They Do Not Eat a Wife’s Beauty: The Ethnopragmatics of Bette Proverbial Personal Names

Abstract

Names and naming practices convey various nuances of meaning in the Bette sociocultural setting. Against this significant backdrop, this study examines proverbial names as figurative and overt communicative strategies among the Bette people of northern Cross River State in south-eastern Nigeria. The qualitative data were elicited through semi-structured interviews and informal interactions from purposively selected twenty name-givers and ten name-bearers of Bette proverbial names. Data were analysed using the ethnopragmatic theory, an approach to language study that sees culture as playing a central explanatory role in meaning-making. Besides functioning as discursive strategies through which people’s worldview is embedded, proverbial names serve as sociocultural sites through which interpersonal relationships are performatively constructed and maintained. This study enriches our understanding of how the Bette people use proverbial names as tools of social control to perform gender, strengthen communal bonds, enhance peaceful coexistence, and enact Indigenous worldview among themselves.

1. Introduction

Although extensive studies on African personal names and naming practices abound, ethnopragmatic analysis of how a people’s ethnocultural identity is preserved through proverbial personal names remains understudied. This study, an ethnopragmatic analysis of Bette proverbial personal names (henceforth BPPNs), aimed to deepen our understanding of the interface between ethnolinguistics and ethnopragmatics, offering onomastic insights into the Bette sociocultural universe. The Bette people’s cultural universe expresses itself in their names and naming practices, illuminating a dialectic relationship between cultural values and societal expectations. The application of ethnopragmatics to the study of BPPNs will increase understanding of how the Bette people construct proverbial names as linguistic resources to construct gender identity, strengthen the communal bond, enhance peaceful coexistence, pass on covert messages to neighbours and other family members, and enact their Indigenous worldview. BPPNs are significant sociolinguistic emblems embodied with cultural and historical trajectories because they highlight categories of value and moral codes that govern society. The present study is a worthy concern given that while there is a substantial body of literature on proverb names, not much ink has been spilt, generally, on Bette personal names, and to the best of these researchers’ knowledge, there is no study on BPPNs. This study, therefore, attempted to cover the scholarly gap both in the study of BPPNs and in the application of ethnopragmatics to the study of Bette personal names.

Names are prominent cultural sites for the preservation of a people’s ethnocultural identity. Names and naming practices permit name-givers and bearers to work out ethics, implications, and deliberate configurations that associate their historical past with their present. This article is a contribution to the Bette’s ethnography of speech with a specific focus on names and naming practices. Bette describes both the language and the people of Obudu and Bendi of Obanlikwu Local Government Areas in northern Cross River State, south-eastern Nigeria. The Bette-Obudu and Bette-Bendi (often described as Bette-Bendi) regions are temperate and surrounded by hills, which provide fertile land for the people’s subsistent agriculture (Aboh 2024). Among the Bette, as is the case with some African societies, names and naming practices not only sustain and express the people’s beliefs but also construct social and cultural identities for both name-givers and name-bearers. For the people, naming is a sociocultural site through which they articulate and reconstruct their cultural values. This signposts the fact that names are intricate parts of a people’s culture, suggesting that the study of a community’s naming practices can offer insights into the community’s value system and deeply held identity constructs (Shanmuganathan et al. 2021; Yakub 2024). Mensah and Rowan elaborate on the emblematic worth of African names in terms of their underlying identity formation value, averring that ‘names confer ideologies of individualism, enact social personality and negotiate cultural identity’ (Mensah and Rowan 2019, p. 157). Names and naming practices can provide insights into how some cultures construct reality.

Language and culture are intricately interwoven. Scholars have explored this relationship, explaining how language gives expression to culture and culture is the vehicle through which speakers make sense of language (Mensah et al. 2024). A people’s culture has the capacity to express itself in the way they use language, revealing how ‘the culture of a people, like the possession of a person, is an ensemble of texts—a collection of symbols and meanings—that must be viewed together to provide a full understanding’ (Robbins and Larkin 2007, p. 23). A personal name is among the significant linguistic tools that a people’s traditional heritage is transmitted from one generation to another. For Mensah and Offong (2013), names and naming practices can best be understood in the context of existing cultures and traditions. In this regard, names and naming practices can be studied as cultural sites where people’s ideological inclinations can be understood. Names, as symbolic linguistic resources that exist in their cultural enclaves, are embedded with hidden significations. This implies that African names are better understood when located in the cultural context that circumstantiated their emergence.

Studies have indicated how personal names are embodied with didactic values. Names with emotional undertones can be conferred on children as a way of controlling their lifestyle. Such names derive from the ethical and moral standards of the name-givers that name-bearers are expected to transmit into adulthood. This indicates that names are motifs of family culture deployed to inculcate values, character, and future life direction, which are also believed to protect the bearers through their lifetime. Names are also considered speech acts, whereby they are used to perform warning, commanding, advising, and instructing acts (Alford 1988; Agyekum 2006; Mensah et al. 2024). Similarly, personal names are used to encode the religious beliefs and the identity of the name-givers (Lamidi and Aboh 2011). These authors are of the opinion that such a regime of names is used to construct family religious beliefs and to direct the spiritual development of the child.

