Personal Name Trends in Independent Zambia: A Reflection on the Fluidity of Living Heritage
Keywords:
Post colonial, Personal names, Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), History, Onomastics, Anthroponyms
Abstract
Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes – reflecting the overall cultural and historical changes in the nation. This article identifies the changes which took place in personal naming patterns in Zambia since independence and discusses the wider socio-cultural and political factors which caused the changes in personal naming patterns in independent Zambia. The period after independence in 1964 represents a complex of various interacting histories of the nation, which have significantly impacted naming patterns. These include, transitions from mandatory requirement for adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian organisations to adopt baptismal names of European saints and enforcement, by school authorities, of usage of European first names by indigenous Northern Rhodesians during British colonial domination, to freedom to choose first names following political independence. Further developments include the closer mingling of local tribes/languages, the rise of charismatic churches, and Islam, among others. The methodology includes quantitative text analysis of the publicly available comprehensive University of Zambia (UNZA) graduate directory which contains names of all the institution’s graduates for the fifty-year period from its foundation in 1966 to 2016. This work samples 2504 names extracted from the graduate directory between 1976 and 2016 in ten-year-intervals as follows: 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016. The highest institution of learning in Zambia is located in the capital, Lusaka. UNZA students are drawn from multi-ethnic backgrounds, mostly featuring Zambian language groups. The period under consideration includes both people who were born/named before and after independence. Other methods used in the context of the wider thesis were ethnographic field interviews with 23 respondents in Chongwe, Kafue and Lusaka districts, and personal communication with seven others by electronic means. Among the field respondents, four were aged between their mid-60s and 73, while the rest were of varying ages between 20 and 52. The purposive selection criteria for the four elderly participants included age – those who had some experience of life under British colonial rule. The other group was randomly selected, observing balance in gender, socio-economic status and political views. The study confirms an increase in the usage of first names drawn from local languages. Over the study period, usage of indigenous Zambian personal names increased from 7.9 per cent to 31.6 per cent. The study also shows different generic patterns of first name usage among the different ethnic groups.References
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41. Searle, J. R. (1967) ‘Proper names and descriptions’, in Edwards, P. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York: The MacMillan Company and the Free Press.
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43. Sumbwa, N. (1997) ‘Some Zambian Names as Sources of Diversified Knowledge: the Barotse and Other Examples’, Nomina Africana, 11(2), pp. 47–66.
44. Suzman, S. M. (1994) ‘Names as Pointers: Zulu Personal Naming Practices’, Language in Society, 23(2), pp. 253–272. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4168516 (Accessed: 14 May 2020).
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48. Tembo, M. (2006) Zambian Traditional Names: The Meaning of Tumbuka, Chewa, Nsenga, Ngoni, and Tonga Names. Julubbi Enterprises Limited.
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50. Van Binsbergen, W. M. (2004) Tears of Rain: Ethnicity and History in Central Western Zambia. London: Kegan Paul International (Monographs from the African Studies Centre, Leiden).
51. Vom Bruck, G. and Bodenhorn, B. (eds) (2006) The Anthropology of Names and Naming. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cambridge.
52. Wilson, S. (1998) The Means of Naming: A Social and Cultural History of Personal Naming in Western Europe. London: UCL Press Limited.
2. Alhaug, G. and Saarelma, M. (2017) ‘Naming of children in Finnish and Finnish-Norwegian families in Norway’, Socio-onomastics: The pragmatics of names, 275, p. 69.
3. Alia, V. (1985) ‘Women, Names, and Power’, Women and Language, 8, pp. 34–36.
4. Bangeni, G. N. and Coetser, A. (2000) ‘Xhosa first names, societal values and power relations’, Nomina Africana, 14(2), pp. 59–69.
5. Banja, M. K. (2009) Faith of Many Colours: Reflections on Pentecostal and Charismatic Challenges in Zambia. Ndola: Mission Press.
6. Cekiso, M. and Meyiwa, T. (2012) ‘Gendered Naming and Values Inherent in the Xhosa amakrwala (graduate-initiates): Implications for Teaching a Multicultural Class’, in. 17th International Biennial Conference, Maseru: Names Society of Southern Africa.
