The social and literary aspects of Zulu personal names

OF ZULU PERSONAL NAMES"

f.y B Y

ADRIAN KOOPMAN B . A . (HONS)

(Pietermaritzburg, 1986)

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of A r t s in the Department of Z u l u , University of Natal, P i e t e r m a r i t z b u r g ;

This work, on the "Social and Literary Aspects of Zulu Personal Names",

may be divided into three sections:

Firstly, A Comparative Analysis where both the concept and use of Zulu

names are compared to those of other societies, particularly the black

societies of Africa. Emphasis is given to use of names in witchcraft,

name-avoidance, and the underlying reasons for name-giving in such

societies.

Secondly, Zulu Personal Names: a series of interviewiprovide data

on:

a) the social reasons for the giving of personal names (a major

part of this thesis);

b) various forms of name-avoidance, including use of kinship

terms, clan names, and personal praises (and for the latter, a

fifteen page analysis of the content and style of

originally-collec-ted praises);

c) An analysis of an original collection of dog- and ox-names, with

reference to comparative material.

Thirdly, The Literary Aspect of Zulu Personal Names:

a) An analysis of the concept "praise" - from personal names to

the praise-poems of the Zulu kings;

b) An analysis of the literary concepts expressed in Zulu

per-sonal names, suggesting that 'the oral literary tradition is alive

in every name-giving parent';

c) An analysis of the use of names, of various kinds, in both

Zulu and Southern-Bantu praise-poetry.

This work, on the "Social and Literary Aspects of Zulu Personal Names",

may be divided into three sections:

Firstly, A Comparative Analysis where both the concept and use of Zulu

names are compared to those of other societies, particularly the black

societies of Africa. Emphasis is given to use of names in witchcraft,

name-avoidance, and the underlying reasons for name-giving in such

societies.

Secondly, Zulu Personal Names: a series of interviews provide data on:

a) the social reasons for the giving of personal names (a major

part of this thesis);

b) various forms of name-avoidance, including use of kinship

terms, clan names, and personal praises (and for the latter, a

fifteen page analysis of the content and style of

originally-collec-ted praises);

c) An analysis of an original collection of dog- and ox-names, with

reference to comparative material.

Thirdly, The Literary Aspect of Zulu Personal Names:

a) An analysis of the concept "praise" - from personal names to

the praise-poems of the Zulu kings;

b) An analysis of the literary concepts expressed in Zulu

per-sonal names, suggesting that 'the oral literary tradition is alive

in every name-giving parent';

c) An analysis of the use of names, of various kinds, in both

Zulu and Southern-Bantu praise-poetry.

I would like to thank the following people for their help and support d u r i n g the w r i t i n g of t h i s t h e s i s :

John A i t c h i s o n , for compiling and r u n n i n g the ZUPENA computer programme;

Pat B l a c q u i e r e , for t y p i n g aj[ d r a f t s , and the final copy of this t h e s i s , as well as r u n n i n g an APPLE programme;

Professor T r e v o r C o p e , my s u p e r v i s o r , for his valuable i n s i g h t s , his c o n s t r u c t i v e c r i t i c i s m , and his p a t i e n c e ;

my colleague, Msawakhe Hlengwa, for his useful advice and comments; the Human Sciences Research C o u n c i l , for financial assistanc^;

Mrs G e r t r u d e Mofokeng, who has contributed both material and i n s i g h t ; and her d a u g h t e r , Phillipa Mofokeng, an outstanding f i e l d - w o r k e r ; T h e U n i v e r s i t y of N a t a l , P i e t e r m a r i t z b u r g , for allowing access to staff on campus for research p u r p o s e s ;

my wife J e w e l , for p r o o f - r e a d i n g , and help w i t h the b i b l i o g r a p h y ; and various other people who have been thanked in the body of the t h e s i s .

Acknowledgements Contents

1. Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 The background to this study 1.2 Methods of Research

1.2.1 Primary source material: interview 1.2.1.1 S t r u c t u r e of questionnaire 1.2.1.2 Places of research

1.2.1.3 Analysis of results

1.2.2 Secondary source material: the l i t e r a t u r e

1.2.2.1 Ruth Finnegan's Oral L i t e r a t u r e in A f r i c a 1.2.2.2 Social Science and Humanitites Index

1.2.2.3 Indexes of books on Southern A f r i c a n anth pology

1.3 The Comparative Aspect

1.3.1 The Concept of the Name \ 1.3.2 Varieties of Names

1.3.3 Ceremonial Aspects 1.3.3.1 Ceremonies 1.3.3.2 The name-giver

1.3.3.3 When the name is given

2. Chapter T w o : Zulu Names and Other Forms of Address 2.1 Varieties of Address

2.2 Descriptive 2.3 Kinship Terms

2.4 Kinship Terms w i t h Names 2.4.1 Patronyms

2.4.2 Teknonyms

2.4.3 - M A - + Maiden Clan-name 2.5 Personal Names

2.5.1 igama lasekhaya: the Zulu name 2.5.2 igama l e s i l u n g u : the 'European1 name

2.5.3 isidlaliso/isangelo/isifenqo: the 'pet-name' 2.5.4 amagama amabutho: regimental names

2 . 6 . 2 Isithakazelo: c l a n - p r a i s e , honorific 57

2.7 Personal Praises (izithopho) 60 2 . 7 . 1 C o u r t i n g Praises ( e z o k u s h e l a ) 62

2 . 7 . 2 Dancing Praises ( e z o k u g u j a ) 64 2 . 7 . 3 F i g h t i n g Praises ( e z o k u l w a ) 65

2 . 7 . 4 Descriptive Praises 67 2 . 7 . 5 Football Praises (ezobhola) 68

2 . 7 . 6 Boxing Praises 70

2 . 7 . 7 Other 71 a) other men's praises 71

b ) Europeans' praises 72 c) Women's praises 74 2.8 Names of dogs and oxen 75

2. 8.1 Dog names 75 2 . 8 . 2 Ox names 79 C h a p t e r T h r e e : T h e Aetiology of Z u l u Personal Names 81

3.1 I n t r o d u c t i o n 81 3.2 Comparative M a t e r i a l : A Review of Reasons 81

3 . 2 . 1 Beattie on the Nyoro 82 3 . 2 . 2 E v a n s - P r i t c h a r d on the N u e r 82

3 . 2 . 3 G u l l i v e r on the Jie 83 3 . 2 . 4 Junod on the Thongas 83 3 . 2 . 5 Middleton on the L u g b a r a 84 3 . 2 . 6 Molema on the Sotho 84 3 . 2 . 7 Monnig on the Pedi 84 3 . 2 . 8 C h u k s - O r j i on various A f r i c a n peoples 85

3.3 Reasons for Zulu names 86

3 . 3 . 1 Male 89 3 . 3 . 2 Female 91 3 . 3 . 3 God 93 3 . 3 . 4 Number 94 3 . 3 . 5 G r a t i t u d e 97 3 . 3 . 6 Clan 98 3 . 3 . 7 Injunction 100 3 . 3 . 8 Happiness 101 3 . 3 . 9 T r u s t 102 ( i i i )

