CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0   Introduction

Names are a valuable part of one’s identity, and ‘to have your own name questioned is to be questioned as a person’ (Hagstrom 2012:82). A name is “something” that is given at birth and it is referent everyone carries with them their whole life. Some may dislike their name and some struggle to maintain the name. A dislike for one’s name sparks the need to be called a nickname but rarely does one think to change their entire name. For a transgender individual, a nickname isinadequate. For a transgender individual their name is not tied to their identity but rather to a gender identity that they do not identify with. This disconnectbetween their given name and their identity lies in the fact that their given name is often given to match their assigned gender. Personal names in many cultures are often gender-based; we have boys’ names and girls’ names.

In the grassfields of Cameroon, the aspect of being named constitutes a major component of the lives of the inhabitants. The grassfields region of Cameroon is a term used to apply to the areas encompassed by the North West and West regions of Cameroon. This means that the villages and clans in the grassfields region have common practices and ideologies with that of moghamo. The moghamo clan will be our main focus of this work.

The “process of naming” and being named contribute greatly to the significance of self-identity. Names play a very important role in the identification of persons. Personal names are a bunch of letters grouped together to sound pleasant to the ear. The truth is that names are a part of every culture and that they are enormous important both to the people who own them and to the society at large. Edward (1996) says that children get their names from totems and family trees of their parents while in some other cultures, names are taken from events which happen during pregnancy of the mother or after birth of the child.As such,language naming in the “Moghamo” clan is an important aspect of human history and culture. Personal names are drawn from cultural beliefs and biblical affiliations. These are done through a system of communication called language which is use to affix or construct an identity for anindividual. TheMoghamotribe concerned here handles the aspect of personal names in their culture as primordial and very significant.

1.1 Motivation

Our motivation to work on personal names inMoghamo is to highlight the cultural significance and meaning of names of the individuals. With this study, speakers of the Moghamo clan will know more about personal names and their cultural significance and will give them the desire to exploit the riches or wealth of linguistics. Also, our motivation is to know the problem surrounding language naming in the Moghamocommunity. The way they use words in the native language to name various persons and how a large number of indeterminate individuals respond to a particular name which brings about identity crisis and how children tend to be confused as to who is being called.

1.2Research Questions

In a bid to develop this work, it is necessary to consider the major question in the study of personal names in Moghamo.

1. To what extent is a person’s name an essential aspect of his/her sense of individual identity in the Moghamo community?

To this major question, we will add the sub questions;

1. Do names have any impact on the bearers in the community?
2. What role do personal names play in the community?

1.3Purpose of the Study

The purpose is to investigate or look into the concept of personal names in the Moghamoclan. The study will focus on naming, the feeling of individuals and the perceptions of these personal names of the people(anthroponomy) in the Moghamo clan and how the names contribute to the construction of a personal or self-identity of those named.

1.4 Hypothesis

Our hypothesis is that the process of personal naming and being named is of great significance or importance.

1.5Aim of the study

The main aim of this work is to give an overview of personal names in theMoghamo language. It seeks to identify the cultural significance of personal names and why some names are not just given to any child in the Moghamo community. It is equally aimed at investigating and exposing some aspects of the culture and tradition of the Moghamo people which will be known through the course of studying personal names.