COPYRIGHT NOTICE Please note: The material contained in this document can be used ONLY forpersonal study/research and therefore can be copied but only forpersonal use. Any form of copying for distribution purposes requires copyright permission from author/university. RECLAIMING OUR NAMES: SHIFTS POST-1994IN ZULU PERSONAL NAMING PRACTICES Sihawukele Ngubane Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Human Sciences University of Natal Durban December 2000 Supervisor: Professor LE McDermott Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Lydia McDermott for her trust and belief in me from the very beginning of the project, right to the very end. Professor McDermott and I have learnt a lot through the inter-change of ideas and about our different cultural practices. I would also like to thank the following people who have contributed greatly to this work: • the University of Natal library staff at the Malherbe library and at the Kill ie Campbell; • my research assistants, Tommy Ndlovu, Nkosiyakhe Ndebele, Sarah Mathenjwa, and Sibusiso Shange, with whom the extensive fieldwork could not have been done; • The respondents and the interviewees for giving up their time to accommodate the research; • the CSD (NRF) for a research grant, without which the fieldwork would not have been at all possible; • Nonhlanhla (my wife) and Lindani, Sabelo, Nosihe and Ntando for all their support and patience; my parents, Mr & Mrs E.S.T. Ngubane; my brothers and sisters, Japhet and Cally, Sibusisp and Milinda, Mvuselelo and Khokhiwe , Duduzile, and Thulile; and all grand children: Velokuhle, Siyabonga, Nomvuselelo, Mpho, Hlengiwe, Nomzamo, to whom I am also very grateful for allowing me to use their names and birth circumstances as part of my research; • Mr Vasu Reddy who very kindly and very expertly proofread the document; Professor Mazisi Kunene for guidance throughout the process and • all my friends for their moral support. ii Amazwi Okusonga Okubalulekile ngalo msebenzi ukuveza uguquko kwezokuhlalisana kwabantu, nomlando maqondana nomkhuba wokuqamba amagama kubantu abangamaZulu olwaba khona kusukela ngo 1994, okuyisikhathi sokuqala koMbuso kaHulumeni weNtando yeNingi eNingizimu Afrika. Njengoba uMbuso weNtando yeNingi uphathefene nenkufufeko, kwakubhekeke ukuthi kube nomehluko kumaZulu ekuqanjweni kwamagama emazingeni amathathu empilo ahlukahfukene: abahla/a emakhaya, abacebile abahlala emadolobheni nabampofu abahlala ezindaweni ezisemakhaya. Ucwaningo Iwenziwa kulezigaba zabantu kwathi okwatho/aka/a kwaqhathaniswa ukuze kutholakale umehluko ekuqanjweni kwamagama abantu ngesikhathi sangaphambifi. Okugqamayo ke kulo msebenzi ukuthi nakuba kunobufakazi obungephikiswe ukuthi kube nomehluko ekuqanjweni kwamagama; ukuqanjwa kwamagama kuyehluka ngokwezizwe. Abantu abangakaguquki kakhulu yi/abo abahla/a emakhaya njengoba kwakubhekekife. Imibono yabantu abahla/a emad%bheni ngokuqanjwa kwamagama iyehlukahlukana, nakuba 10 mehluko ungeyona inhloso. Summary The thesis underpinning this dissertation was that, as in previous times of major social and historical change, naming practices amongst the Zulu have undergone significant changes since the advent in 1994 of a democraticgovemment in South Africa. Since the democratisation process entails freedom for all, it was suspected that a differentiation process was developing within the Zulu group itself and that there were at least three broad economic groups: rural, 'rich-urban', and 'poor urban'. Fieldwork was undertaken in terms of these groups and the data obtained, analysed, and then compared and contrasted in orderto identify differences and similarities and to measure shift away from traditional practices. What is apparent from the research is that while there is clear evidence of shift, the shifts that do exist, differ from group to group. The group which shows the least change is the rural. as was expected. The urban groups are fragmented into several sub-groups, most of whom differ from one another in their motivations for the changes they are making, although these seldom appear to have been made consciously. iii Declaration I, Sihawukele Emmanuel Ngubane do hereby declare that the entire dissertation is my own original work, unless otherwise stated . Signed: .....