3 . 3 . 1 3 L o b o l o 109 3 . 3 . 1 4 S t i l l b i r t h 111 3 . 3 . 1 5 L o v e 112 3 . 3 . 1 6 T w i n s 112 3 . 3 . 1 7 B l e s s i n g 116 3 . 3 . 1 8 B a r r e n n e s s 116 3 . 3 . 1 9 L u c k 118 3 . 3 . 2 0 P r o g r e s s 118 3 . 3 . 2 1 C o m f o r t 119 3 . 3 . 2 2 C i r c u m s t a n c e s o f t h e f a t h e r 120 3 . 3 . 2 3 P r i d e 121 3 . 3 . 2 4 O t h e r 121 3.4 C o m b i n a t i o n s o f C a t e g o r i e s 123 3.5 R e l a t i o n s h i p s b e t w e e n c a t e g o r i e s , s e x a n d n a m e - g i v e r 126 3 . 5 . 1 R e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n c a t e g o r i e s a n d sex 126 3 . 5 . 2 R e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n c a t e g o r i e s a n d n a m e - g i v e r 129 3 . 5 . 3 R e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n sex o f c h i l d a n d n a m e - g i v e r 131 3.6 C o n c l u s i o n s a b o u t names i n t h e social c o n t e x t 132 C h a p t e r four: Names i n a L i t e r a r y C o n t e x t 135 4 . 1 A f r i c a n names i n t h e i r l i t e r a r y c o n t e x t 135 4 . 1 . 1 T h e c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f a n t h r o p o l o g i s t s a n d s o c i o l o g i s t s 135 4 . 1 . 2 T h e c o n t r i b u t i o n o f s c h o l a r s o f o r a l l i t e r a t u r e 137 4 . 1 . 2 . 1 A k a n d i r g e s 138 4 . 1 . 2 . 2 D r u m names 139 4 . 1 . 2 . 3 P r o v e r b names 139 4 . 1 . 3 S o u t h e r n B a n t u o r a l l i t e r a t u r e s t u d i e s 140 4 . 2 From P e r s o n a l Names t o P r a i s e P o e t r y : I n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p s a n d P r o g r e s s i o n s 141 4 . 2 . 1 C o m p o s i t i o n 142 4 . 2 . 2 P r a i s e v a l u e s 147 4 . 2 . 3 P o i n t s o f s i m i l a r i t y b e t w e e n names a n d p r a i s e s 149 4 . 2 . 3 . 1 E x p a n s i o n / E x t e n s i o n 149 4 . 2 . 3 . 2 P e r s o n i f i c a t i o n s a n d S e c o n d a r y - P r e f i x d e r i v a t i o n s 150 4 . 2 . 3 . 3 C o m p o u n d i n g 152 ( i v )

4 . 2 . 4 N a me s , P r a i s e s , S o c i e t y , a n d t h e O r a l T r a d i t i o n 157 4 . 3 T h e L i t e r a r y A s p e c t s o f Z u l u p e r s o n a l names 161 4 . 3 . 1 Names i n I s o l a t i o n 161 4 . 3 . 1 . 1 A l l u s i v e n e s s 161 4 . 3 . 1 . 2 C e r t a i n k i n d s o f I m a g e r y 165 4 . 3 . 1 . 3 C e r t a i n s t r u c t u r a l f o r m a l i t i e s 169 4 . 3 . 1 . 4 C e r t a i n p r o s o d i e s 170 4 . 3 . 2 Names i n C o m b i n a t i o n 171 4 . 3 . 2 . 1 A l l i t e r a t i o n a n d A s s o n a n c e 171 4 . 3 . 2 . 2 Parallelisms o f v a r i o u s k i n d s 175 4 . 3 . 2 . 3 Theme 178 4 . 3 . 2 . 4 S t o r y ( ' n a r r a t i v e s e q u e n c e ' ) 179 4 . 4 T h e u s e o f names in Z u l u p r a i s e - p o e t r y 183 B i b l i o g r a p h y 193 ( v )

1.1 The b a c k g r o u n d to this s t u d y . 1.2 Methods of research.

1.3 Names from A f r i c a : the comparative aspect.

1.1 The b a c k g r o u n d to this s t u d y .

Between 1973 and 1975, I worked for the Municipal Bantu Admin­ istration in Durban (later the Port Natal B a n t u A f f a i r s Administration B o a r d ) . D u r i n g t h i s time my contact w i t h , and interest i n , Zulu names, led to an Honours dissertation in 1976 w i t h the t i t l e A Study of Zulu Names, w i t h special reference to the s t r u c t u r a l aspect. A l ­

though that study had some general notes on various kinds of names, and although I had collected some sociological material, the bulk of the study was l i n g u i s t i c , concentrating p a r t i c u l a r l y on s t r u c t u r a l differences between (a) personal names and other nouns in Z u l u ; and ( b ) male and female names. The following e x t r a c t from the

i n t r o d u c t o r y chapter of that dissertation may be useful h e r e : "As should be clear from the many examples of names given above, the igama lasekhaya is almost i n v a r i a b l y a reflection of the c h i l d ' s b a c k g r o u n d , i . e . t r a d i t i o n a l or modern, r u r a l or u r b a n , pagan or C h r i s t i a n . The values to which the parents subscribe and to which they wish t h e i r c h i l d r e n to subscribe, are also well reflected in names. It is unfortunately not w i t h i n the scope of this work to investigate this matter, but it should prove a fascinating s t u d y for a sociologist." That was w r i t t e n in 1976, and as no sociologist t u r n e d u p , and my interest in Zulu names increased rather than lessened, it seemed inevitable that the Master's dissertation should take up where the Honours had left o f f .

1. Later published separately in A f r i c a n S t u d i e s , 1979, under the titles " L i n g u i s t i c Difference between Nouns and Names in Z u l u " and "Male and Female Names in Z u l u " .

Between 1976 a n d 1980, I k e p t a l a r g e n o t e b o o k in w h i c h I j o t t e d d o w n a n y t h i n g o f i n t e r e s t c o n n e c t e d w i t h Z u l u names : i n t e r e s t i n g

names, s t o r i e s a n d anecdotes f r o m v a r i o u s p e o p l e , n e w s p a p e r c l i p p p i n g s , t h e names o f d o g s , h o r s e s a n d o x e n .

In 1980 t h e Onomastics Society o f S o u t h e r n A f r i c a ( n o w t h e Names S o c i e t y ) o p e n e d a b r a n c h in N a t a l , a n d I f o u n d w h e n I j o i n e d t h a t I was t h e o n l y member w o r k i n g on a n y a s p e c t o f Z u l u n a m e s . It seemed t h e time t o f o c u s t h e r a t h e r h a p h a z a r d n o t e s i n t o s o m e t h i n g w h i c h c o u l d be made a v a i l a b l e t o o t h e r s c h o l a r s , a n d a c c o r d i n g l y i n e a r l y 1981 I e m ­ b a r k e d on a r e s e a r c h p r o g r a m m e w h i c h w o u l d p r o v i d e q u a n t i f i a b l e d a t a on t h e f o l l o w i n g q u e s t i o n s : 1) t h e use o f t h e v a r i o u s d i f f e r e n t k i n d s o f Z u l u n a m e s ; 2) t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n names a n d social v a l u e s ; a n d 3) t h e reason w h y i n d i v i d u a l names a r e g i v e n .

T h e sociological v a l u e o f s u c h a s t u d y has been u n d e r l i n e d b y v a r i o u s s c h o l a r s . E v a n s - P r i t c h a r d (1948:166) has p o i n t e d o u t t h a t :

" T h e s t u d y o f names a n d t i t l e s o f a d d r e s s has some i m ­ p o r t a n c e b e c a u s e , as w i l l be seen f r o m t h e n o t e s r e c o r d e d b e l o w , t h e y symbolize a man's social p o s i t i o n in r e l a t i o n t o t h e p e o p l e a r o u n d h i m , so t h a t , b y t h e use o f one o r t h e o t h e r o f t h e m , t h e s t a t u s o f t h e s p e a k e r t o t h e p e r s o n a d d r e s s e d is r e a d i l y r e c o g n i z e d . "

M a d u b u i k e ( 1 9 7 6 : 1 4 ) a d d s a n e x t r a element w h e n h e s a y s : " ( N a m e s ) have a deep social s i g n i f i c a n c e a n d many names s t u d i e d c o l l e c t i v e l y e x p r e s s a w o r l d v i e w , t h e W e l t a n s c h a u n g o f t h e p e o p l e . "

These a r e o f c o u r s e sociological r e f l e c t i o n s . I was g r e a t l y e n c o u r a g e d b y t h e w o r k on names a n d f o r m s o f a d d r e s s d o n e b y a l i n g u i s t . P r o f . Johan C o m b r i n k o f t h e A f r i k a a n s D e p a r t m e n t at S t e l l e n b o s c h . His p a p e r on t h e v o c a t i v e i n A f r i k a a n s s h o w e d c l e a r l y t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p s b e t w e e n g r a m m a r a n d social v a l u e s , a n d he made i t e v e n more c l e a r t o

me t h a t t h e s t u d y o f names (as in t h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n ) is n o t a s o c i o l o g i ­ cal m a t t e r o n l y , n o r t h a t o f l i n g u i s t i c s o n l y , b u t f a l l s u n d e r t h e h y b r i d

d i s c i p l i n e : s o c i o - l i n g u i s t i c s .

