Africa-Press – Zambia. Names have always been deeply tied to a person’s identity and heritage. In Africa, a person’s name is an important link to their society and helps to tell the story of their roots. One of the unfortunate influences of the westernization that occurred during colonialism is that some people abandoned their African names and became more inclined to European names. However, even in the face of this westernization, a lot of Africans still maintained the usage of African names as their first name because African names provide a sense of pride and cultural identity.
Today we will discuss some Tonga first-names and their meanings. The Tonga people are an ethnic group found in the Southern part of Zambia and also in the Northern part of Zimbabwe. The Tonga people are believed to be the oldest Bantu settlers in Zambia. Tongaland comprises of the Valley Tonga who reside in a series of gorges near the Zambezi river and the Plateau Tonga who live in higher lands. They all speak the Tonga language “ChiTonga” but each region has its own dialect with some differences of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. In Tonga culture, the naming of a child is a very important occasion. The Tonga people have many traditional first-names to choose from when naming a child and only a few of them will be discussed here.
As is the case with many other African societies, the names given to children are usually based on the different circumstances and events that surround the birth of the child, these include; manner of the birth, happiness, fertility, bad occurrences, order of birth and so on. In some instances forenames are given to infants in memory of a dead family member such as a sibling, parent or grandparent. Sometimes the characteristics that parents observe from the child at birth also play a role in determining the name.
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