To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, no previous studies have focused on Bette proverbial names. This study aimed to fill this scholarly gap. The few studies on Bette personal names have focused on how Bette names function as death-prevention labels (Nzuanke and Akpagu 2019), how certain Bette names are structured to oppress the girl child (Betiang 2019), how the religious identity and gender enactment of the Bette people replicate themselves in their personal names (Aboh et al. 2023), and how Bette naming practices entrench inequality and legitimise name-bearers’ marginal roles in the matters that concern them in their society (Mensah 2023b). Going in a slightly different direction from earlier studies on Bette personal names, this study aimed to examine the ethnopragmatic values of Bette proverbial personal names (henceforth BPPNs) among the people in order to account for the ethnocultural connotations infused in these names within the ethnic context in which they are assigned and used.

2. Studies in Proverbial Names

Although it is beyond the scope of this study to establish the relationship between proverbs and names, it is instructive to explain that proverbial names are names that emanate from a people’s folklore, proverbs, and other forms of oral literature. Most African personal names scholars argue in favour of the symbolic link between proverbs and names. For example, Batoma (2009) argues that naming is quite related to proverbial speech in that a name given either to a child or a dog involves certain discourse strategies. Proverbs, like names, are cardinal aspects of African orality. For the traditional African, punctuating one’s speech with proverbs exemplifies the speaker’s mastery of oral delivery. Chinua Achebe captured this when he stated that proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten. These views elucidate the premium most African societies place on proverbs, just as they do on names. Exploring the dialectical connection between names and proverbs and how personal names are derived from a people’s proverbs, Fasiku (2006) argues that the relationship constitutes a “descriptivist theory” for the epistemological and philosophical understanding of names in general. Fasiku (2006) and Abiọdun et al. (2022) share the view that African names that emanate from proverbs reflect the people’s philosophy, beliefs, and general worldview, as well as detailing the aspiration, psychological tendencies, and consciousness of both the name-giver and the name-bearer.

Scholars have established the juncture between names and proverbs and the social function the proverbial names perform (Simelana-Kalumba et al. 2015; Fandi 2020). For example, Simelana-Kalumba et al.’s (2015) exploration of the Bantu language of South Africa points to how numerous personal names were derived from proverbs. The authors maintain that proverbial names in Bantu are socially constituted and context-dependent. In this regard, proverbial names provide insights into the sociocultural background of the name-giver. The authors explain that Bantu proverb names originate directly or indirectly from the oral art (proverb) of the people. Importantly, the authors note that Bantu proverb names perform the illocutionary act of caution, pass on a message, vent anger, and act as a form of remembering the events that circumstantiated the birth of a child. These positions apply to BPPNs, which we shall explore later in the study.

In what she terms proverb-names, Oweleke (2022) undertakes morpho-syntactic and pragmatic study of Igbo proverbial names. Focusing on the Igbuzo-Igbo dialect of Igbo, Oweleke details how proverb names share some commonalities in terms of stylistic features with other proverbs, demonstrating how most Igbo proverb names are hardly rendered in full. Rather, they are abridged, truncated, or restatements of the full proverbs. Despite such truncation, proverb names are easily recognised by competent users of the language. This applies to BPPNs; BPPNs are mostly abridged, and like Igbuzo-Igbo proverb names, BPPNs are easily recognised and understood by competent Bette speakers. Oweleke laments that proverb names, which are representative of the ethnolinguistic values, cosmology, and social consciousness of the people, are increasingly fading out, paving the way for ‘new-generation names’. Ndinwo (2023) examines Dagbani (in Gur, Ghana) proverbial names from a morpho-syntactic perspective. The author notes that Dagbani proverbial names are comprised of single morphemes, as in the name Nasara (Victory), two morphemes, as in Neeism (translated as light), and a third group of Dagbani proverbial names consisting of phrases and sentences with other grammatical particles. Ndinwo submits that phonological processes ‘apply phonetactically’ in the realisation of Dagbani proverb-based names.

Scholars have also examined proverbial aliases (Nwachukwu-Agbada 1991) and proverbial nicknames (Mensah 2017). Nwachukwu-Agbada’s study explores Igbo aliases derived from proverbs and argues that they are social constructs that are stylistically deployed to bridge the gap between people of different economic and social strata. The idea that Igbo aliases are used to sustain familial bonds and encourage humour and geniality is foregrounded in Nwachukwu-Agbada’s study. He argues that aliases that stem from proverbs are important in the onomatology of the Anambra-Igbo people because they help in enhancing interpersonal relationships. Mensah (2017) investigated proverbial nicknames among rural youth in southern Cross River State communities, increasing our understanding of how proverbial names extend beyond their social identity construction function to index cultural assumptions and as conveyors of a wide range of cultural values and moorings in their ‘trans-local space’. Besides that, proverbial nicknames are characterised by power dynamics, express hegemonic masculinity, and narrate stories of the bearer’s past achievements.

