Abstract
This article discusses the issue of naming children, youths and adults among the Lamba People of the Copperbelt Province in Zambia and the significance of the names given to either children or adults. My study looks at a number of areas in the naming process. Firstly, the study discusses the naming process that follows the birth of a child. Secondly, it examines the phenomenon of changing names, in some cases, when a child has reached the age of 10-12 years. In addition, this study gives the readers some examples of adults who also adopted new names in adulthood, thereby despising the earlier names given to them by the elders of their community. Apart from the naming process, this study also looks at different categories of names found among the Lamba People of the Copperbelt Province. Lamba names can broadly be classified under two categories. The first type concerns names that arise from the circumstances surrounding the birth of a child. The second type is about names emanating from the socio-psychological environment.
Highlights
The Lamba People are generally found in a territory called “in Lamba Land (Ilamba)” or Lamba land
To start with I looked at the brief account of Professor Clement Doke (1931) concerning names among the Lambas of the Copperbelt Province in Zambia
As indicated by Chimuka (1977), the following languages/ethnic groups are found in Zambia today: Nyika, Sala, Seba, Senga, Shanjo, Shila, Simaa, Soli, Subiya, Swaka, Tabwa, Twa, Unga, Wandya, Yombe, Luunda, Luvale, Makoma, Mambwe, Mashasha, Mashi, Mbowe, Mbukushi, Mbumi, Mbunda, Mbwela, Mukulu, Mulonga, Namwanga, Ndembu, Ng’ambo, Nkoya, Nsenga, Nyengo, Afrikaans, Ambo, Aushi, Bisa, Bemba, Luchazi, Lumbu, Lunda, Lundwe, Lungu, Chewa, Chikunda, Chishinga, Cokwe, English, Gova, Ila, Namwanga, Iwa, Kabende, Kaonde, Kosa, Kundai, Kwandi, Kwandu, Kwangwa, Lala, Lenje, Lima, Liyuwa, Lozi, Luano and Lamba, the focus of my study
Summary
The Lamba People are generally found in a territory called “Ilamba” or Lamba land. This territory is mainly found on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia which before Independence was called Northern Rhodesia. There are some Lambas on the other side of the border in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This article focuses on the naming of children among the Lamba people found on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The second one looks at the actual naming process among the Lambas of the Copperbelt Province in Zambia. The fourth part focuses on the names and meanings of the Lamba clans that the chiefs on the Copperbelt belong to. I should add that, as far as I know, this study is the first of its kind as personal naming among the Lamba People has never been explored in depth before
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