Names and naming among the Abagusii

Gusii personal names are far from arbitrary. Children are traditionally named for grandparents — a first son taking his paternal grandfather's name, a first daughter her paternal grandmother's — so that names circulate through generations and the dead return in their grandchildren.

Many names carry meaning about circumstance: names marking birth during harvest, rain, drought, or on a journey; birth-order names such as Onyiego and Moraa; and praise or descriptive names. Surnames typically follow the father's name, so a full name quietly encodes lineage.

Modern naming has added Christian and English names — often given at baptism — but grandparents' names persist and many families deliberately keep an Ekegusii name for each child. Asking an elder the story of their name is often a doorway into family history, which is why our oral-history interviews always begin there.