Abstract
This paper explores the tripartite relationship of names, languages and cultures focusing on the Botswana society of Southern Africa. Naming is a universal process, but its basic details are unique as they reflect on the cultures and traditions of specific societies. Most African societies, including the Botswana one, have rich cultures that yield largely lexically transparent and communicative names. This paper explores how Botswana’s culture and traditions influence its naming system and how consequently the system preserves Setswana cultural practices and the Setswana language. The study uses qualitative data from questionnaires and oral interviews carried out in the villages of Molepolole and Mahahalapye in Botswana. The paper is situated within the fields of socio-onomastics and social semiotics which reveal how names are crafted from the relationships that societies have with their cultures and languages. The paper concludes that Setswana personal names are archives and semiotic resources of Botswana’s political, economic, and social practices such as chieftainship, farming and marriage.
Introduction and background
In most African societies naming is generally flexible and influenced by the circumstances of the family during the pregnancy or around the time of birth. However, in some societies the process is slightly restricted, especially where it is influenced by traditions of preserving family names. This may result in females being named for male relatives such as fathers and uncles, therefore, acquiring names that are typically male and vice versa. In other instances, children are named after grandparents to keep their memories alive, and this may result in more androgynes than gender specific names. The Igbo society of Nigeria, for example, has names influenced by market days, where children are named based on which day of the week they were born (Onukawa, 2000). However, naming in other African societies like the Botswana one is generally non-restricted and is not governed by any specific rules.
Previous studies (Batoma, 2009; Ramaeba, 2020), have indicated that African personal names, Setswana names included, perform many functions besides identifying their bearers. For instance, polemical names can be used to perform communicative and practical pragmatic functions of indirect conversational exchanges. Furthermore, Ramaeba and Otlogetswe (2021), illustrate that Setswana personal names can function as memory retention devices which can act as memory triggers of past events. This is because they usually mirror the experiences of the name givers or child bearers at the time, so they are very much contextually motivated. Ndana and Mabuta (2007: 61) state that names in African societies are ‘highly suggestive, metaphoric and loaded with social, historical and experiential meanings’. Ramaeba (2019), illustrates that names like Omphemetse ‘He (God) has protected me’, and Thapelo ‘prayer’, illustrate that the expectant mothers experienced difficult pregnancies, so they acknowledge God for protecting them. Other names like Oduetse ‘He (God) has paid’ and Ogomoditse ‘He (God) has comforted’ are often motivated by a death in the family prior to the birth, so they acknowledge that God has replaced what he had initially taken.
The Botswana society, like many African societies has a very rich and vibrant culture that is reflected in many aspects of the people’s everyday life. The Setswana culture is reflected in the language itself, through proverbs and folktales, through traditional celebrations such as marriages, the beginning of the ploughing season (letsema), the assignments of regiment (mephato) and many others. The culture and traditions are also evident in cultural spaces like the kgotla (traditional meeting place), and tribal identities like ethnic groups and totems. Religion, like, the African Traditional Religion where people believe in their ancestors is a critical aspect of the people’s lives. As Denbow and Thebe (2006: 37) put it, ‘Among the Tswana as indeed generally for most Bantu-speaking societies, traditional religious beliefs often inform events, actions, and practices of contemporary life’. Religion is therefore a part of the Setswana culture and tradition. The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of the Setswana culture and traditions on the Botswana naming system and how in turn the naming system becomes an active repertoire of the Setswana cultural heritage and the Setswana language.
Previous studies on Setswana onomastics, like Mathangwane and Gardner (1998, 1999) were interested in the motivations behind Setswana names and concluded that most were largely influenced by a family’s social circumstances and community events of the time. Rapoo (2003) looked at naming practices and gender bias in Setswana and concluded that the Setswana language displayed gender bias through its naming practices, which tended to favour the male over the female. According to Tlou and Campbell (1997), traditionally the Botswana society was patriarchal, and it is inevitable that the naming system will reflect this, as illustrated by Rapoo (2003). Recent studies like Ramaeba (2020) explored linguistic functions of Setswana anthroponyms and concluded that they do much more than identify their bearers as they perform communicative and practical pragmatic functions of indirect conversational exchanges. For their part, Ramaeba
Theoretical approach
This paper is situated within overlapping approaches of socio-onomastics and social semiotics. Socio-onomastics is often described as an interface of onomastics and sociolinguistics because it explores the use and variation of names from a sociolinguistics perspective. Hans Walther (1971: 45) first coined the term and outlined its objectives as: (a) the study of the social origin and use of different variants of proper names within various situations and contexts, and (b) taking into account name-giver, name-bearer and name-user. Ainiala (2016: 372), states that ‘the socio-onomastic research method takes into account the social, cultural and situational fields in which names are used’. Socio onomastics and social semiotics complement each other and are both considered relevant to this study. Socio-onomastics as a theoretical approach has evolved over the years and is employed in current onomastic themes like migration, language contact and names Waldispühl (2024) and, name changes and gender (Pilcher et al., 2024). This illustrates the versality of socio-onomastics as a theoretical approach in name studies.
