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Meru Names - Dagmar Telfer Muthamia

Page history last edited by Henry Hamburger 10 years, 7 months ago

 

One of the first things I learned at Kaaga Girls School in Meru District, Kenya, was the rule that each girl had to choose one name and stick to it during her time at Kaaga.  The British missionary women who ran the school could not handle the Meru tradition which allows for one to have many names, to choose which ones to use and change freely. 

 

All the girls had one name that was their “Christian” name.  It was in English and usually a Biblical name or positive Christian attribute.  Popular names were Jerusha, Agnes, Mary, Tabitha, Sarah, Charity, Mercy and Faith.

 

Most of the girls also had one or more names related to personal characteristics which we might think of as nicknames.  Even I acquired additional names.  The first time, I was left to supervise the workers during a school holiday.  I became known as Kagwiria which meant I was someone they were happy to work for because I was not a very strict supervisor. 

 

A person might also be addressed in a way that referenced their relationship like daughter of, mother of, wife of, e.g., mwana wa Josephat, gina or mama wa Mutegi or muka wa Kimathi.  The form might be shortened so that it became Faith Josephat instead of Faith mwana wa Josephat.

 

The first name given to a child is the most interesting.  Children are named after family members.  The first four born in a family are named after grandparents.  The next are named after aunts and uncles in birth order.  At each level the paternal relative is first, then the maternal.  This is similar to the Scottish tradition and many others.  A major difference is that the exact name is not used; rather the name is descriptive of the person after whom an individual is named and is given by that person.  For example, a girl could be named Kainda meaning "she who gets up early" by a grandmother who is known to be an early riser.  My husband was the second born son so he was named after his mother’s father.  This grandfather was not alive to bestow the name so my husband had to take the name of an age set of his maternal grandfather’s generation.  Muthamia was the one he chose. 

 

Throughout life an individual might be referred to as if he or she actually was the namesake.  A daughter named after her paternal grandmother might be addressed as Mama by her own father.  When I married, I became the wife of Samuel, but Samuel was named after his maternal grandfather who was his own father’s father-in-law.  As his wife I became my father-in-law’s mother-in-law, so he could have called me Muthoni or “in-law” but in Meru tradition all women of your mother’s generation are politely referred to as Mama.  So I became Mama to my very polite father-in-law. 

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