NAMES AND THEIR COMMUNICATIVE ROLES AMONG THE WAKIRIKE

Abstract

In Wakirike tradition, naming a child is as important as having the child. Just like not having a child without a name, anybody and everybody is nobody. This is so because name serves as a means of identification, means of expressing one’s feelings and it also serves as a living record keeper as well as assists memory. Based on these, names are not just given arbitrarily among the Wakirike, names must be meaningful to the bearer as well as the giver. Thus, this paper examines the concept of name, sources of names, the meaning of selected names and the communicative roles of names among the Wakirike. The paper emphasizes the need for concerted efforts towards continual bearing of indigenous names and shunning the habit of Anglicization and customization of Wakirike names or the outright abandonment of indigenous names in favour of Western names in the name of Globalization and modernization.