On the one hand, social semiotics is a relatively new approach to the theory of semiotics where according to Fandi (2020: 296) ‘the focus has changed from the “sign” to the way people use semiotic resources both to produce communicative artefacts and events and to interpret them in the context of specific social situations and practices’. A semiotic resource is a tool used to create or convey meaning, either through language, images, sounds or body language. Halliday (1978), Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996) and Van Leeuwen (2005), are notable propellants of social semiotics. Fandi (2020: 296) highlights the tenets of social semiotics as performing three major functions in communication, namely, (a) collecting, documenting and cataloguing semiotic resources and their history, (b) investigating how the resources are used in specific historical, cultural and institutional context, and (c) contributing to the discovery, development of new semiotic resources and new uses of existing resources. Social semiotics explores the relationships between language, meaning and social context, which is what the current paper does, through Setswana personal names.
Van Leeuwen (2005), argues that social semiotics is not a ‘pure’ theory which is self- contained, that it has to be applied to specific instances and fields, hence its application in the interrogation of names and using socio-onomastics to complement it. This paper regards personal names as semiotic resources that Batswana use to produce meaning and to further conserve their culture and traditions. Socio onomastics and social semiotics complement each other and are both considered relevant to this study.
The current paper uses socio-onomastics to demonstrate the social and cultural usage of Setswana personal names to exemplify that they are not mere linguistic units. Gardner (2000) reiterates this by arguing that the onomastic significance of names does not come from dictionaries or biographies but from asking the people about their names and the names of others. Socio-onomastics will reveal how Setswana names are generated from the relationships that the Botswana society has with its culture, traditions and language. This study does not deal with names in isolation but explores them alongside the society and culture within which they exist, and socio-onomastics allows this kind of exploration. From the social semiotics perspective, this paper treats a Setswana personal name as a semiotic resource or communicative artefact that can produce contextual, cultural and traditional meanings.
Methodology
The research design and research instruments
It is important to contextualise this study by stating that the data that it uses is extracted from that of a PhD study (Ramaeba, 2019) which span over a period of 3 years, so it allowed for substantive data that was collected and analysed. The data was collected by the researcher in Botswana villages of Mahalapye and Molepolole between May and August 2016. The country is Botswana, the people are Batswana and the language is Setswana. The PhD study employed a mixed method research design to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data was needed to reveal the proportions of the names in terms of their lexical transparency and non-lexical transparency.
The qualitative data revealed the sociolinguistic features of the names in terms of their motivations and thematic categories. The study used questionnaires and oral interviews as data instruments. The study needed a significant amount of names data, and the questionnaire was deemed a suitable instrument to use because of its affordability and ability to access a sizable number of participants simultaneously. The oral interview on the other hand was used to augment the questionnaire as it was administered to respondents who could not read and write, especially the elderly. The oral interview questions were the same as those in the questionnaire. The choice of the respondents was deliberate in terms of their age, to try to achieve a balanced representation of the Botswana society age-wise. The respondents were the youth aged (18-25 years), adults (26-59 years) and the elderly (60+ years).
The questionnaire required respondents to give names of their family members, their meanings, motivations or reasons why such names were given if known. Both the questionnaire and the oral interviews were administered to 333 participants and yielded 1,995 name tokens, repetitions were eliminated, and each name was captured once. The name tokens were then categorised for lexical transparency and 1,829 were lexically transparent while 166 were not. This current study uses part of the lexically transparent data and mainly uses the qualitative data from the questionnaires and interviews. The current study does not need statistical proportions of lexical transparency, so it does not actively use the quantitative data.
