Personal Names and Modes of Address among the Mbeere

Abstract

The basic principle of Mbeere naming is to name the newborn after another person, and to reflect in the name its sex, its place in the birth order, the time of marriage negotiation and generation-sets, which are two chronologically alternating sets. Deaths and events during pregnancy exceptionally affect the basic naming principle. Succesive neonatal deaths often cause parents to name the latest newborn after a thing of importance. Parents are obliged to name a baby after some memorable event that either happened to encounter. The njau name is a title for men. The relationship between the adjacent generation-sets requires great respect. In-law relationships are elaborate, especially in the forms of address to the daughter-in-law. People's names gradually increase in number. Most are given and used by those around the person, e.g., the parents, relatives, friends, and neighbours. Names reflect a person's habit, character, and behaviour. Mbeere personal names are cumulative and have been maintained and endured through use in daily life.