Abstract
Basaa personal names or anthroponyms, naming practices, and the centrality of gender are the focus of this chapter. The double question to be addressed in this inquiry is: “How are Basaa names created?” and “How is gender embodied in these names?” To answer these questions, this study explores the genealogies of Basaa ancestors and the foundational Epic of Hiton. These traditions showcase insightful naming practices and patterns, with deep roots in the people’s cultural heritage. Beyond the ethnographic and linguistic descriptions, the names of Basaa founding parents and protagonists in the culture epic consistently underscore the significance of gender. Basaa indigenous names are consistently gendered and seem to shape gendered identities based on differential conceptualizations of men and women. Yet the gender dimension of African naming practices in general, and Basaa ones in particular, has not been examined sufficiently in academic arenas. Why name girls and boys differently? Would this differential naming pattern have other implications in individual and/or institutional spheres? How would gendered names and naming systems impact gender balance in society? The present study aims to fill this critical gap, by interrogating the bases and significance of gender construction in Basaa personal names.
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Notes
- 1.
Marriage is exogamous and a groom is expected to give bridewealth to his wife’s lineage. This is traditionally due on the birth of the first child of the union. Bridewealth received for a female child is used by one of her male siblings to acquire his own wife.
- 2.
Diviners in Basaa civilization are called ngambi and traditionally use a ground-dwelling hairy spider (ngambi), to interpret the oracle.
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Ngo-Ngijol Banoum, B. (2023). Engendering Personal Names in Basaa Culture: From the Origins to the Epic Tradition and Beyond. In: Oyěwùmí, O., Girma, H. (eds) Naming Africans. Gender and Cultural Studies in Africa and the Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13475-3_4
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