Uniqueness in the Zulu Anthroponymic System

Uniqueness in the Zulu anthroponymic system Adrian KOOPMAN Introduction: The Zulu anthroponymic system1 The Zulu people live predominately in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the nine provinces of South Africa. This provinces lies between the Drak- ensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean. To the north are Swaziland and Mozambique, to the south the Eastern Cape Province where the main language is the closely-related Xhosa. The ethnonym ‘Zulu’ is derived from uZulu, the name of the founder of the royal line in the 16th Century, and this name is in turn derived from the noun izulu (‘sky, weather’). The Zulu people refer to themselves as amaZulu, and to their language as isiZulu. The Zulu language is a tonal language, and belongs to the widely- spread group of Bantu languages in Africa. Of the nine Bantu languages which have official status in South Africa, Zulu is spoken by the greatest number of people, just under 11 million according to the 2003 census. It is the home language of over 80% of the residents of KwaZulu-Natal, and is also widely used in Johannesburg and the sur- rounding areas. In Zulu culture, many different types of anthroponyms are used, three of them ‘official’ in the sense that they are found in official documents such as identity books, driver’s licenses, school certificates, etc. These are the igama lasekhaya (‘home name’), igama lesilungu (‘colonial name’), and isibongo (‘clan name’, ‘surname’). Other anthroponyms, just as much part of the identity of the individual Zulu, but not found in official documents are the teknonym (use of the child’s name to address a parent), the clan praise, the patronym, and the nickname. For the purposes of this article on uniqueness in Zulu naming, I divide the different types of Zulu anthroponyms into “Individual Names” and “Shared Names”. 1 For an extended summary (10 pages) of the Zulu anthroponymic system, see Koopman 2008; for a full view, see Koopman 2002. 994566_ONOMA_44_05_Koopman_2.indd4566_ONOMA_44_05_Koopman_2.indd 6699 221/12/111/12/11 113:173:17 70 ADRIAN KOOPMAN Individual names Under the heading ‘individual names’ we can consider the following: – the igama lasekhaya (‘home name’, ‘birth name’) – the igama lesilungu (‘colonial name’) – the nickname and, as a form of address rather than a name: – the teknonym The igama lasekhaya is the Zulu name given to every Zulu child by either or both parents shortly after birth. It is semantically transparent, and may relate to any one of the following: – the position of the child in the family, and the relative number of boys and girls (for example: uNtombifuthi2 ‘another girl’, uMfanufikile ‘a boy has arrived at last!’); – the circumstance of the birth: the birth itself; family happen- ings; national events and disasters (for example: uThandazile (girl) ‘having prayed’ for a successful birth after a difficult pregnancy, uMuziwenhlanhla (boy) ‘family of luck’ if the father or anyone in the family has been fortunate); – the appearance of the child (for example: uNtombenhle ‘beautiful girl’, uBhodwe (girl) ‘cooking pot’, i.e. fat, round and black); – an injunction to the child (for example, uTholimfundo (boy) ‘get education’, uBhekumuzi (boy) ‘look after the family’); – the perceived role of God in the birth (for example, uMandlen- kosi (boy) ‘the strength of the Lord’, uSibusisiwe (girl) ‘we have been blessed’) (For further examples of all of these, see the references in footnote one.) The igama lasekhaya is regarded as the ‘true name’ or the ‘real name” (cf igama lesilungu below). In the more traditional, rural parts of Zululand it is still believed that witchcraft can be practiced on a person through possession of his or her name. 2 As in any language, personal names are nouns, and as in any Bantu language, nouns belong to a noun class with an identifying prefix. In such languages, the noun class for personal names is Class 1(a). for which the prefix in Zulu is u-. This falls off when the name is used in address, or in an English context, hence the capital is on the initial consonant of the name. 994566_ONOMA_44_05_Koopman_2.indd4566_ONOMA_44_05_Koopman_2.indd 7700 221/12/111/12/11 113:173:17 UNIQUENESS IN THE ZULU ANTHROPONYMIC SYSTEM 71 The igama lesilungu (‘colonial name’, ‘European name’) is found in all parts of Africa where a country or a region has been colonised by a European power (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Por- tugal, etc.), and where the local anthroponymic system has been ‘invaded’ by colonial names. Thus in Nigeria, in addition to ‘home names’ in Hausa, Yoruba, Akan, Ewe or Ibo, Nigerians also carry a French name; in Angola and Mozambique, the indigenous home name is paired with a typical Portuguese personal name. Among the Zulu people, the igama lesilungu comes from British stock. These may be typical English names: John, Michael, David, Timothy, Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, Elsie. Some