1. U n p u b l i s h e d ; g i v e n as a seminar a t U n i v e r s i t y o f N a t a l , P i e t e r -m a r i t z b u r g , i n 1981.

S'i'RKAKE OF FATILY House Ho

i:AI-'.E*J OF FAMILY HEAD A.-e Home Are.-,

Occupation Church NAMES OF WIFE A?e Home Area

Wife's Maiden Clan Name CHILDREN'S MAHEr,

(Unyaka wokuzalwa, igama lesilungu, igana lasekhaya, laqanjwa n^ubani' Izizathu zokuqar.ba)

Family Izithakazelo

Tamily's knowledge of izithakazelo.

i'.ode? of address in <"anilyparents to children, parents to each other, children to each other

Izithopho, izifengoo. Ocgs', cats' canes. .

Many people having asked me the meaning of a Zulu name, have greeted the answer with exclamations like "How e x p r e s s i v e ! " ; "What a s t r i k i n g t h o u g h t ! " ; or perhaps "How p o e t i c ! " . When Ruth Finnegan,

in Oral Literature in Africa confirms such comments by r e f e r r i n g to the key role names play in African oral l i t e r a t u r e , it seemed clear to me that a chapter on the literary aspects of Zulu names should be added to the chapters on sociological aspects.

This dissertation is s t r u c t u r e d as follows:

Chapter One: I n t r o d u c t i o n , and Zulu names within an African c o n t e x t .

Chapter Two: Zulu names and other forms of a d d r e s s : the d i f f e r e n t kinds of Zulu names and where, when and how they are used.

Chapter T h r e e : The reasons u n d e r l y i n g Zulu personal names (amagama) : hffw and why they are g i v e n .

Chapter Four: The L i t e r a r y aspect: the l i t e r a r y qualities of Zulu names, and the use of names in Zulu l i t e r a t u r e .

1.2 Methods of Research.

1.2.1 Primary source material: i n t e r v i e w .

1.2.2 Secondary source material: the l i t e r a t u r e .

1.2.1 Primary sources

1.2.1.1 S t r u c t u r e of questionnaire

A questionnaire was designed, to be taken to Zulu p a r e n t s . This was later modified s l i g h t l y . (See illustration no. 1)

The questionnaire consisted o f :

1) A sheet number for later f i l i n g and easy reference.

2) The family surname (or clanname). This was to relate the c l a n -name to the clan-praises, and also to see if there were any relationships between the childrens' personal names and the clan-name.

3) House-number: or any other way of recontacting the informant at a later date if necessary.

4) Names of family-head: to see if any relationship between his names and those of his sons.

...URKAI:-.

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raoes of V.'ife &¥Uc... /?&&<?<&. AGe* Hone Area. . T x / T T ? . Wife's Clan ''ace... . .'F/.&C'A Educational/Vinancial s t a t u s of

Family Head_ . / v W £ ^ >- /# h^SPPik-. ;

Liate of Birth, I^aisa lesilur.gu, I.~ar;a lase>:hava, laqanjwa nrubani? Izizathu z o k u q a . ^ b a ^ / ^ ' W ^ . * ^ - / * * " ^ k u ^ ^ ■

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fcnHS-Dcgs-n and c a t s ' n a c e s . ^ ^ . .^. U. fa>. .If/?*?&.

fodcs of aldrss in fcjaily: children to pare::t£; parents to children; p a r e n t s t o each oKer/fr^.tA^. . ^^f., . k&Si**>. **4. ?.<&'}{.

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Illustration 2. Completed questionnaire.

A. Koopman.

5) Names of w i f e : to see if any relationship between her names and those of her daughters.

6) Their ages to establish if there are any changes taking place in the g i v i n g of names, i . e . to see if there are any detectable differences between the way today's parents name their children and the way the previous

generation d i d .

7) Their home area: to see if any regional differences could be f o u n d . 8) The occupation of the head of the house, as this proved to be a use­ f u l way of establishing social status, income, education, e t c . , to be r e ­ lated to the children's names.

9) Their c h u r c h : to see if religion played any role in the naming of their c h i l d r e n .

10) The wife's maiden clan-name: to see if any link between this and the names of her c h i l d r e n .

11) The major part of the questionnaire, asking f o r :

(a) the child's year of b i r t h (significant gaps between c h i l d r e n are f r e q u e n t l y reflected in the name);

(b) the European name, to see what effect o n , or relationship w i t h , the Zulu name it h a d ;

(c) the all-important Zulu name; (d) who gave it? and

(e) why?

This was an open-ended question, allowing the informants to v o l ­ unteer any information they l i k e d . Often quite long stories lay behind the child's name, and such stories had to spill onto the back of the questionnaire.

12) The clan izithakazelo (praises) : mainly to update my previous collec­ tion (See Appendix 3 of Honours d i s s e r t a t i o n ) , but also to see how well these are still known these days in the urban areas.

13) The family's knowledge of izithakazelo: did everyone know?, or only the f a t h e r ? , or only the parents?, or only the males? If the c h i l d r e n knew them, who had taught them?

14) Modes of address in the f a m i l y : parents to the c h i l d r e n ; parents to each other, children to each o t h e r . I originally asked for c h i l d r e n to p a r e n t s , b u t discovered no variations on Ma(ma) and Baba.

SVHNAKS OF FAl^ItY.dX^P.^^. House H o ? . 3 ! P . .

ilAMES OF FAMILY E E A D . ^ « ? f e < . " 9 < * ^ r f . . ASe 3 A.Home A r e a . ^ J k ^ 4 ^ k . . . . O c c u p a t i o n . &)&*?&*¥& Church.^Ah^f^9r. NAMES OF VIYZ.'f&VC?:W&#*y. /ftk&h A g e . 3 $ . • Home A r e a . ' K v ' ? ' r ^ 4r? V T 0 - . . . . , W i f e ' s Maiden C l a n Kame JO&-. ^ ^ ^ y y ^ T

CHILDREN'S NAMES

(Unyaka w o k u z a l w a , igama l e s i l u n g u , igama l a s e k h a y a , l a q a n j w a n g u b a n i ? I z i z a t h u z o k u q a c b a ) _ — ^

^^ryy^.^frz^fh^-. .

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F a m i l y I z i t h a k a z e l o .

f a m i l y ' s knowledge of i z i t h a k a z e l o .

Modes of a d d r e s s i n f a m i l y p a r e n t s t o c h i l d r e n , p a r e n t s t o each o t h e r ,

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I z i t h o p h o , i z i f e n g q o . D o g s ' , c a t s ' n a m e s . .

Illustration 3. Completed questionnair-e. Interview by Philippa Mofokeng.

15) Izithopho, izifenqo: any nick-names, praise-names, giya-names, football names, etc. in the family.

16) Dogs' and cats' names, or the names of any other pet.

A fair amount of the information turned out to be useless: it was for instance impossible to discover any links between the c h i l d r e n ' s names, and the parents' d i s t r i c t of o r i g i n , or the mother's maiden-clan. Specific churches were i r r e l e v a n t ; it was only relevant whether they were c h u r c h ­ goers or n o t .

The bulk of this dissertation concerns the material collected under number (11) above, the names of the children and the reasons for them.

