Yoruba Traditional Names and the Transmission of Cultural Knowledge

Abstract

Perhaps because of the paradoxical function of in classifying a person simultaneously as an individual and as a product and reflection of society, anthropologists have been preoccupied with the~classificatory function of naming2 and the relationship between naming practices and social structure.3 Consequently, less attention has been given to the communicative functions of personal names, especially their use in cultural transmission. Following the themes already outlined in my previous work,4 the present paper fills this lacuna by demonstrating how ritually significant information is coded in Yoruba personal and how a sociolinguistic study of such can enrich our understanding of Yoruba ritual knowledge and world view. The focus is on three ritually motivated subtypes of Yoruba traditional names: (a) oruk9 amutr)runwd names brought from heaven, (b) oruk9 abiku names of bornto-die children, and (c) oruk9 fya names of reincarnated children. Each of the three subtypes of Yoruba considered here is a

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