Data categorisation
The lexically transparent names data was then assigned semantic categories based on their lexical meanings and these included, Animals and Birds, Biblical, God related, Culture and cultural practices and Position in society, just to name a few. It should be noted that the study’s semantic categorisation was largely original to the study as it was guided by the data and not by pre-existing categories. This was to ensure that all the data captured was categorised accordingly without the restriction of pre-determined categories. The names were further analysed for motivations which ranged from family and birth circumstances, appreciation of the child, thanking God and naming for someone. The current paper uses 48 names extracted from all the initial different semantic categories.
These 48 names were purposely selected guided by whether their lexical meanings, motivations and derivations made reference to the Setswana culture and traditions. The 48 names, as presented in the next section (Data Presentation) are categorised according to different cultural themes. As previously stated, the categorisation of these names into their cultural themes was guided by their lexical meanings, motivations or reasons for the naming, which are all encompassed in socio-onomastic research methods. This is reiterated by Ainiala (2016: 373) who states that research into reasons for name giving is also regarded as part of socio-onomastic study. From the social semiotics perspective, this paper draws from Fandi (2020) who observed that Papiackum proverbial names are semiotic resources whose meanings are linked to their historical context. The current categorisation and analysis of Setswana personal names data is also premised on their semiotic resource functions, of preserving and safeguarding the Setswana culture and traditions.
Ethical considerations
Anthroponymic studies, especially socio-onomastic ones like this one, often require information that is considered personal and private, and it is critical that all measures are put in place not to compromise the safety of the data collected. Ethical approval for the initial PhD study, which the current data derives was obtained from the University of Glasgow; College of Arts Ethics Committee and a research permit was also granted by the Research Office of Botswana under the Ministry of Education and Skills Development. The research permit is a legally binding document that ensures that all research requirements and stipulations are not flouted. All participants in the study were consenting adults above 18 years and they understood and agreed to the terms of the study. They were informed that the data was going to be used solely for academic purposes and will not be used to victimise or identify any specific individual. All these were carried out in line with research methods in socio-onomastics and social semiotics.
Data presentation
As previously indicated Botswana has a rich culture that is evident in different aspects of the lives of the people, including the names. The aspects of the Setswana culture that are discussed in this study are only those that are reflected in the current data, so the data is in no way exhaustive of all aspects of the Setswana culture. As indicated earlier, the Botswana society is traditionally patriarchal, therefore gender will feature predominantly in some of the categories.
The next section, therefore, presents and discusses the data as categorised according to the five emerging themes:
names that reflect political structures like ethnic groups (merafe) and chieftainship (bogosi).
names that reflect the economic cultural ways of life like farming.
names that reflect social activities like marriage.
names that are derived from oral traditions (proverbs).
names that are derived from names of traditional Setswana artefacts.
Analysis and discussion
This section discusses the data to illustrate how the Setswana culture and language is preserved through Setswana personal names. Each general theme has specific sub-themes which will be discussed individually drawing from the names data for exemplification.
Names that reflect the Merafe (ethnic groups) and Chieftainship Practices
Ethnic groups, Totems and Traditional Religion
Ethnic groups and Totems.
Botswana is home to many ethnic groups (merafe), who speak different varieties of the Setswana language, which is the dominant language in the country estimated to be spoken by 70-90% of the total of about 2.3 million people (Andersson and Janson, 1997). Although these varieties of Setswana are different and are spoken in different parts of the country, they are mutually intelligible. Different ethnic groups that make the population of Botswana and speak mutually intelligible varieties of Setswana include Bangwato, Bakwena, Bangwaketse, and others such as Bakalanga, Baherero, Basubiya, who speak other varieties of the Bantu language family that are not necessarily mutually intelligible. To reflect their ethnic origins and languages, Batswana give their children names that make reference to these, such as Batlokwa ‘people from the Batlokwa ethnic group’, Motswapong ‘a person from the Tswapong ethnic group’ and Bakwena ‘people from the Bakwena ethnic group’. Other names that refer to a person’s origin and highlight the importance of that include Letso ‘origin’ and Setso ‘tradition’ or Ditso ‘traditions’. Through these types of names, Batswana are trying to saliently solidify and pronounce their ethnic identities as Aldrin (2016: 388) has observed that the choice of a name can act as an expression or construction of cultural identities.