1.2.1.2 Places of research

My f i r s t research was conducted at Sobantu Village, a small t o w n ­ ship w i t h i n the urban area of Pietermaritzburg with the advantage of being only 3 kilometres from my home (using the short cut t h r o u g h the Municipal r u b b i s h d u m p ) . This t u r n e d out to be an inconvenient place to conduct research, however, because

f i r s t l y , a permit was needed from the Drakensberg Administration B o a r d ; I had to 'book i n ' at the Superintendent's office each time; had to produce my permit when asked; and had to be out of the area by 1.00pm each d a y ; and

secondly, the residents were extremely suspicious of me as a white (clearly r e g a r d i n g me as a t a x , r e n t , police or other inspector) and because of these suspicions, an interview of about half-an-hour needed at least

10 minutes of explanations before I could begin with the questions. This was not only tedious and b o r i n g , b u t a great waste of time.

I then had the idea of s h i f t i n g my place of operations to the U n i v e r ­ sity campus, reasoning that the University had a large number of Zulu employees (domestics in the residence, building and grounds s t a f f , farm workers at the U n i v e r s i t y farm U k u l i n g a ) , and that most of these would be married w i t h c h i l d r e n . T h i s t u r n e d out to be far more successful. For example, the interviews w i t h the grounds s t a f f : Mr Monty Robert­ son, Grounds Superintendent, k i n d l y allowed me to address his staff en masse at a pay-day g a t h e r i n g . This had the dual effect of f i r s t l y allaying all suspicion as 1 was introduced by Mr Robertson (a fair p r o p o r t i o n of the Staff knew me by sight a n y w a y ) , and secondly of allowing me to make

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11 25 > T h o k o t i l e t J i T rJ motheri happy at g e t t i n g d t r who w i l l help i n houseworksufr* ftnAig too 25 i Lindiwe 53 f a t h e r t becauee mother haa already born two g i r l e he

I....T.I. i-< w a < already e x p e c t i n g a t h i r d . Saying »o through annoyanow

t h a t l a she g o i n g t o go on b e a r i n g g i r l e forever? f t r m u .

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i°* 26 5 Siduao ' ?-*»**erTi,o>» motheri gave b i r t h prematurely through shock becauee on the way t o JHS t h e r e was f i g h t i n g (isldumo) around her&^Wt*

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.• 1 I r ( 3 o m a f t e r l o n g w a i t | not same mother as f i r s t o h i l d )

<•! 2 7 * 9 Hoelenhle motheri c h i l d was l o v e l y [ i s 1 \\ 1 11) when born fHfSiCAi. 104 D ^ S i b o n g i s e n i ^ n l e t everyone make h i a happy/grateful that he

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i ,**■>£&%<~«J3' (of. l . t MM)

-ief it 5 Zaknele t i ? f a t h e r t had b u i l t h i s OSJB houss i n the l o o a t i o n f B p * 6 6 < t * » 5 10* 2? *- N e l i s i l e (eJ^ motheri now enough c h i l d r e n because her d e s i r e to get a

daughter has been f u l f i l l e d a t l a e t f t n i M - S ^>*J-i&5rt. lie 29 < T h o k o s i l e i d 3 mothert was happy t o g e t a g i r l HM>Py PfcMAu*

ill 41 i Mbalenble 4 i mothert the o h i l d was b e a u t i f u l at b i r t h and l o v e d by a l l "*1i,c*L

Hi 3O 5 Bonganf r j . ; f a t h e r t because he had w a i t e d a long time without g e t t i n g * * * ^ * a c h i l d and was g r a t e f u l to get one, s a y i n g 'be g r a t e f u l a^a^j*-, ilVs^ ■' ^>L paople of Gabuza the Lord hae answered our p r a y e r s ' ctjsn M3 3 * d. Honhlanhla\Z^ mother and f a t h e r t because again they had waited s i r $A<fl.e*»

y e a r s f o r t h i s c h i l d , hut they were lucky i n having the UAC*. t- ■# C«r L" Lord g i v s them another o h i l d . 6-efc . 11* 31 S Mlindeni '^H f a t h e r t l e t the i n - l a w s w a i t for t h i s c h i l d u n t i l he C'J , W^a*l^

• t . ., has f i n i s h e d paying l o b o l o because he h a s n ' t f i n i s h e d y e t L o**u*

"$ "31 5 Siphamandla 141 fathert having w a i t e d for s i x y s a r s for t h i s c h i l d they ( M t t M e v e n t u a l l y asked the Lord t o g i v e the a o t h e r s t r e n g t h (rA »C 71 • ^ Bonisiwe 1^ named by the f a t h e r b e f o r e the c h i l d had been born becauee

she had bean revealed to him i n a dream. e>wj f-pfT\^< .

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o n l y one e x p l a n a t i o n o f my s t u d y , my i n t e n t i o n s a n d n e e d s . I was t h e n a b l e t o w a n d e r a r o u n d t h e campus at w i l l , i n t e r v i e w i n g t h i s man w e e d i n g h e r e , a n d t h a t man w a t e r i n g t h e r e , w i t h o u t t h e need f o r a n y t e d i o u s p o u r ­ p a r l e r s . A f t e r I h a d c o m p l e t e d + 75 i n t e r v i e w s i n t h i s m a n n e r , I f e l t i t was time t o s t a r t a n a l y s i s , a n d was g l a d t o h a n d o v e r t h e i n t e r v i e w i n g t o P h i l l i p a M o f o k e n g , t h e d a u g h t e r o f my d o m e s t i c , M r s C . M o f o k e n g . She c a r r i e d o u t t h i s i n t e r v i e w i n g i n a most a b l e a n d i n t e l l i g e n t m a n n e r , a n d a n y p r o b l e m s w h i c h arose c o u l d be d i s c u s s e d w i t h h e r m o t h e r , who k n e w most o f t h e f a m i l i e s i n v o l v e d . T h i s i n t e r v i e w i n g was c a r r i e d o u t at I m b a l i , a b l a c k t o w n s h i p j u s t o u t s i d e t h e b o r o u g h o f P i e t e r m a r i t z b u r g . P h i l l i p a ' s p a y was t a k e n f r o m my H . S . R . C . g r a n t . I n t h i s m a n n e r , a t o t a l o f 133 f a m i l i e s w e r e i n t e r v i e w e d . Examples o f q u e s t i o n n a i r e s c o m p l e t e d b y m y s e l f , a n d b y P h i l l i p a , a r e s h o w n in i l l u s t r a t i o n s n o . 2 a n d 3 r e s p e c t i v e l y . 1 . 2 . 1 . 3 A n a l y s i s o f r e s u l t s . T h e i n f o r m a t i o n on t h e q u e s t i o n n a i r e s was s o r t e d as f o l l o w s : 1) C o n t r o l d a t a ( s t a t u s o f f a m i l y , home a r e a , c h u r c h , e t c ) w e r e c h e c k e d i n t e r v i e w b y i n t e r v i e w t o see i f t h e r e w e r e a n y r e l e v a n t l i n k s . Most o f t h i s i n f o r m a t i o n t u r n e d o u t t o b e i r r e l e v a n t , a n d i t was o n l y i n t h e o d d case t h a t a f a t h e r who was a p r e a c h e r s h o w e d t h i s i n t h e name he gave his c h i l d r e n , o r a man o r i g i n a l l y f r o m U m b u m b u l u r e f l e c t e d h i s Mkhize ( U m b u m b u l u ) a n c e s t r y in t h e name o f h i s s o n s . 2) A l l i n f o r m a t i o n on i z i t h a k a z e l o , p e r s o n a l p r a i s e s , a n d animal p r a i s e s w e r e e x t r a c t e d a n d f i l e d f o r l a t e r r e s e a r c h . Some o f t h i s m a t e r i a l w i l l be u s e d t o i l l u s t r a t e v a r i o u s p o i n t s i n t h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n . 3) T h e r e m a i n i n g i n f o r m a t i o n , o n t h e c h i l d r e n ' s n a m e s , was e n t e r e d i n t o one l i s t , g i v i n g t h e f o l l o w i n g i n f o r m a t i o n f o r each c h i l d : 1) Name r e f e r e n c e n u m b e r - f o r r e f e r e n c e a n d f i l i n g . 2) S h e e t r e f e r e n c e n u m b e r - t o r e f e r t o f a m i l y i f l a t e r n e c e s s a r y . 3) Sex o f c h i l d - I f i r s t u s e d 'm1 f o r male a n d ' f f o r female b u t

f o u n d these c o n f u s e d w i t h ' m ' f o r m o t h e r a n d ' f f o r f a t h e r .

