A socio-cultural analysis of Bɩrfor personal names

Abstract

It is widely accepted that in all societies, personal name practices and cultures are intertwined (Ngubane and Thabathe, 2013). However, this reality is more pronounced in the African society where personal names are not just appellations bestowed on individuals to identify them in the community but rather words that reflect the world view of the people. This is also applicable to the Bιrfor people of Ghana. Among the Bιrfor, the name-giver chooses a name that truly not only identifies the child as a person, but reflects the socio-cultural context within which the child is born. The study investigates the social-cultural significance of personal names among the Bιrfor people of Ghana. It strives to discover the extent to which Bιrfor personal names influence the socio-cultural perspective of the people. The study discusses the typology of Bιrfor personal names. These include cult names, clan names, circumstantial names, proverbial names, reincarnated names, nicknames, colour names and bodily structure names. The study also examines the naming system of the Birfor people. The study examines the relevant of the names of the Bɩrfor speaking people with reference to their meaning, it again looked at what calls for the selection of a name among the Bɩrfor and ascertains how names are linked to the Bɩrfor culture. This work made use of basic research techniques such as sampling (purposive, simple random, stratified and snowball sampling) to sample respondents and communities to conduct the study. Data was however collected through interviews (face to face) and open ended questions. The research found out that names in the given language are influenced by two main sociocultural indicators-the spiritual and the physical. Some particular names in the Bɩrfor cultural setting have some gender sensitivity collocations in them while others do not. It was observed that death dominates most of the Bɩrfor personal names from the history of personal names yoe ‘names’ or k. ũ ‘death’ as a prefix to the name. The study concludes that Bɩrfor personal names sometimes have an effect on their bearers and other constituents of Bɩrfor. Therefore, the study recommends that every Bɩrfor community should inculcate the habit of giving Bɩrfor names to their children to promote their identity.