Each morafe ‘ethnic group’ in Botswana has a totem, and this is an animal that the group considers its ethnic identity. Denbow and Thebe (2006), state that most totems are wild animals that were chosen in the past as symbols of a family or ethnic group and the morafe shows respect to their Badimo ‘ancestors’ by protecting and respecting their totems. This animal is important and sacred to the people. It is held in the highest regard by the group, and it would be considered a major abomination if someone killed or ate the meat of their totem. Names like Kubusereto ‘a hippopotamus is a totem’ and Kgabosereto ‘a monkey is a totem’ reflect the idea of totems among Batswana. People who belong to ethnic groups that have such animals as their totems are usually called with praise names that refer to such animals, for example, a Mokgatla would be addressed as Kgabo ‘monkey’ or a Mongwato as Phuti ‘duiker’, making reference to the name bearer’s totem. The data indicates that the recurring motivation for this category of names is to uphold culture and highlight the origins of the name givers or bearers. These names reflect the name givers’ pride and love for his or her origins and traditions and pay homage to their belief in their ancestors. This is reiterated by Koopman (2002: 82), in reference to Zulu names, who states that clan names or praise names perform several functions which include, ‘the establishment of identity, address forms, thanking, flattering and congratulating, and maintaining contact with the ancestors in various rites’.
From a social semiotics perspective, names that derive from names of ethnic groups and totems are semiotic resources that document the people’s oral traditions, historical origins and identities. The motivation for giving these types of names is revealed as upholding the culture and traditions of the people, therefore they are intentionally given to perform a specific function. Fandi (2020) has observed with Papiackum names that such types of names help to safeguard the history of the people.
Chieftainship practices
Chieftainship.
The kgotla (traditional meeting place) system, is as old as the bogosi (chieftaincy) system and has been and is still a critical aspect of the Botswana society despite the country having a democratically elected government since 1966 when the country attained independence. According to Denbow and Thebe (2006: 21), ‘In the 19th century, Tswana communities were governed through an institution known as the kgotla, where men discussed matters of economic or political importance to the family or community’. The words kgotla ‘traditional meeting place’ and kgosi ‘chief’ are representative of the aspect of power in the Setswana culture. Otlogetswe (2018: 59) states that, ‘traditionally the kgotla is a male space. It is constructed by men, and its attendance is by men’. The system is still in place today as illustrated by the existence of the Ntlo ya Dikgosi ‘The House of Chiefs’. Ntlo ya Dikgosi is a part of The National Assembly, under the legislature arm of government, which is responsible for debating and passing bills into laws. The word kgotla is polysemous as it can mean the actual meeting place, or a part of a village also called a ward which is mostly made up of people who are related. Van Leeuwen (2005) states that, a semiotic resource is any entity that can make meaning, the kgotla in this instance is a space that creates meaning, without anything being vocalised. Just its existence communicates meaning to those who occupy it and are around it, the same meaning that is then extended to names that make reference to it. The name Kgotlaletsile can, therefore, symbolise the birth of a child who is regarded as part of either the actual meeting place or the ward. This name is male specific because traditionally males were the ones who attended kgotla meetings and it would be odd to give the name to a female. The name Lekgotla also means the meeting place or the meeting itself, and it is also male specific for the same reasons. Although the kgotla and the bogosi system are still in effect today, the society is not as highly patriarchal as it used to be. Therefore, in recent years, females have been allowed to attend the kgotla and take part in its proceedings even though the names that relate to it are still largely male specific. The few names that relate to the kgotla and chieftaincy that are female specific are those prefixed with the word Mma- (mother of or wife of), a prefix that indicates femaleness. Examples of such names from the data are Mmakgosi (mother/wife of the chief) and Mmakgotla (mother/wife of the meeting place).
The respondent who was given the name Mmakgosi (mother/wife of the chief) explained that, ‘I was told that on the day I was born, the village chief was being inaugurated. My parents named me Mmakgosi to symbolise this momentous occasion’. This child could not be named Kgosi ‘chief’ because she was a female, the name therefore implies that she could be the mother or the wife of the chief. Zuercher (2007: 87), makes a similar observation with Azerbaijan names that, ‘male names reflect their culturally approved roles in public leadership and religion, while female names imply physical attractiveness and exoticism.’