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Sex was r e g i s t e r e d as ' s ' f o r son a n d ' d ' f o r d a u g h t e r . 4) T h e Z u l u n a m e .

5) Its meaning in E n g l i s h . 6) T h e g i v e r o f t h e n a m e .

7) Why t h e name was g i v e n (a s h o r t e n e d f o r m o f t h e o r i g i n a l , o f t e n l e n g t h y , r e a s o n ) .

Once t h i s was d o n e , I c o n t e m p l a t e d t h e l e n g t h y document f o r some t i m e , a n d e v e n t u a l l y c a t e g o r i z e d t h e r e a s o n s i n t o t w e n t y - f i v e s u b - c a t e g o r i e s , l a t e r c o m p r e s s e d i n t o six s u b - c a t e g o r i e s . T h e s e w e r e t h e n r e a d y f o r a n a l y s i s , a n d I am g r a t e f u l t o A r i e B l a c q u i e r e , Head o f t h e L a n g u a g e a n d R e a d i n g L a b o r a t o r i e s at t h e U n i v e r s i t y in P i e t e r m a r i t z b u r g , f o r s u g g e s ­ t i n g t h a t t h i s w o u l d be an ideal t a s k f o r a c o m p u t e r . I am e v e n more g r a t e f u l t o J o h n A i t c h i s o n , f o r f i r s t l y a g r e e i n g t o Mr B l a c q u i e r e ' s s u g g e s ­ t i o n , a n d s e c o n d l y , f o r a g r e e i n g t o w r i t e a p r o g r a m f o r me. A S . P . S . S . t y p e p r o g r a m was u s e d , a n d t h i s r e q u i r e d t h a t t h e i n f o r m a t i o n i n t h e c o m b i n e d l i s t be r e d u c e d t o n u m b e r s . T h i s was done in t h e f o l l o w i n g w a y , a n d I s h a l l t a k e as an e x a m p l e B h e k o k w a k h e , t h e f i r s t son a n d f o u r t h c h i l d o f t h e 37th f a m i l y t o be i n t e r v i e w e d :

38 s l o t s on a Cobol c o m p u t e r c a r d w e r e a v a i l a b l e t o each name, a n d t h e s e w e r e a l l o c a t e d as f o l l o w s : s l o t s 1 , 2 , 3: t h e e n t r y n u m b e r . B h e k o k w a k h e was t h e 139th name in t h e c o m b i n e d l i s t a n d he is r e c o r d e d as 139 h e r e . s l o t s 4 , 5, 6 : t h e sheet ( f a m i l y , i n t e r v i e w n u m b e r ) . T h i s was t h e 37th f a m i l y i n t e r v i e w e d , a n d he is r e c o r d e d as 037. s l o t s 7, 8: i n d i c a t e f i r s t c h i l d , s e c o n d , t h i r d , e t c . He is e n t e r e d as 0 4 .

slot 9: sex o f c h i l d : 1 f o r male, 2 f o r f e m a l e .

slot 10: n a m e - g i v e r : 1 f o r f a t h e r , 2 f o r m o t h e r , 3 f o r g r a n d - m o t h e r , 4 f o r g r a n d f a t h e r , 5 f o r o t h e r . A s i t was his mother who named h i m , he is r e c o r d e d as 2.

s l o t s 1 1 , 12, 13: i n d i c a t e a n a m e - r e f e r e n c e n u m b e r . A n a l p h a b e t i c a l l i s t was made o f all names r e c o r d e d in t h e s u r v e y , a n d B h e k o k w a k h e was n u m b e r 8.

* • • » • » » • » » » C R O S S T A i i J L A T l G N » S N A H f G I V E G I V l f c Oh NAMF AT I O L A S ( I A O U L A T I N G 1 ) • e « e * 9 e e » 9 « o e e e « e e 9 9 c o t c o o e o c e P A G c I Ob AS KAMc f, I V l FA l r l t f P Q T i t F R G K A N O H D I He ft GrtA <fH A T H . . K 0 1 HER 1 HF C O L N T I I M A P P V I C R A U F J L 1 G O O I r t A L F I F t P A l L l l f t u S T I B L E S S l O I N U H B E R H O V E I F R I CT I G M COM? Clt T I I 17 1 1 8 I Zt, \ i'> I is 1 1 0 1 3 1 2 7 I b 1 1 0 I 2 2 1 l i I / l I 3 2 I 1 3 I 3 * I 1 7 I 7 1 1 9 1 i 1 6 1 7 J 1 0 1 1 1 0 I 6 1 0 1 0 1 I I 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 4 1 I I 0 1 1 I / I I I 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 I I 0 S I I I 0 1 I I 2 1 I I 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 0 C O L U M N T O T A l 3 2 U . 4 SO 1 0 . 4 l i . 7 6 0 2 C . < . lb 1 7 . 0 6t> 27 7 . 0 2 . 9 11 4 7 1 2 . 3 1 3 3 . 4 2 1 5 . S P E R C E N T S A N U T O T A L S " U S E D O N R E S P O N D E N T S ( L T M T I N ^ E L , ) 9 2 . 3 RfiW T C H A l 1 9 2 5 0 . 1 1 S 6 4 0 . 7 2 1 5 . " 7 1 . 8 7 1 . 8 3 B 3 1 0 0 . 0

I l l u s t r a t i o n 6. ZUPENA P r i n t o u t : Crosstabulation : name-giver against the 25 categories of names (only 11 shown). Unannotated.

slots 14 - 38: for the t w e n t y - f i v e categories of name reasons. His mother had named him Bhekokwakhe ('Look to his own') as he was the f i r s t boy and should look after his i n h e r i t a n c e . The reasons therefore fell under slot 17 ('Male' - maleness of c h i l d specifically r e f e r r e d to) and slot 32 ('Clan1 - the name refers to the position of the child within the

c l a n . ) Bhekokwakhe has t h u s , for statistical purposes, been changed into the following i d e n t i t y :

1 2 3 k 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Ik 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 2k 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 1 3 9 0 3 7 0 4 1 2 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Once the task of changing 15 pages of combined data (as in i l l u s t r a t i o n 4) into 11 Cobol program sheets (see i l l u s t r a t i o n 5) was completed (a task r e q u i r i n g great concentration, yet s u r p r i s i n g l y completed in one d a y ) , it was necessary to f i n d someone to punch the computer c a r d s , and here I am g r a t e f u l to Professor Nick Phillips of the U n i v e r s i t y ' s Computer Science Department for persuading his son Steven to do t h i s . (His v e r y reasonable fee also came from the H . S . R . C . g r a n t ) . It was then up to John Aitchison to use these cards to answer such questions as

what percentage of fathers name their sons? mothers, their daughters?

do fathers name f i r s t sons more f r e q u e n t l y than subsequent sons? what percentage of fathers name t h e i r sons for reasons connected w i t h maleness? pride? clan?

what percentage of mothers name their daughters for reasons connected w i t h happiness? the physical b i r t h ? appearance of the baby?

are boys o r ' g i r l s more likely to receive names connected with love? Cod? t r u s t ?

These and many other questions were answeredwith reams of statistical analysis and breakdown, and it was for a computer novice like myself e x c i t i n g to see questions that 1 could have answered myself only after a year of long evenings, beingansweredwithin seconds. I learnt some

1. The computer identification name for the program was ZUPENA (ZUlu PErsonal NAmes).

9 « s « » « « 9 « » » C K U S S I A d O l A T I O * « # « * « » - » ♦ » » - » S F » HY ) D £ AS I ) A 6 U L A 1 I N C 1 > c c » c « c » » * c : « » e « « » » » » » « » » » « e « o » t pA CL l OF 1 , ' J / i ■ t2-e r * l D t AS C U L N T » * L L I"! KAt I " i t C ' M i A»4. « L C u T I N j f . u I T O T A L S H A S K 1 T U T a " ) i < , 5 2 . 6 1 8 8 loc.r

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computer terminology, the most common on the earlier p r i n t - o u t s being /...PROGRAM RUNNING PROGRAM ABORTED / . Examples of the p r i n t - o u t s , which are discussed in detail in Chapter 3, are shown in illustrations 6 and 7.

