What is in a name? Ghanaian Personal Names as Information Sources

Abstract

Introduction Naming is a universal cultural practice and in every society, names are given to children at birth. According to Wegryn (2008), a name is of distinction, chosen, conferred and announced. However, the way names are given, reasons for choice of particular names and the rituals involved in naming, vary from society to society. Birth is regarded among most African societies as the beginning of the rites of passage, which comprise birth, puberty, marriage and death, and all these are celebrated to show their significance. Among most Ghanaian communities, the newborn baby is kept away from public view for seven days and brought out on the eighth day during what is called the "outdooring ceremony". In southern Ghana, the ethnic communities of the Akan, Ewe, and Ga observe the outdooring ceremony on the eighth day, as they believe that babies remain attached to the spirit world for the first seven days. Therefore, if a baby should pass away prior to the outdooring, there is usually no mourning. If the baby survives until the eighth day, then it is assumed that the baby has come to "stay," is worthy to be called a person, and therefore is given a name (Opoku, 1978). In effect, the baby is announced, proclaimed, named and initiated into life. A name makes the child a member of the family and society. According to Opoku (1978), it is as if to say a "stranger" has become a full member of the family and has its own name. In other words, the "child's humanness and identity is confirmed with the symbolism of a name" (Ansu-Kyeremeh, 2000, p. 24). Therefore, if the baby survives the first seven days, very early in the morning of the eighth day, the baby is brought outdoors for the first time and given a name. Names and Naming Systems Names and naming systems have attracted scholarly attention. Scholars have looked at various ethnic groups that make up the rich Ghanaian culture namely among the Tallensi (Fortes, 1955), Ewe (Egblewogbe, 1987), Ga (Odotei, 1989), Bono (Ansu-Kyeremeh, 2000), Dagomba (Kropp Dakubu, 2000), and Akan (Agyekum, 2006) to show the structure, significance and communicative values of personal names. Based on the theory that there is a strong interface between a people's language and their cultural practices, Agyekum (2006) argues that the Akan personal name system and practice is a marker of a people's belief, ideology, religion, culture, philosophy and thought. According to Egblewogbe (1987), personal names are intimately associated with various events in the life of an individual, the family or the society as a whole. Ansu-Kyeremeh (2000) adds that personal names support human interaction as a medium for communication (see also Odotei 1989 and Kropp Dakubu 2000). This paper builds on these ideas by arguing that Ghanaian personal names, as sources of information, provide substantial insight about the circumstances surrounding an individual's conception and birth. It draws examples, mostly, from among the Ewe, Ga and Akan. Methodology The paper employs a secondary data research approach, which involves the summary and analysis of existing research, giving findings a new and different meaning in information science. The paper also draws on personal observation and knowledge, discussions I had with bearers or parents of the bearers of names that were thought provoking, as well as on findings by other scholars who have conducted research into personal names. Constructionist meta-theory Personal names are a rich source of information in society disseminating information both in the written and oral form. Turner (2010) comments that in information science, we are concerned with information yet no framework exists for discovering how orality conveys information. According to the social constructionist meta-theory, knowledge emerges through writing, action and by talking (Holland, 2005; Mackenzie, 2005). Social constructionist research also focuses explicitly on how information is constructed and made available in oral modes or by talking (Turner, 2010). …