Other names refer to the bogosi ‘chieftaincy’ system like Mongwakgotla ‘the leader/owner of the meeting place, Kgosi ‘chief’ or Kgosietsile ‘the chief has arrived/come’ and Mojaboswa ‘heir’. The general idea behind these names is to appreciate the boy child who will be expected to help his father with manly duties in the family and the community, hence preserving the traditional Setswana family set up which recognises the man as the head of the household. In Setswana culture, an heir was traditionally a male child because the estate he would inherit would be cattle, so it was important that each family has a male child who will carry this forward, hence names like Mojaboswa ‘heir’. Otlogetswe (2018: 62), further argues that the names Kgosi and Kgotla ‘are usually given to the first male child in the home since males are traditionally associated with the establishment of a kgotla. The association of a son with the kgotla is because it is the men who keep the family name whether they marry or not’.
All these names are male specific, and the unbalanced gender scenario presented by these names is not surprising because the idea of upholding the culture and cultural practices of a Botswana society such as the chieftainship has always been regarded as the prerogative of males. Tlou and Campbell (1997: 117) have observed that in the past ‘. . . women were not allowed to attend the kgotla “traditional meeting place”, had no rights of public speech; nor could they enter the cattle kraal, herd, or milk cattle’. These cultural activities were reserved for men, and this is reflected in the Botswana naming system. However, this scenario is slowly fading as women now attend kgotla meetings, hold positions of the kgosi (chief) and even own farms where they tend to their own cattle. It remains to be seen whether with time, the Botswana naming system will also evolve to embrace these changes and make names such as Kgosi (chief) and Mojaboswa (heir) gender neutral.
Names that reflect the Botswana social and economic way of life
Farming.
Traditionally, Batswana have always been farmers who kept livestock and grew crops, also hunted wild animals for meat. Denbow and Thebe (2006) state that to a great extent, Botswana cuisine centres around meat and grown crops like sorghum and maize. This is the traditional way of life of a typical Botswana family from a long time ago to the current times. The Botswana naming system comprises of names that reflect these cultural activities and signify their importance in the lives of Batswana. Names that refer to the keeping of animals include, Modisa ‘herd boy/shepherd’, Mothibedi ‘herd boy/shepherd’ and Dikgomo ‘cows/cattle’ which are all male specific. This is because traditionally, the livestock belonged to the male; even if he was married the wife had no say in matters concerning the livestock. As noted previously by Tlou and Campbell (1997), in the past, a hundred or so years ago, women were not allowed to enter the kraal, herd or milk the cattle and although they could inherit cattle or own them, they could not sell them or dispose of them without the consent of their guardians, who were either their husbands or their fathers. These are the restrictions that perpetuated and still perpetuate the gender specifications of names like these. This apparent imbalance indicates the patriarchal nature of the Botswana society because traditionally women were homemakers and children nurturers while men were the providers.
Names that reflect the activity of growing of crops by the Botswana society include, Letsema ‘ploughing season’, Watemo ‘the one who ploughs/ born during ploughing season’, Barobi ‘harvesters’ and Molemi ‘farmer’. Interestingly, the names in this category are gender neutral which suggests that the ploughing field is not a gendered space like the cattle kraal. Names that reflect the activity of hunting animals for meat include, Motsumi ‘hunter’, Motlhabi ‘slaughterer of an animal’ and Mmui ‘one who skins an animal’. Like the cattle reference names, these ones are also male specific. It is assumed that these names are male specific because of the physical strength that is associated with the hunting and killing of animals. This category indicates that when it comes to certain cultural activities gender roles are clearly marked and there are hardly any overlaps. The category also illustrates that the Botswana societal expectations on males and females differ as observed by Rapoo (2003), who notes that Setswana male names demonstrate qualities of strength, fierceness and leadership, as demonstrated by the names here, while female names demonstrate aesthetic features. These societal expectations are also demonstrated in other cultures like the Shona of Zimbabwe. Makondo (2013) argues that the stereotypical nature of placing the male child over the female is not as subtle in the Shona culture which openly values the male child more than the female one and would even proudly name women who bore boys Vachizvaramachinda ‘mother of boys’ and these were highly valued when compared to Vamachekanhembe ‘mother of girls’.
Names in this category are excellent semiotic resources that communicate or highlight the patriarchal nature of the Botswana society. This characteristic of the traditional Setswana society does not need to be spelt out, but it comes out vividly through the names in this category. Fandi (2020), argues that semiotic resources can be concrete or abstract, verbal or non-verbal and their meanings are not pre-given, but constructed in a given context. The context under which Setswana names in this category are given, creates meaning that communicates the patriarchal nature of the Botswana society.