The one t h i n g that the SPSS program could not do was provide me with a p r i n t - o u t of the reasons as given in the combined l i s t , and here I am indebted to Pat Blacquiere for nobly o f f e r i n g to operate the Language Laboratory's Apple computer, with its a b i l i t y to record a great amount of information which could then be recalled under various headings or combinations of headings. I thus had available at a moment's notice all those names falling under 'female', with the v a r i o u s reasons, or for a more detailed approach, all names combining 'female' with 'God1, or 'female'

with 'lobola'. This was invaluable to me when I was w r i t i n g the detail of Chapter 3. An example of the Apple p r i n t o u t is shown in i l l u s t r a t i o n 8.

1.2.2 Secondary Source Material : the l i t e r a t u r e .

There has been v e r y little w r i t t e n on the subject of Zulu names, Nonetheless, I undertook a detailed search of the l i t e r a t u r e to see if I could f i n d a n y t h i n g of relevance. I divide for convenience the secondary

sources into the following three categories:

1.2.2.1 Ruth Finnegan's Oral L i t e r a t u r e in A f r i c a : the references to works on personal names in various parts of A f r i c a , and the ' s p i n - o f f s ' from these.

1.2.2.2 Consultation of Social Science and Humanities Indexes.

1.2.2.3 The indexes of a number of books on Southern A f r i c a n a n t h r o p o l o g y .

1.2.2.1 Finnegan's Oral L i t e r a t u r e .

Besides the useful material in the book itself, footnotes in Finnegan provided me with a number of references that might otherwise have been d i f f i c u l t to t r a c e . A l t h o u g h these are all quoted to support her contention that names play a role in oral l i t e r a t u r e , they are all w r i t t e n by anthropologists and are socio-anthropological in tone and c o n t e n t . Useful articles were:

1 J A B U L A N I : GF HAPPY THAT LAST SON'S F I R S T C H I L D A 80Y

MALE

14 VUSUMUZIi M: 1ST SON MALE CLAN

21 THABANI: F; DELIGHTED IN GETTING ANOTHER BOY

l-WPPY MALE

48 M F A N A S Fi A BOY AFTER THREE GIRLS MALE

44 MUZ IKAUUKHO: GM : REASON? PROBABLY BECAUSE ONLY ONE SON

MALE

4o NOMciKHOSI : F : HAD T H O U G H C T ^ ^ T CHILD UiAS GOING TO BE BOY, AND HAD ALREADY CHOSEN NAME MAKHOSONKE' - T H I S I S FEMALE EQUIVALENT

MALE

71 NHLANHLAt F: FELT L U C K Y TO GET A SON LUCK MALE

93 BHEK1NKOSI: GF TOLD SON (CHILD'S F)

TO LOOK TO THE C L H M CHIEFS AND AMADLOZI

AND THANK THEM THAT HE HAS STARTED WITH

A SON

MACE

<L+A*

79 NKGSINATHIs F: GOO IS U1TH US IN GIVING US ANOTHER BOY

BLESSING MALE

88 VUSUMUZI: F: FIRST BOY MALE CLAN

TWIN MAi_E

w TuJIN BLESSING M H L E

t

81 MANOLAi Fi GOO HAS GIVEN US STRENGTH IN GIVING US MORE BOYS

82 SIBUStSO: F: SCO "riAS GIVEN BLESSING IN GIVING US MORE BOYS

rt A ^

Illustration 8. APPLE Printout : all names in the category 'male'. Note th

one name is female.

Beattie: 'Nyoro personal names'

Ennis: 'Women's names among the Ovimbundu of Angola' E v a n s - P r i t c h a r d : ' Nuer modes of Address1

G u l l i v e r : 'Bell-Oxen and Ox-names among the -lie'

Middleton: 'The Social Significance of Lugbara Personal Names' Nsimbi: 'Baganda Traditional Personal Names'

Wieschoff: 'The Social Significance of Names among the Ibo of Nigeria'

Consultation of these led to a number of other a r t i c l e s , although of lesser use, such a s :

E v a n s - P r i t c h a r d : 'Customs and Beliefs Relating to Twins among the Nilotic Nuer'

H u n t : 'Some notes on the Naming of Dogs in Chikaranga1

and on the same theme, the curiously t i t l e d

'The A t t i t u d i n a l and Autobiographic in Gbeya Dog Names' by Samarin. Much of the material in these articles is discussed in 1.3- The Comparative Aspect.

1.2.2.2 Various Indexes.

The B r i t i s h Humanities Index gave references to a number of p h i l o ­ sophical articles in Analysis and Mind, such as Keating's " B l a c k b u r n on the i n t e r s u b s t i t u t a b i l i t y of proper names", Holland's "Carnap on Frege on indirect reference" and Noonan's "Count nouns and mass n o u n s " . I found these v e r y heavy going and of no practical use. The B H I , like the Reader's Guide to Periodical L i t e r a t u r e , also gave references to a number of f r i v o l o u s articles like "Rose is a rose is a Rosie"; " Y e s , y o u ' r e really one in a m i l l i o n ! " ; and "Ms-taken i d e n t i t y : on brides keeping maiden names". These mainly appear in magazines like Seventeen, McCalls and

Illustrated Ebony. Juliet's "What's in a name? t h a t which we call a rose By any other name would smell as s w e e t . " has inspired numbers of writers on personal names, as the following list shows:

1. Romeo and J u l i e t , Act I I , Scene i i . There is an i n t e r e s t i n g contrast between t h e A f r i c a n idea that the name is t h e person (discussed below in 1.3.1) and Juliet's statement that

"What's Montague? It is nor hand nor f o o t , Nor a r m , nor face, nor any other p a r t belonging to a man."

David Sheppard: 'What's in a name?" New Society, 1966. L. C l a y t o n : 'What's in a name?' Essence, 1978.

F.Spielberg: 'What's in a name?' Today's Education, 1978. S.Walker: 'What's in a name?' I l l u s t r a t e d Ebony, 1977. Variations on the theme a r e :

R. H a r r i s : 'What's in a nickname?' I l l u s t r a t e d Ebony, 1979. B. Rhoden: 'What's in a (nick)name?1 I l l u s t r a t e d Ebony, 1976.

A.Marshall: 'Smelling as sweet' New Statesman, 1977

J.Latham's analysis of the Glasgow telephone d i r e c t o r y appears under the title 'What's in a name? Or why Macs are r i f e .1 (New Society, 1975)

Most of these articles were light-hearted and amusing, as opposed to the heavy philosophical arguments r e f e r r e d to above, but like the philosophy articles, were of no practical use. The only really useful material from the indexes was the reference to two books: C h u k s - O r j i ' s Names from Africa and Madubuike's A Handbook of A f r i c a n Names. Both books are basically lists of African names with meanings, compiled in order that American negroes may select more 'ethnic' names for their children in order to reflect the feeling that 'black is b e a u t i f u l1. There is v e r y little

analysis or discussion in these books ( p a r t i c u l a r l y in C h u k s - O r j i ) , but the very extensive lists of names provided a great deal of useful compara­ tive material, and relevant quotes from both will be found throughout this d i s s e r t a t i o n .