might strike us as a little old-fashioned today: Cuthbert, Wilberforce, Prudence, Charity. Occasionally, this name is a translation of the igama lasekhaya: Lucky < uNhlanhla (‘luck’), Prettygirl < uNtombenhle (‘pretty girl’). Biblical names are common, frequently the more obscure names from the bible: Caiphas, Almon, Abednego. And, finally, occasionally European surnames are used, especially of the famous: Lincoln, Churchill, Wordsworth. These names are characteristically not given by parents, but by teachers, preachers, a nurse from the hospital where the child was born, and other such ‘outsiders’. It is not considered a ‘real’ name, and it cannot be a target of witchcraft. There are many signs that this cat- egory is disappearing from the Zulu anthroponymic system. The nickname: There is no generally accepted Zulu term for the nickname. As in all societies, the nickname is not an official name, and does not appear on official documents, but may well be the name by which an individual is known by all and sundry for all of his or her life. It might be a ‘baby name’ given by parents at birth in addition to the igama lasekhaya, it might be a name given by siblings when the child is young, it could be given by school mates later in life, or by work and sports colleagues and friends even later. In Zulu society it can well be self-given. Zulu nicknames may be a single word, or a short phrase, or even a line or two. When this happens the name starts overlapping with oral poetry, an extremely common form of self-expression in Zulu soci- ety3. 3 See Gunner and Gwala 1994, Koopman 1987, 2000, and 2002 (especially chapter 19 “The onomastic – oral literature continuum”, 305-310). 994566_ONOMA_44_05_Koopman_2.indd4566_ONOMA_44_05_Koopman_2.indd 7711 221/12/111/12/11 113:173:17 72 ADRIAN KOOPMAN The teknonym: this is perhaps the most common form of address among adults in the whole of Africa. In teknonymous usage a person is addressed via the name of a child, prefixed with the local equiva- lent of ‘mother of’ or ‘father of’. In Zulu either ubaba (‘my father’) or uyise (‘her, his father’) and either umame (‘my mother’) or unina (his, her mother’) may be used. However, uyihlo (‘your father’) is derogatory and unyoko (‘your mother’) is highly insulting. In some societies the name of the eldest child is invariably used; in others the father uses the name of the eldest son, while the mother uses the name of the eldest daughter. Thus, in Zulu society, parents of the boy Jabulani and the girl Thokozile may address each other as “ We nina ka Thokozile!” (‘Say, mother of Thokozile!’ – husband to wife) answered with “Yebo, baba kaJabulani?” (‘Yes, father of Jabulani?’). Shared Names The term ‘shared names’ is perhaps a little ambiguous in this context. Writers like Saarelma-Maunumaa (1999, 2003, and Bloothooft, Van Nifterik and Gerritzen (2004:16ff) 4 use the term to refers to the system of ‘namesakes’, whereby a child is named after (‘for’?) a grand- parent or other relative, a phenomenon which occurs so rarely in Zulu society as to be virtually non-existent5. On the other hand, I am using the term here in the sense of ‘names shared by a group of people at a particular time’. The most obvious example here is the ‘family name’ or ‘surname’ shared (in Zulu society and in most European families6) by a husband, his wife, their children, and the husband’s brothers and their wives and children. Other group names could include ethnonyms, regimental names and names of sporting, cultural, historical, political and other named groups. 4 In Dutch, this phenomenon is referred to as ‘vernoeming’. 5 In some 35 years of ongoing research into Zulu naming, I am yet to come across someone who says “We named this child after ~”. Zulu-speaking colleagues, however assure me that it does happen, very occasionally. 6 I am personally aware of a number of European-background married women who choose to use their maiden surnames after marriage, some all the time, others only in a professional context. In Zulu society, married women take their husband’s surname, but are commonly addressed by their maiden surname, prefixed by –Ma- to show that although originally of this surname (or of this clan) she is now married. 994566_ONOMA_44_05_Koopman_2.indd4566_ONOMA_44_05_Koopman_2.indd 7722 221/12/111/12/11 113:173:17 UNIQUENESS IN THE ZULU ANTHROPONYMIC SYSTEM 73 In the Zulu anthroponymic system, we can consider the following: – izibongo (‘clan names’) – izithakazelo (‘clan praises’) and, as a form of address: – patronyms Izibongo, (sing. isibongo ‘clan name’) are often perceived as surnames in contemporary South African society. There is, however, a distinct difference between ‘surnames’ and ‘clan names’.7 If I, with the surname Smith, meet another Smith whom I know not to be a brother, cousin or other close kin, I assume that he and I both hap- pened to have an ancestor sometime in our individual pasts who was a smith by trade.

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