7. Cheyeka, A. M. (2008) ‘Towards a history of the Charismatic churches in post- colonial Zambia’, in Gewald, J.-B., Hinfelaar, M., and Macola, G. (eds) One Zambia, Many Histories: Towards a History of Post-Colonial Zambia. Leiden: Brill (Afrika-Studiecentrum Series), pp. 144–163.
8. Chishiba, G. (2017) ‘The Naming Process Among the Lamba People of Zambia: A Socio-cultural Study’, International Journal of Education, Culture and Society, 2(3), p. 83. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20170203.11.
9. Colson, E. (2006) Tonga Religious Life in the Twentieth Century. Lusaka: Bookworld Publishers.
10. De Klerk, V. and Bosch, B. (1995) ‘Naming in two Cultures: English and Xhosa Practices’, Nomina africana, 9(1), pp. 68–87.
11. Fraser, P. M. and Matthews, E. (eds) (1987) A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
12. Hinfelaar, M. (2010) ‘Gwembe Tonga “feared being thrown into the Bush like Animals” The Doyenne of Zambian Anthropology Speaks: An Interview with Elizabeth Colson’, in The Record. Lusaka: Original Publishers, pp. 9–11.
13. Kapotwe, E. S. (1980) The African Clerk. Lusaka: NECZAM.
14. Kapwepwe, M. M. (2002) Some Bemba Names and Their Meanings. Lusaka: Mulenga Kapwepwe.
15. Kashoki, M. E. (n.d.) ‘What is My Name: Mastering the Art of Pronouncing Place Names and Names of Eminent Persons Correctly’. Lusaka.
16. Kashoki, M. E. (1990) The factor of language in Zambia. Lusaka: Kenneth Kaunda Foundation.
17. Kimenyi, A. (1989) Kinyarwanda and Kirundi names: A semiolinguistic analysis of Bantu onomastics. Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press (African Studies).
18. Ki-Zerbo, Joseph (1981) ‘General Introduction’, in Ki-Zerbo, J. (ed.) Methodology and African prehistory. Reprinted. (General history of Africa, 1), pp. 1–23.
19. Klerk, V. de (2002) ‘Changing names in the “new” South Africa: a diachronic survey’, Names, 50(3), pp. 201–221.
20. Leiden, A. S. C. (2019) Tribal Linguistic map Zambia, Wikimedia Commons. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tribal_Linguistic_map_Zambia.jpg (Accessed: 25 November 2019).
21. Lisimba, M. (2000) Lozi Names in Language and Culture. Libreville: International Centre for Bantu Civilisations.
22. Macola, G. (2010) Liberal Nationalism in Central Africa: A Biography of Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
23. Makoni, B., Makoni, S. and Mashiri, P. (2007) ‘Naming Practices and Language Planning in Zimbabwe’, Current Issues in Language Planning, 8(3), pp. 437–467.
24. Mamvura, Z., Muwati, I. and Mutasa, D. E. (2018) ‘Toponymic commemoration is not for one sex: the gender politics of place renaming in Harare’, African Identities, 16(4), pp. 429–443. doi: 10.1080/14725843.2018.1474086.
25. Mbiti, J. S. (1970) African religions & philosophy. Double Day and Company, Inc.
26. Mill, J. S. (1974) A System of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive. Edited by J. M. Robson. Toronto: Toronto University Press.
27. Moyo, T. (2012) ‘Naming Practices in Colonial and Post-Colonial Malawi’, Inkanyiso: The Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(1), pp. 10–16.
28. Mphande, L. (2006) ‘Naming and Linguistic Africanisms in African American Culture’, in Selected proceedings of the 35th annual conference on African linguistics. Citeseer, pp. 104–113.
29. Musonda, C., Ngalande, S. and Simwinga, J. (2019) ‘Daring Death among the Tumbuka: A SocioSemantic Analysis of Death-Related Personal Names’, International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE), 6(7), pp. 109–120. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.20431/2349-0381.0607012.
30. Mutunda, S. (2011) ‘Personal names in Lunda cultural milieu’, International Journal of Innovative Interdisciplinary Research, 1(1), pp. 14–22.