1.2.2.3 Southern A f r i c a n Ethnological/Anthropological w o r k s .

All the works on the Southern Bantu that I could f i n d were consulted to see if they had any statements to make on names. These ranged from the s t a n d a r d , well-known works like K r i g e ' s The Social System of the Zulus, to rather obscure works like Dunning's wonderfully t i t l e d Two H u n d r e d and S i x t y - f o u r Zulu p r o v e r b s , idioms, e t c . , and the Cries of T h i r t y - S e v e n B i r d s . Some of these, like B r y a n t ' s The Zulu People and Berglund's Zulu Thought Patterns and Symbolism, contain much relevant material on Zulu names. O t h e r s , like Faye's Zulu References and Samuelson's Zululand, its T r a d i t i o n s , Legends, Customs and Folklore had little or

Works with useful comparative material were Junod's The Life of a Southern African T r i b e , Monnig's The Pedi ( p a r t i c u l a r l y i n f o r m a t i v e ) , and Stayt's The Bavenda. Works from f u r t h e r afield p r o v i d i n g illuminating comments on names in Africa were B a r t l e t t ' s Psychology and Primitive

C u l t u r e , Parrinder's West African Psychology, and Skinner's Peoples and Cultures of A f r i c a .

For reading on names and l i t e r a t u r e , besides Finnegan's invaluable w o r k , I relied heavily on the O . U . P . A f r i c a n L i t e r a t u r e series, i n c l u d i n g Cope's Izibongo : Zulu Praise Poems, Damane and Saunder's Lithoko : Sotho Praise Poems, Hodwa and Fortune's Shona Praise Poetry, Kunene's Heroic Poetry of the Basotho and Schapera'sThe Praise-Poetry of Tswana Chiefs. Articles by Elizabeth Gunner, both published and u n p u b l i s h e d , on various aspects of praise-poetry among the Zulu were also u s e f u l .

In summing up this section on the l i t e r a t u r e , it is fair to say that comparatively little has been published on Zulu names, and certainly by f a r the bulk of material in this dissertation has been gathered from oral rather than w r i t t e n sources.

1. 3 The Comparative Aspect

1.3.1 The Concept of the Name. 1.3.2 Varieties of Names.

1.3.3 Ceremonial Aspects.

Introduction

Rain is always needed in A f r i c a , and often it doesn't come. When it does, there is great j o y , for rain is l i f e . One of the main points in this dissertation is that in A f r i c a , personal_names reflect social values, and issues of importance to society. We expect, t h e r e f o r e , to f i n d the

importance of rain reflected in names, and the following quotations are intended to show how wide-spread this practice i s .

C h u k s - O r j i , on A f r i c a n names generally, says:

"Some A f r i c a n names indicate an event, natural or o t h e r ­ wise, that took place around the time of the child's b i r t h .

Thus an Ngoni male child might be named Mvula 'Rain' because such a precipitation occurred around the time he was b o r n . "

(1972:76) Among the list of names given by Chuks-Orji in his book, I found the following:

(m = male; f = female) Masika ( f ) : 'born d u r i n g rainy season' (Swahili)

Nafula ( f ) : 'born d u r i n g rainy season' (Abaluhya, Uganda) Nomvula ( f ) : ' r a i n ' (Xhosa)

Mvula (m) : ! r a i n ' (Ngoni)

Madubuike also provides an extensive list of names from all over A f r i c a , and in his list, I found the f o l l o w i n g :

Mirumbi (m) : 'born when it was r a i n i n g ' (Waputsi, Rwanda)

Roble (m) : 'he who b r i n g s rain1 ( b o r n d u r i n g rainy season) (Somalia)

Roblai - the feminine equivalent of above.

Wafula (m) ' r a i n ' , 'born d u r i n g rainy season' ( A b a l u h y a ) Nafula (1

_:

_-i

a (f)J : ' r a i n s '

Mamvura ( f ) | : ' r a i n s ' (Zezuru)

Monnig, w r i t i n g about the Pedi, echoes C h u k s - O r j i :

"Names are frequently chosen from events o c c u r r i n g on the day of the child's b i r t h . If it rained on that day, the child may be called Mapula or Modupe from pula (rain) or modupe - a soft r a i n . "

(1967:103) Junod (1927:39) gives the example Mpfulen ( i n the rain) from the Thonga, and Beattie (1957:99), w r i t i n g of the Nyoro of Uganda, mentions the name Nyenjura (born in time of r a i n ) .

Bhengu (1975153), quotes from Nkem Nkwankwo's novel Panda ( p g 73) : '"What name would I use' said Danda, ' I t is hard to know.

Some people call me Danda, others R a i n . ' "

Zulu is by no means left out of this practice. The g i r l ' s name Nomvula is quite common; the boys' names Mvula and Mvuleni less so. A hidden reference to rain was found in the name Selina, which I had t h o u g h t to be a European name like Serafina or Bettina, but w h i c h , the mother assured me, was an igama lasekhaya from the phrase selina kakhulu ( i t is now

Rain can be found in clan-names and clan-praises as well. Mkhize (drizzle) is an obvious example. The Mzolo clan (< amazolo 'dew') were renowned rain-makers :

"They acquired considerable fame as rain-doctors; but this renown was largely due to the pluvial miracles wrought by a member of the t r i b e named Casa."

( B r y a n t ; 1929:358) Long before I read this in B r y a n t I knew the Mzolo izithakazelo (praises) a s :

Wena kaCasa, You of Casa,

Mnisi wemvula! The bringer of r a i n !

I have b r o u g h t together these c h i l d r e n of the rain not only to i l l u s t r a t e how something important to a people is reflected in the names of their c h i l d r e n , but also to show how universal the practice i s , and how well

Zulu f i t s into the African c o n t e x t . I now wish to extend this c o n t e x t , under the following headings:

1.3.1 The concept of the name; 1.3.2 Varieties of names; and 1.3.3 Ceremonial aspects.

1.3.1 The Concept of the Name

Let us r e t u r n a moment to Juliet's soliloquy, quoted above in 1 . 2 . 2 . 2 . ' " T i s but t h y name that is my enemy;

-Thou a r t thyself t h o u g h , not a Montague. What's Montague? It is nor h a n d , nor foot, Nor a r m , nor face, nor any other p a r t

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name ! What's in a name? that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd Retain the dear perfection which he owes Without that t i t l e : - Romeo, doff t h y name; And for that name, which is no p a r t of thee, Take all myself."

Juliet's p o i n t , that a name is not p a r t of a person, is a typical European a t t i t u d e . Romeo would still be the same person if he had a d i f f e r e n t name. To Western thought generally, a_jiamejs not;j>art„olA4JexsjoBJ.„rifiJLpj,rtoa

of a persojnajjty - t\\e, oa.iiie„|s.,a^aj^el.^,^ usefuj tag for addressing that pe£s°QjuJ^UlJ^ T\H, in his article About Proper Names,

describes K r i p k e as "concerned with ' f i x i n g the reference' of a name"

(1977:324). This seems to me to indicate in a nutshell the basic difference between European and A f r i c a n concepts of proper names: the European concept is that the name refers to a p e r s o n ; the African concept is that the name te the p e r s o n .

P a r r i n d e r , w r i t i n g on West A f r i c a , states:

"A f u r t h e r v e r y important part of the personality is the name . . . . . N o name is a mere name. There are public and p r i v a t e names, and the names of seniors must often not be used by juniors in addressing them. This is because the name expresses the i n ­ d i v i d u a l character of a man. It is not a mere handle, b u t shares in the s p i r i t u a l reality of man's being

■— In baptisms and the use of Christian names, one f i n d s the difference between a f o r e i g n , imposed name, and the one which belongs to the person in his v e r y self. Asked whether s u c h a n d -such is his child's Christian name, the father will answer w i t h a d i r e c t y e s ; b u t asked as to his native name, he will reply with the more p r o f o u n d 'it is h e ' .

