Language and Culture DigitalResources Documentation and Description 44 Akebu Personal Names Naming Practices Based on Examples from the Village of Wodagni Yao Koffi Akebu Personal Names Naming Practices Based on Examples from the Village of Wodagni Yao Koffi SIL International® 2019 SIL Language and Culture Documentation and Description 44 ©2019 SIL International® ISSN 1939-0785 Fair Use Policy Documents published in the Language and Culture Documentation and Description series are intended for scholarly research and educational use. You may make copies of these publications for research or instructional purposes (under fair use guidelines) free of charge and without further permission. Republication or commercial use of Language and Culture Documentation and Description or the documents contained therein is expressly prohibited without the written consent of the copyright holder. Orphan Works Note Data and materials collected by researchers in an era before documentation of permission was standardized may be included in this publication. SIL makes diligent efforts to identify and acknowledge sources and to obtain appropriate permissions wherever possible, acting in good faith and on the best information available at the time of publication. Series Editor Lana Martens Content Editor Lynn Frank Compositor Margaret González Abstract Inherent to every society is the practice of naming a child—a practice that distinguishes one society from another. In many African societies, names are not chosen until after a child is born, since the names reflect the social, natural, and religious circumstances that exist when the child is born, or soon afterwards. Personal names given in Akebu are single words that often expand to compounds from one or more of the following categories: 1) day of the week on which the child was born, 2) circumstances of birth, such as, birth order, type of birth, place of birth, time of birth, or physical characteristics of the child at birth, 3) deities or beliefs of the parents, 4) names to prevent infant mortality, 5) allusive names, 6) profession (for adults), or 7) proverbial names, nicknames, or praise names. Names are also expanded by adding a name borrowed from Ewe or Akan. As a native speaker of Akebu from the village of Wodagni in Togo, I have in-depth knowledge of the Akebu language, and the society and culture of its speakers, and how names are chosen. The data were all collected from individuals that I know personally, primarily from the village of Wodagni in Togo. Contents Introduction 1 The Akebu people and their language 2 Data collecting and methodology 3 Categories of names in Akebu (Examples are mostly from Wodagni village) 3.1 Names based on a day of the week 3.1.1 From Ewe 3.1.2 From Akan (two major dialects, Twi and Fante) 3.1.3 From Akebu 3.1.4 Compound names based on a day of the week 3.2 Names that include a Christian name or name from another ethnic group 3.3 Names that give details of birth 3.3.1 Order of birth 3.3.2 Type of birth 3.3.3 Place of birth 3.3.4 Time of birth 3.3.5 Physical characteristics at birth 3.4 Names to express beliefs of parents 3.5 Names to avoid infant or child mortality 3.6 Allusive names 3.7 Professional names 3.8 Proverbial names, nicknames 3.9 Praise names 4 Names that Akebu shares with Akan and Ewe 4.1 Akan and Akebu personal names 4.2 Ewe and Akebu personal names 5 Conclusion References iv Introduction It is a worldwide practice to give names to children, but how this decision is reached varies a great deal, and is unique to every culture. Names given to a child at birth in Africa encompass the parents’ beliefs in deities, social class, lineage system, days of the week, the social situation of parents at the child´s birth, physical characteristics of the child at birth, natural circumstances surrounding the birth, and historical events. In this sense, particularly with regard to African personal names, there is a decided process in naming practices (Yusuf, Olatunji, & Issah, 2014). Rivière (1979:2) asserts that names in Ewe, Adja, and Fon societies are the expressions of the social, natural and spatial circumstances surrounding the birth of a child. Moreover, since the practice of naming a child based on the social context and natural environment of a language group is embedded in the culture of numerous language groups, it is worthy of being recognized by social scientists and society at large (Agyekum 2006). This paper discusses the categories of names and the naming practices in Akebu, a Ghana Togo Mountain language spoken in South-Western Togo in the District of Akeku and compares them to naming practices in two other languages, Ewe and Akan. 1 The Akebu people and their language The Akebu language1 is spoken in South-Western Togo