Initiation schools and regiments
Initiation schools & regiments.
Prior to embracing the modern education system, the Botswana society had its own traditional education system through initiation schools for young people, termed bojale for girls and bogwera for boys. According to Denbow and Thebe (2006: 16), ‘these schools, which lasted for many months taught young people the responsibilities of adulthood, respect for elders and royalty, the virtues of obedience and their rights and obligations in society’. The young people also learnt the history of their societies through praise poems and the general teaching methods used were riddles, puzzles and proverbs. It is at these schools that young people were taught about their rites of passage and young boys were circumcised, preparing them for manhood and girls were inducted on the menstruation process, childbirth and taking care of the home.
According to Morton (2012), after initiation, graduates became a mophato and were subsequently given a name that bonded them together for life. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Botswana naming system will have names that reflect this important aspect of the Setswana culture like the name Mophato ‘regiment’ or Mephato ‘regiments. Other names would reflect the naming of a specific mophato (regiment). For example, children who were born at around the same time when a mophato was graduating were usually named after the mophato, hence names like Madisakgosi ‘those who guard the chief’ or Madibelakgosi ‘those who protect the chief’. In addition to being artefacts of cultural preservation, such names also function as memory retention devices as they always help communities remember significant, social or cultural events that such names refer to. The processes of what took place at the initiation schools were kept secret and sacred because only those who went through such processes understood what went on there, hence there are no names that refer to the actual activities that went on at initiation schools.
A Setswana traditional marriage
Tswana marriage.
The institution of marriage has always been a significant one in the life of a Motswana, it afforded individuals respect and status among their communities. As such the processes of this institution are reflected in Setswana personal names. According to Denbow and Thebe (2006: 136), ‘at the beginning of the 19th century, a gift of cattle from the groom’s to the bride’s family was the primary way in which a marriage was recognised as legitimate in the eyes of the public’. This gift was labelled as bogadi ‘bride price’, and as such the word exist as a name in Setswana, and it is mainly a female specific name, probably because it is the woman’s family that receives such a gift. The Setswana marriage ceremony involves a process where the newly married woman spends time with older, married women who teach her how to behave and act as a married woman. This process is called ‘go laya’, which means to teach or instruct. When a child is given the name Kelaegile ‘I have been taught/instructed well’, the symbolism is that she will be well raised to make a good wife in future. Other names related to the institution of marriage are Lenyalo ‘a wedding celebration’, Tseo ‘a marriage’, Kemo ‘a marriage’ and Tuduetso ‘ullulation’. An ululation is a celebratory sound made by women that is central to the wedding celebrations. Names in this category represent different aspects of the Setswana traditional marriage and it is worth noting that all of them are female specific. This is because as Tlou and Campbell (1997) have noted, traditionally, women were expected to get married, become home makers and child nurturers, hence names that reflect these activities being female specific. A Setswana traditional marriage is a rite of passage that is significant in the life of a Motswana, just like the initiation process, so Batswana live and experience their cultures and traditions through such practices. Socio-onomastics allows Batswana to craft meaningful personal names from such experiences. And this in turn helps to preserve these cultural practices.
Names that are derived from proverbs
Setswana proverbs.
Setswana is rich in proverbs which carry meanings intended to teach, guide and inform, therefore it is fitting that the language would have names that derive from these. In the past, before the formal education system was introduced in Botswana, knowledge was shared through oral traditions, which included proverbs, riddles, folktales or oral narratives and poems. These were an important integral aspect of the Setswana tradition, and the knowledge was passed from generation to generation, usually from the elders to the young in the evenings, around an open fire or at initiation schools. These sessions were for both entertainment and education. Names that are derived from proverbs are therefore a reflection of this part of the Setswana culture. The names keep this part of the culture alive, particularly because the days of sitting around the fire with the elderly and initiation schools have been eroded by modern life. The current data gives, an example of the name Eephutha ‘it organises itself’, which derives from the proverb that says, ‘Tau e iphutha metlhala fa ele nosi, fa e na le ditawana ke mafaratlhatlha’ which literally means that one can take stock and organise one’s life when alone and not when in a crowd. This name was given to a respondent who was born as an only child and the parents were justifying that fact. The decision to have one child was a conscious one as the parents wanted to lead an organised life without distractions that may be brought about by many children. Generally, in the African context, families are large, but this has changed over the years. Modern parents prefer smaller families and the respondent who bore this name was relatively young and was born to younger, contemporary parents.