(1951:24) C h u k s - O r j i , on A f r i c a n names generally, has an interesting p o i n t , not only on the link between names and i d e n t i t y , but on names and e x ­ istence :

"Indeed it is not until a child has been named that he is c o n ­ sidered a p e r s o n ; and a name is not given until it has been agreed t h a t the child has come to stay ( i f ) the child dies before his real-life name is g i v e n , he is regarded as not having been b o r n at a l l , or having been s t i l l - b o r n . "

(1972:82) G e t t i n g closer to home, Monnig says of the Pedi of the T r a n s v a a l , t h a t :

"The Pedi consider the name of a person to be much more than a mere appendage by which a person is addressed. It

is an integrated part of the person, a reflection of his p e r ­ sonality and of his whole b e i n g , and is coloured with his s p i r i t . "

( 1967:105) K i d d , t a l k i n g about the Zulus at the t u r n of the c e n t u r y , clearly noticed the same k i n d of t h i n g when he says:

"A native will often t r y to put you off when you enquire about the meaning of a name by s a y i n g , 'A name is a name and nothing more'. Yet it is f r e q u e n t l y a great deal m o r e . "

(1904:241) The close relationship between the name of a person and his s p i r i t is c l e a r l y seen when witchcraft is discussed. The following is a

conver-sation between Berglund and a Zulu d i v i n e r :

"Our discussion continued in terms of the name of the person who was to be harmed.

B : . . . "Everywhere I am told that umthakathi mentions the name of the person who is to be k i l l e d . Why does umthakathi mention the name?'

' I t is the name of that p e r s o n ' .

B : . . . ' I s it important that the name should be mentioned?' ' I t is v e r y important. It is the important t h i n g in u b u -t h a k a -t h i . If a man can hide his name from people, -then

he can hide from much e v i l . Umthakathi can kill a man if he lacks vileness ( b o d y - d i r t ) and h a i r , b u t has the name. So the name is very i m p o r t a n t . '

B : . . . 'Why is the name so important?'

'The name is that person. They are the same, the name and the p e r s o n . It is the word whereby that person is k n o w n . That is the name. So the person and the name are one. Um­ t h a k a t h i k i l l s a man by combining the words of death with the name. He throws (ukuphonsa) these at the man and they k i l l h i m . '

(1975:287) Juliet said Montague was 'nor h a n d , nor foot, nor arm', but in the following quote from K i d d , the name sounds v e r y like a hand or a r m :

" . . . i f a man cannot get possession of some portion of a person's body where with to bewitch him, he can at least use the name to take hold of the person b y . "

(1904:241) Monnig confirms the point made by Berglund and K i d d :

A "A person's name, so intimately linked w i t h him i s ,

/ t h e r e f o r e , also dangerous for him for t h r o u g h it he can ) be b e w i t c h e d . We have already seen that witchcraft can

) be performed from a distance, by merely mentioning the -j name of the victim and the harm which it is intended

\ should befall the person. For t h i s reason, a person is

^ h a r d l y ever addressed by his name."

(1967:105) Soga, on the Xhosa, adds some i n t e r e s t i n g details on the d i g n i t y of man, and the effects of w i t c h c r a f t :

" I t is taboo to shout out a man's name when calling him e i t h e r d u r i n g the day or the n i g h t . The objection is on the score p a r t l y that it is derogatory to the d i g n i t y of a man to shout out his name. To do t h i s , they h o l d , is to ncipisa them - "make them small" ( i n the estimation of o t h e r s ) . Likewise to shout a c h i l d ' s name at n i g h t is disapproved o f .

"The idea u n d e r l y i n g this taboo, in both the cases men­ t i o n e d , is due to the belief in sympathetic magic. Shouting out the name of an individual enables the sorcerer (umtakati) to become familiar with i t , and some n i g h t when he desires

to work evil on the person named he will shout out the name, with the consequence that he who has been called will wake up in the morning w i t h c o n s t r i c t e d vocal c o r d s , and be unable to articulate c l e a r l y . "

(1931:356/7) With the above in mind, it is not d i f f i c u l t to see why I received the Zulu name 'Mantindane' when I was w o r k i n g in the Bantu Administration, asking every-one what his name was, who gave it to him, what it meant, and so o n . 'Mantindane1 means 'the familiar of a w i t c h ' .

The w r i t i n g s of the scholars quoted above make clear the relation­ ship between the name and the i n d i v i d u a l , and the use of the name in

w i t c h c r a f t . Clearly the name in A f r i c a has a d i f f e r e n t function to the name in European-Western c u l t u r e s : in A f r i c a the name is not used for a d d r e s s , o r even for reference. This leads us to two f u r t h e r p o i n t s :

(a) name-avoidance ( e . g . ukuhlonipha in Zulu;) and ( b ) the need for alternative forms of a d d r e s s .

The second issue is a big one, c o v e r i n g as it does all the various forms of address and d i f f e r e n t kinds of names used in Africa in place of the ' t r u e ' personal name. I will discuss these separately in the next

section, 1 . 3 . 2 . , not including Z u l u ; Chapter Two discusses alternative forms in Zulu separately, and in d e t a i l . But I will discuss 'avoidance' here, l e t t i n g Monnig make the l i n k :

"(Because of witchcraft) a person is h a r d l y ever addressed by his name. Each name has a c o r r e s p o n d i n g praise-name ( s e r e t o ) , which is commonly known and always used when speaking to or about a p e r s o n . T h u s , all people with the name Sekwati will be addressed as Phaahle, Kgoloko as Ngwato, Morewane as Bauba, and so o n . "

(1967:105) This practice seems to be half-way between the Zulu custom of using izithakazelo when addressing men, and the hlonipha language of the women, both of which constitute name avoidance. K r i g e , on the hlonipha custom of the Z u l u s , states:

"A woman may not use the name ( t h i s does not affect the . isibongo or sib name) of the above-mentioned relatives-in-law nor any word containing the radical of such a name. Another

1. her f a t h e r - i n - l a w and all his b r o t h e r s , the elder ones among her b r o t h e r s i n l a w , her m o t h e r i n l a w , all other wives of her f a t h e r -i n - l a w , and her h u s b a n d .

word must be used instead, and so the speech of the women differs considerably from that of the men. There is a very large number of f i x e d and d i f f e r e n t hlonipha w o r d s , and by certain universally accepted rules of transmutation any word

in the language may be changed so as to lose all identity with the respected name."

(1965:30) B r y a n t points out t h a t :

"Among the Zulus, t h i s hlonipha custom affects mainly the married women; a l t h o u g h , as exceptional cases, the men, or indeed the whole c l a n , may hlonipha the name of a renowned chief or ancestor, as, for instance, the Zulus, a few genera­ tions ago, hlonipha'd the words, iMpande ( r o o t ) and iNdlela ( p a t h ) , calling them, r e s p e c t i v e l y , iNgxabo and i N y a t u k o , owing to certain then great personages being named uMpande and u N d l e l a . "

(1949:220) B r y a n t goes on to give examples of K r i g e ' s ' u n i v e r s a l l y accepted rules of t r a n s m u t a t i o n ' :

"Any common word containing the same root as that of any such name, would be avoided by her in speech, and another word substituted for i t . T h u s , if one of the above persons were named uMuti (Mr T r e e ) , not only would t h i s (the o r d i n a r y ) word for 'a tree1 be d i s u s e d , and the hlonipha w o r d ,

umCaka-n t s h i , substituted for i t , b u t , f u r t h e r , every other word containing w i t h i n its root the p a r t i c l e , ti_, would be similarly avoided; thus for ukuTiba would be used u k u P u n g a ; for umTakati, umKunkuli; for u k u T i , u k u N k i , and so o n . "

(1949:221) As B r y a n t points o u t , t h i s requires women to know more words than men, and makes women's speech at times d i f f e r e n t from men's.

Avoidance of personal names is still v e r y much the case among Zulus today. Although most of my research was conducted in an urban area (subject, one would have t h o u g h t , to more change in c u s t o m ) , the vast majority of husband's and wives d i d not use each others personal names. Those few who d i d were i n v a r i a b l y the much younger and v e r y well educa­ ted people, and even these only used personal names u n t i l the b i r t h of their f i r s t c h i l d ; thereafter using the terms 'mother of ' and 'father of ' . Older people, asked if they addressed t h e i r spouses by their

personal names, were s u r p r i s e d . The most common response was 'How could that be possible, that my wife (husband) address me by my p e r ­ sonal name?"