We are currently compiling a dictionary of Setswana personal names which we hope to publish in 2015. A personal name is a word that is used to refer to a person; to call them; to identify them. It is usually given at birth, inherited or given at an older age. One common feature of world languages and cultures is the use of personal name. All languages and cultures use names. It is difficult to imagine a complete human communication without the usage of names, be they for persons or for objects. Linguistic anthropologists believe that names were the basis of human language. The demand to identify each other; to call out ÔÇô go bidiwa ÔÇô gave rise to the necessity of names. In biblical theology, the first task of the created man in the Garden of Eden was to name animals or the whole environment of living things around him. Man is the only creature that is known to use and value the usage of names. In some cultures a person is known by a single name, in others, one is known by a number of names.
Why is a name so important? The immediate answer is that its critical role in a social communicating creature is that it is a socialization tool. To live and belong to a community one has to have a name. He needs to have something that identifies him ÔÇô that sets him apart. A name therefore becomes an individual identity and the affirmation of the existence of an individual. Social relations also thrive on the usage of names. It is practically impossible to live without a name in any human community. The relation between human communication, intelligence, language, and the use of names allows humans to be human. This is fundamental in conceptualizing the human existence and social order. For instance, a person called mother, has a name of the child, her own name, and other names such as daughter of, wife of. Without this inter-relationship of names, the family and community relationships of the person are not meaningful. A life of a person has no meaning without such person being referred to using his or her name.
Let us remember that a name is given for a purpose or to fulfill a function. Names have an Taking a broad overview of names important role in socialization and in the definition of social roles and relationships. Not only do names identify individuals, who they are, but they identify their roles, what they are up to in the social arena. The following categories provide criteria for the determination of the status of a name and the role it plays in the life of an individual.
A given name is the most common denotation of an individual. This is the name that is given to a new child. This is essential the first name and the child can thereafter in its life acquire other names. In Setswana there could be a home name and a school name also known as a clinic name. A home name is a name that one is known by at home. This may be a pet name or a name that one was given by the parents, grandparents or any of the relatives.
A home name may be formally registered or it may not. A school name on the other hand is an official name that usually appears in one’s official documents such as birth certificate and medical records.
Often in the process of socialization, a child or any person can acquire other names. When these names are used for a person, they can either become nicknames or pet names. Nicknames are used at home with friends and close family members and family friends.
Family names are names that an individual recognizes his or her family by. In the modern set up, these are surnames.
In African societies, clans are very important. Why historically clans can be from an extended family, they could also be a group of families who by their settlement or placement in a community share common social labels, ethnically, professionally, and politically. The use of clan names gives an individual an extra social identity.
Totems arise from venerations that communities or clans may adopt such as the veneration of certain symbols of animals or objects that they use to identify them become their totems such as kwena or kgabo. Among the Batswana, animals are used as totems.
Ethnonyms are essentially ethnic or tribal names. Like clans and totems, they identify a collectivity. However where the community has several ethnic groups, an ethnonym can be used for the identification of individuals from such ethnic group.
Ethnonyms are often targets of aggrandization or diminutivization. Bigger groups who dominate others have glorious ethnonyms, while smaller subject ethnic groups tend to be used pejoratively. Smaller ethnic groups often disappear due to their shunning of their ethnic identity. For instance in a Shaga place such as Letlhakeng, it is easier and honorable to be Mokwena, the name of the dominant group in the District. Strictly speaking Batswana did not have religious names as a social practice. But most of what have become religious names came with Missionaries. Religious names were or are still foreign, but often they can be a translation ÔÇô Charity/Lorato; Mmoloki; Monthusi; Modibedi etc. Religious names have been considered as a sign of loss of culture and in many African societies. Hopefully when the dictionary of personal names is complete, it will contribute to a better understanding of Setswana names, which hopefully will contribute to a better understanding of Setswana society in generally.
