An Ethnographic Study of Kanuri Personal Names: An Aspect of Kanuri Sociolinguistics

Abstract

This paper is on ethnographic study of Kanuri personal names. The study realises that these names are not arbitrary names. They have socio-cultural interpretations/values attached to them based on their typology. Some of these names are gender specific while others are non-specific. The structure of these names show that there are single, double words names (which are either the case of compounding or reduplication) and names with suffixes. The typology of Kanuri personal names that this study was able to identify and discuss include: theophoric names, names derived from parent’s and grandparent’s names, names derived from objects, flora and fauna names, names derived from names of occupations, names derived from honourific and title names, names derived from kinship terms, death prevention and survival names, circumstantial names (which are further subdivided into incidental, manner of birth, place of birth, periods/times of birth, positions at birth and physical appearance at birth or after).