@~~ .... Date: ...... /1/.o/./c:.!. .......... Sihawukele Emmanuel Ngubane Student #: 881149758 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION AND ORIENTATION TO NAMING PRACTICES 1 2. NAMING PRACTICES AMONGST WESTERN AND AFRICAN PEOPLES 14 2.1 Introduction 14 2.2 Onomastics as the science of naming 17 2.2.1 Definitions of onomastics 17 2.2.1.1 Everyday definitions 17 2.2.1.2 Formal academic definitions of onomastics 18 2.3 Theories of naming practices 19 2.3.1 Introduction 19 2.3.2 Linguistic techniques for naming 20 2.4 Personal naming practices 31 2.4.1 Naming people 31 2.4.2 Western personal naming practices 35 2.4 .3 African naming practices 43 2.4.3.1 Traditional naming practices on the African continent 43 2.4.3.2 Common Nguni-specific naming practices 57 2.4.3.3 IsiZulu-specific naming practices 67 3. METHODOLOGICAL PROCESSES 80 3.1 Introduction 80 3.2 Methodology 81 3.2.1 Survey methods 81 3.2.2 Qualitative data collection 82 3.2.2.1 Survey by interviews 83 3.2.2.2 Hospital records: children born post-1994 86 4. DATA ANALYSIS 90 4 .1 Introduction 90 4.2 Reason-categories - data collection 94 4.2.1 Tradition (ancestor commemoration) 94 4.2.1.1 Ancestor-related names 94 4.2.1.2 Clan and the extended family 95 4.2.1.3 Gratitude 96 4.2.1 .4 Parent's wishes for their children 98 4.2.1.5 Death-related names 99 4.2.1 .6 War-related names 100 4.2.1.7 Negative and positive connotations in name-giving 102 4.2.2 Family circumstances 103 v 4.2.2.1 Names derived from incidents within the family 103 4.2.2.2 Names that express rejection by the father 105 4.2.2.3 Names that reflect happiness in the family 106 4.2.2.4 Names that reflect the family structure 107 4.2.2.5 Success 107 4.2.2.6 Pride-related names 109 4.2.3 Birth circumstances 109 4.2.3.1 Names that reflect the sex of a child 109 4.2.3.2 Other events that took place during pregnancy and delivery 111 4.2.4 Historical events 112 4.2.4.1 Overview 112 4.2.4.2 Western influences 112 4.2.4.3 Christian influences and colonial administrative demands 114 4.2.5 Political events 118 4.2.6 Physical characteristics 120 4.2.7 Personal choice of name-giver 121 4.2.7.1 Dictates of fashion 121 4.2.7.2 Zulu-phonologised western names 122 4.2.7.3 Coining for specific purposes 124 4.2.7.4 For fashions' sake 126 4.2.8 Western borrowings 130 4.3 Analysis by popularity 130 4.3.1 Durban and surrounds 132 4.3.1 .1 Personal choice 132 4.3.1 .2 Birth circumstances 133 4.3.2 Rural areas 133 4.4 Gender of name-giver 138 4.5 Summary 141 5. FINDINGS: CURRENT TRENDS IN ZULU NAMING PRACTICES 145 5.1 Introduction 145 vi 6. CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 161 REFERENCES 166 APPENDICES 169 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND ORIENTATION TO NAMING PRACTICES Names are as old as human speech. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, naming began when God asked Adam to name all the birds and beasts. According to this tradition , Adam was the name given to the fi rst human being by God . Adam was then asked by God to name all livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field , with their generic names. God, because Adam did not have a companion, created a companion for him using one of his ribs. After God had created woman, Adam said, " She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man" (Genesis 2:23). After The Fall (Genesis 3), Adam named his wife "Eve", because she was the mother of all the living (Genesis 3 :20). Genesis 2:19-20 gives an account the 'first' Judeo-Christian naming: 19 And now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them ; for what so ever Adam called any living creature, the same is its name . 20 And Adam called all the beasts by th ei r names, and all the fowls of th e air, and a ll the cattle of the field ; but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself. The practice of conferring names is common to all societies. A name is a word or phrase that constitutes a distinctive designation of a person , place, animal , plant, or other object. Names are given to children at the time of birth or soon thereafter. Usually either the father or the mother names the infant. 2 The primary aim of naming is to prevent one person being confused with another. Personal names are, therefore, primarily used to identify people. It is common practice to name people in their own language so that it is easy for the people who speak that language to use the name. Names are almost always connected with the culture, beliefs and customs of the naming group. It could happen, however, that because the parents of a child have had a change in life experience; they choose to give their child a name foreign to their culture, either because they like the foreign name or because (as it was in much of Africa, particularly during the colonial era) it is politic to have a foreign name. As societies are dynamic, it can be expected that naming and names rooted in such societal change will themselves change to the extent that new names might be created for new experiences.