) and African Studies Association (ASA).

IDEOLOGY AND IDENTITY IN IBIBIO PERSONAL NAMES 247

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(Received 15th February 2017; accepted 8th December 2018; revision received 16th December 2018; ﬁnal revision received 1st May 2019)