The other name that is derived from a proverb is Oaipetla ‘it moulds/crafts itself’. This derives from the proverb, ‘Moremogolo go betlwa wa taola, wa motho o a ipetla’, which means that no one can mould another person into a better individual, but it is the responsibility of an individual to make themselves a better person. The name is a kind of advice to the child that he should strive to make himself a better person and not expect anyone else to do it on his behalf. Another example is the name Gaseikanngwe ‘it cannot be trusted or relied on’, which derives from the proverb ‘sedibana pele ga se ikanngwe’ which literally means that you cannot trust or depend on something that is yet to happen because it might not materialise, an equivalent of the English expression, ‘do not count your chickens before they hatch’. The name Asalepele ‘they are still to come’ is derived from the proverb; se tshege yo o oleng, mareledi a sa le pele which literally means that you should not rejoice or celebrate when someone is experiencing hardships because you might be in the same position in future.
Another name is Setlogelwa ‘that which has been left behind’ which is derived from the proverb ‘se a re go tlogelwa tsatsing se ikise moriting’, which literally means that when something or someone is left in the sun they should be able to move themselves to the shade if the heat is too much for them. The metaphorical meaning is that when someone is put in a compromising or uncomfortable situation that does not favour them, they should do their best to get out of it. The respondent who gave this name had this to say, ‘My husband died while I was pregnant with this child. I named her Setlogelwa to remind myself that life had to go on, even without my husband’. These names are important aspects of the Setswana culture as they help to preserve the Setswana oral traditions, as well as the Setswana language. It is observed that although the aspect of gender feature prominently in other categories, the names discussed here are gender neutral and belonged to both males and females and there is nothing in their lexical meanings or motivations that denote any gender stereotypes.
Fandi (2020), on a social semiotic analysis of Papiackum proverbial names concluded that, these names, when interpreted, highlight norms and values, cultural taboos and oral traditions. The same scenario is exemplified by Setswana names that derive from proverbs. The names, when interpreted, carry historical, cultural and social teachings that need to be preserved, hence the need for the current paper.
Names denoting symbolism through traditional artefacts
Traditional Setswana artefacts.
Some Setswana names derive from the names of traditional Setswana ornaments and artefacts. According to Ramaeba and Mathangwane (2015: 137), ‘such names denote objects that have always existed among the Batswana but were not used in naming children’. This scenario indicates a movement from conventional Setswana names to a more creative, culture-based contemporary naming system. The naming process is not static; it evolves with time, and this evolution has resulted in what socio-onomastic research has termed ‘first name fashion’. Ainiala (2016) has observed that with first name fashion, parents usually try to find names for their children that are special or rare, usually following a trend specific to the period. In recent years fist name fashion has been significant in the Botswana onomastic space, influenced by the desire for rare, positive and catchy names among contemporary Batswana parents. According to Ramaeba and Mathangwane (2015), these rare, contemporary names depict a positive outlook unlike the old, traditional Setswana names some of which depicted negativity like Mathata ‘problems’ or Khutsafalo ‘sadness’. It is for these reasons that young Batswana parents explore the Setswana culture for these contemporary names. Examples of these names include, Sesigo ‘traditional storage basket’, Leiso ‘traditional fireplace’, Mokoro ‘trough (used for animals to drink or eat from)’ and Mhiko ‘a tree branch used as a kraal closure’. These names derive from ordinary words in the Setswana vocabulary, but when they are used as names, they symbolise an entirely different meaning that is deeper and more symbolic. The current data has names like Lorako ‘wall made from wood’ which symbolises an only male child in the family who would protect the family like the wall would protect the house or the homestead. The name Leloba ‘thin rope’, usually given to a child born immediately after marriage symbolises that he or she will tie the family together and strengthen the marriage, just like a rope would. Rosenhouse (2002: 98) has made a similar observation with Arabic and Hebrew names, arguing that ‘they refer to pleasant objects, geographic places, animals and good qualities, and they never depict any negativity.’
