Africa
is home to several language families and hundreds of languages.
The people can be divided into over a thousand different
ethnic
groups. Some practice various tribal religions, others Islam
or Christianity. This complex background makes summing
up African
naming traditions in a few paragraphs very difficult.Traditional
African names often reflect the circumstances at the time
of
birth. Names such as Mwanajuma- "Friday", Esi- "Sunday", Khamisi-
"Thursday", and Wekesa -"harvest time" refer to the time or
day when the child was born. Other names reflect the birth order
of the newborn, for example Mosi- "first born", Kunto- "third
born", Nsonowa -"seventh born", and Zesiro- "first of twins".
Some names describe the parents' reaction to the birth (such
as Kayode, Gwandoya, Abeni and Monifa) and still others are
descriptive of the newborn or of desired characteristics (like
Yejide, Dada, Chiumbo and Zuberi). Vocabulary words are also
often used as given names. For example: Sefu- "sword" and Tau-
"lion" (masculine) and Marjani- "coral" and Ife -"love" (feminine). |