31. Mutunda, S. (2017) ‘Luvale Personal Names and Naming Practices: A Socio-Cultural Analysis’, International Journal of Education, 1(3), pp. 75–81.
32. Mwanakatwe, J. M. (1971) The Growth of Education in Zambia Since Independence. Lusaka: Oxford University Press.‘National Cultural Policy of the Republic of Zambia’ (2003). Government of Zambia.
33. Ndoma, U. (1977) ‘Kongo Personal Names Today: a Sketch’, Names, 25(2), pp. 88–98.
34. Neethling, B. (2004) ‘Name Choice among the Xhosa of South Africa’, The Language Quarterly, 29(4), pp. 4–6.
35. Neethling, S. J. (1988) ‘Voorname in Xhosa’, Nomina Africana, 2(2), pp. 223–237.
36. Ngulube, N. M. (1989) Some aspects of growing up in Zambia. Nalinga Consultancy/Sol-Consult A/S Limited.
37. Penda, C. (2013) Encyclopedia of Zambian Names: Reconciling Zambian and Global Worldviews. Pensulo Publishers Limited.
38. Phiri, B. J. (2006) A political history of Zambia: from colonial rule to the third republic, 1890-2001. Trenton: Africa World Press.
39. Phiri, F. J. (2008) ‘Islam in post-colonial Zambia’, in Gewald, J.-B., Hinfelaar, M., and Macola, G. (eds) One Zambia, Many Histories: Towards a History of Post-Colonial Zambia. Leiden: Brill (Afrika-Studiecentrum Series), pp. 164–184.
40. Saarelma-Maunumaa, M. (2003) Edhina Ekogidho-names as links: The encounter between African and European anthroponymic systems among the Ambo people in Namibia. PhD Thesis. University of Helsinki.
41. Searle, J. R. (1967) ‘Proper names and descriptions’, in Edwards, P. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York: The MacMillan Company and the Free Press.
42. Sourou, J.-B. (2014) ‘African traditional religion and the Catholic Church in light of the Synods for Africa: 1994 and 2009’, African Human Rights Law Journal, 14(1), pp. 142–149.
43. Sumbwa, N. (1997) ‘Some Zambian Names as Sources of Diversified Knowledge: the Barotse and Other Examples’, Nomina Africana, 11(2), pp. 47–66.
44. Suzman, S. M. (1994) ‘Names as Pointers: Zulu Personal Naming Practices’, Language in Society, 23(2), pp. 253–272. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4168516 (Accessed: 14 May 2020).
45. Sweta, M. [Senior C. K. (2010) Customs of the Lunda-Ndembu: The Kanong’esha Chieftainship Succession in Zambia. Mwinilunga: Lunda-Ndembu Publications.
46. Tembo, M. (1988) Evaluation of African Indigenous Names Among the Tonga People of Southern Zambia. 1. Lusaka: Institute of African Studies.
47. Tembo, M. (1989) What Does Your African Name Mean? The Meanings of Indigenous Names among the Tonga of Southern Zambia. 1. Lusaka: Institute of African Studies.
48. Tembo, M. (2006) Zambian Traditional Names: The Meaning of Tumbuka, Chewa, Nsenga, Ngoni, and Tonga Names. Julubbi Enterprises Limited.
49. Tembo, M. (2012) Satisfying Zambian Hunger for Culture: Social Change in the Global World. Xlibris Corporation.
50. Van Binsbergen, W. M. (2004) Tears of Rain: Ethnicity and History in Central Western Zambia. London: Kegan Paul International (Monographs from the African Studies Centre, Leiden).
51. Vom Bruck, G. and Bodenhorn, B. (eds) (2006) The Anthropology of Names and Naming. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cambridge.
52. Wilson, S. (1998) The Means of Naming: A Social and Cultural History of Personal Naming in Western Europe. London: UCL Press Limited.
Published
2020-03-31
How to Cite
Penda, C. (2020) “Personal Name Trends in Independent Zambia: A Reflection on the Fluidity of Living Heritage”, Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 4(1), pp. 28-40. doi: https://doi.org/10.53974/unza.jlss.4.1.381.
Section
Humanities