In addition to the initially stated motivation of first name fashion the use of words that denote traditional artefacts may also be a deliberate decision by young Batswana parents to prevent these words from becoming extinct, especially because the activities that these ornaments are used for are no longer actively practised. For example, the sesigo “traditional storage basket’ was traditionally used to store harvest after the harvesting season, and this activity has become extinct over the years as people prefer modern ways of storing their harvests. The name Lebeana “a part of a broken clay pot” symbolises one of the traditional household chores for a girl child. Traditionally, homes shared fire in the form of hot coal, when the fire in one homestead died, people would go to the next home to get coal to re-ignite it and the coal was carried in a broken clay pot because it is a poor conductor of heat. This was a chore for young girls which also symbolises that they are future homemakers who are to make sure that the homestead always has fire and subsequently food. The name Letshego ‘a three-legged stand’, symbolises responsibility and leadership qualities for the name bearer. In a traditional Botswana homestead the letshego is a stand that is put over an open fire to hold the pot when cooking. The same attributes of necessity and responsibility associated with the item are bestowed on the name bearer, who is usually a male. The expectation or hope is that the male child would shoulder the responsibilities of the family and provide for it. This paper argues that the use of these words that refer to traditional artefacts as names is a deliberate effort to preserve the vocabulary and the activities associated with the artefacts through symbolism.
The section has discussed the names that have been identified as preserving the Setswana culture, traditions and language. The names are categorised into five main themes, namely, political structures, economic structures, social activities, oral traditions and traditional artefacts. This analysis has demonstrated that Batswana have a rich culture that exists in all aspects of their lives which they unconsciously or consciously reveal through their names and naming systems. The analysis shows that Setswana names are not just linguistic entities which identify individuals, they bring to the fore in a subtle way the daily way of life of the people, their cultures and traditions. This is reiterated by Fandi (2020: 293) who has observed with Papiackum names that, ‘Names are an important aspect in the African culture given that the African does not name his or her children for naming’s sake’.
Conclusion
This paper has illustrated how Batswana use anthroponyms to keep their cultural, traditional practices and language alive. These are practices such as the chieftaincy system, the keeping of livestock and growing of crops, traditional marriages and initiation school activities. A similar phenomenon has been observed by De Klerk and Bosch (1996), regarding African names in general, that they are often loaded with a lot of information about the cultures of their specific societies. The study has observed that the process of naming among young Batswana parents is influenced by a phenomenon that socio-onomastics calls first name fashion, where the desire is to create rare, catchy and creative names. This scenario is reflected by the ‘category of traditional artefacts names’. Social semiotics has enabled this paper to label Setswana personal names as semiotic resources, that can document and preserve the Setswana history and culture for future reference. Examples of names such as Bakwena ‘people from the Bakwena tribe’ or Kubusereto ‘a hippopotamus is a totem’ illustrate the documentation of Botswana’s oral traditions and ethnic identities through personal names. Furthermore, names like Sesigo ‘a traditional storage basket’ and Letshego ‘a 3-legged stand’ highlight the preservation of names of traditional Setswana artefacts. Socio-onomastics and social semiotics have complemented each other effortlessly to achieve the objectives of this paper. An undisputable fact about Setswana names is that they are always carefully selected and never randomly given, this study has reiterated this fact with the analysis of names that are used to preserve the Setswana culture and language. Names, like language and culture are not static, they are prone to change, so it remains to be seen how Setswana names will evolve in future. This paper concludes that the Setswana naming system is actively used as an archive of the Setswana culture and language. The names are springs of invaluable knowledge about the culture and traditions of Batswana.
Supplemental Material
sj-docx-1-jas-10.1177_00219096251413617 – Supplemental material for Preserving the Setswana Culture through Personal Names
Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jas-10.1177_00219096251413617 for Preserving the Setswana Culture through Personal Names by Goabilwe Nnanishie Ramaeba in Journal of Asian and African Studies
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
This paper received reviewer feedback during a British Academy Writing Workshop (2024, Nairobi, Kenya) award (IWWAF\100008).
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Ethical approval and informed consent statement
Ethical Approval for this study was granted by the College of Arts Ethics Committee of the University of Glasgow and the Research Office of Botswana (Ministry of Education and Skills Development)
Data availability statement
The data for this study was collected in the villages of Mahalapye and Molepolole in Botswana between May- August 2016
Supplemental material
Supplemental material for this article is available online.
Author biography
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