in the District of Akebu. It is a minority language and has about 70,300 speakers (Eberhard et al. 2019). The most populous villages are Kougnohou— which is the administrative center, Vhe-Nkougna, Brounfou, Sérégbéné, Kamina, Djon- Kotora, and Wodanyi. In terms of typological classification, Akebu is classified as a GTM Language (Ghana Togo Mountain), formerly described as Togo Remnant Languages and is part of the Ka- group of this language family (Heine 1968a). The Akebu speakers call their language “Kə-kpəə-kə” or “Kə-kpəə-rə-kə,” their land “Ә-kpəə-kə” or Gbəə-kən-ɖə,” and their people “Ә-kpəə-ƒə” or “Kpəə-ƒi-yə.” The name “Akebu” is only used when Akebu speakers identify themselves in social contacts with other ethnic groups or when the Akebuland, its speakers or language, is mentioned in official government business or in a conversation in which Non- Akebu speakers are involved. Furthermore, the Akebu people call themselves “Nyɛrέ,” especially when they are outside of the speaking area of the Akebu language. Nyɛrέ is a deity believed to protect all Akebu from peril when they are abroad. 2 Data collecting and methodology The data have been collected from my personal experience and knowledge as a native speaker of the Akebu language and names. This paper addresses mostly names and naming practices in the village of Wodagni, where I was born, as well as some names from Dzakpodzi, Kamina and to a lesser degree, names from other neighboring villages in the savanna region of the Kàƒà-wǝ River in northern Akebuland. Some comparative examples are given based on the similarity of names in Ewe, Akan and Akebu. 1 In the Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2013) the ISO is 639-3 and the language identifier is [keu]. 1 2 3 Categories of names in Akebu (Examples are mostly from Wodagni village) 3.1 Names based on a day of the week 3.1.1 From Ewe In this category, names are automatically given to the child according to the day of the week on which he was born. These names are borrowed from the Ewe language. Table 1 shows names in Ewe as presented by Riviere (1979:2). Table 1. Ewe names based on a day of the week Ewe Name English Name Name for Males Name for Females (Day of Week) Dzoda Monday Kodjo Adjua Blada Tuesday Komla Abla Kuda Wednesday Koku Aku Yoda Thursday Yao Ayawa Fida Friday Kofi Afi Memlida Saturday Komi Ame Kosida Sunday Kosi Akosiwa ©1979 Riviere. Used by permission. In table 2, I have modified names in table 1 to show how Akebu names have been adapted from Ewe. Table 2. Akebu names based on a day of the week, adapted from Ewe Akebu Name English Name Name for Males Name for Females (Day of Week) Dzórá or dzórá-yǝ Monday Kɔdzó Adzo, Adzwaa Bránɖá or bránɖá-yǝ Tuesday Kɔmìná Aƒina, Abina, Bibi Kúúrá, kúúrá-yǝ Wednesday Kɔɔkú Aku, Akuwa, Okuwa Yáwúrá, yáwúrá-yǝ Thursday Yàò Yaa, Yaayaa, Yawa Fíírá, Fíírá-yǝ Friday Kòfí Afi, Efia, Ofua, Vɔaa Mέmlɛɖᾱ, mέmlɛɖᾱ-yǝ Saturday Kwámì Ama Kɔsirá or Kɔsirá-yǝ Sunday Kɔssi, Kwessi Akosia, Akɔsiwa ©2019 Yao Koffi. 3 3.1.2 From Akan (two major dialects, Twi and Fante) Both Ewe and Akan are major languages in the area that have significant influence on Akebu. Table 3 displays names based on days of the week for Akan and two major Akan dialects that are spoken in Ghana; Twi, and Fante (Agyekum 2006:214). Table 3. Akan, Twi and Fante names based on a day of the week Day Name Name for Males Name for Females English Akan Twi Fante Twi Fante Sunday Kwasiada Kwasi Kwesi Akosua Akosua/Esi Monday Dwoada Kwadwo Kojo/Jojo Adwoa Adwoa Kobina/Ebo/ Tuesday Benada Kwabena Abenaa Abenaa/Araba Kwamena Wednesday Wukuada Kwaku Kweku/Kuuku Akua Ekua/Kuukua Thursday Yawoada Yao Ekow Yaa Aba Friday Efiada Kofi Kofi/ Fiifi/Fi Afua Efua/Efe Kwame/ Saturday Memeneda Kwame Ama Ama Kwamina/Ato ©2006 Agyekum. Open Source. When we consider the three tables, it is evident that except for some spelling differences, Akebu, Akan, and Ewe have the same names for days of the week and personal names taken from those days. The question is, how did names from Akan and Ewe became part of the Akebu language and culture? The answer has three parts: 1) The history of the Akebu population includes Ewe descendants; for instance, Ewe ancestors were the first residents of Vhe Nkonya, Kougnohou, Djakpodzi, and Wodagni (from Kpélé Goudévé). This group might have introduced Ewe personal names and other names depicting the notion of time, concepts of the universe, religion, material objects. 2) Ewe and Akan are lingua francas in Western Togo. In fact, Ewe and Twi are largely spoken in the Akebuland and are important vehicles of communication in education and commerce, and 3) even though the Akebu language has its own names for days of the week, there are no personal names derived from this vocabulary.