From the foregoing review, it can be deduced that there is a relationship between African names and African proverbs. These studies highlight the social and linguistic functions of proverb names across cultures and people, accentuating the view that proverbial names mirror a people’s cultural values as well as give expression to their ethnocultural identity. Names and proverbs are speech acts that are deployed to perform the name-givers’ and users’ communicative functions. It then appears systematic for names to be derived from a people’s oral art, part of which proverbs constitute a unique genre. Also, the review of the extant literature on proverb names indicates that studies on Bette proverb names are yet to be undertaken. This confirms Faraclas’ (1989) claim that Bette is an understudied language. It is expedient to explore BPPNs because personal names, in most African societies, depict a reflexive relationship between a people’s language and their cultural practices. Aboh et al. (2023) notes that the Bette social naming process details diverse forms of identities, positioning, and belonging.

3. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework considered relevant to drive the analysis of BPPNs is the ethnopragmatic paradigm, which is an offshoot of natural semantics metalanguage (NSM) theory. Ethnopragmatics examines ‘speech practices from a culture-internal perspective’ (Goddard 2006, p. 2). According to Goddard and Ye (2015, p. 66), ethnopragmatics designates an approach to language study that sees culture as playing a central explanatory role and, at the same time, opens the way for links to be drawn between language and other cultural phenomena. Goddard and Ye identified three cardinal nuclei upon which the ethnopragmatic model operates—objectives, methodological tools, and evidence-based. These ethnopragmatics tenets shed light on the interface between language and cultural practices and how language situates culture in context.

Agyekum (2019) explains that the objective of ethnopragmatics is to foreground culture-internal perspectives on the how and why of speech practices in different languages of the world. Each language has its ‘culture-internal’ dynamics, which are different from those of other languages. Ehineni furthers this argument, averring that the concept of ethnopragmatics relates to the idea that people in different cultures speak in different ways because they think differently, feel differently, and relate differently to other people (Ehineni 2019). Ehineni’s view presupposes that a speech community uses language to represent some views and belief systems that mark them apart from others. Clyne (1994) argues that cultural values are part of the hidden meaning that underlies discourse structures. This suggests that it is advisable to examine linguistic forms in relation to their sociocultural contexts of use because it enables the language analyst to uncover specific significations ‘hidden’ in texts. This perspective can be applied in reading BPPNs in that they are products of contextual realities, and naming in Bette is context-determined, as well as socially constituted ( Aboh 2017).

Furthermore, Agyekum clarifies that the methodological tools are based on decomposing cultural notions and explaining cultural norms in terms of simple meanings that seem to be shared between all languages—cultural universals. Also, ethnopragmatics focuses on linguistic evidence, paying attention to patterns that are discoverable, corpus techniques, and interactional routines (2019). Ethnopragmatics, apart from drawing language analysts closer to insider perspectives, offers strategies for interpreting indigenous concepts and explaining speech practices effectively.

In analysing BPPNs from the perspective of ethnopragmatics, we focus on the culture-internal semantics of the Bette people, explaining the people’s shared values, worldview, norms and the name-giver’s priorities and the circumstances behind the choice of one name over another. This kind of language analysis helps in providing insights into the peculiarities of the people’s sociocultural universe rather than depending on any presumed pragmatic universals (Agyekum 2019). Agyekum’s perspective provides insights into the earlier views of Goddard and Ye (2015) that ethnopragmatics accounts for the link between indigenous values and social models, as well as indigenous speech practices. Duranti (2011) describes ethnopragmatics as a combination of two terms—ethno and pragmatics. While ethno details local communicative practices and indigenous speakers’ orientation to these practices, pragmatics deals with context-specific ways of using language. Following Duranti’s definition of ethnopragmatics, it is safe, perhaps, to argue that ethnopragmatics encourages an interdisciplinary approach to text analysis that relies extensively on the sociocultural context of language use, which includes and promotes an understanding of definite linguistic activities as entrenched in and constitutive of locally organised and locally explainable events (Duranti 2011).

Wierzbicka (1991) called for an understanding of the cultural scripts of a people and how they play out in the people’s use of language rather than appropriating the culture-universalist approach in interpreting languages. Goddard and Wierzbicka (2004) note that cultural scripts are powerful new techniques for enunciating cultural norms, ideals, and practices in terms which are clear, precise, and accessible to cultural insiders and to cultural outsiders alike. Also, Goddard (2006) avers that cultural scripts can be employed to spell out widespread cultural beliefs that may be profoundly explanatory of aspects of communicative practices. Cultural scripts are fundamental in understanding BPPNs since they replicate themselves in the Bette naming practices. In order to increase knowledge on the interface between proverbs and naming practices, this essay focused specifically on the Bette ethnic context, illuminating how BPPNs are influenced by the sociocultural context of the Bette ethnic identity and context.

4. Methodology

This study adopted a qualitative ethnographic method involving a six-month period of data collection from five Bette-speaking communities, namely Kutiang, Ohong, Begiaba, Betukwel, Igwo, and Kutia, in Obudu Local Government Area, northern Cross River State, south-eastern Nigeria. Participants for this research were selected through purposive sampling based on their willingness to participate in the study coupled with their deep knowledge of Bette onomastic practices and by virtue of the fact that they were name-givers and -bearers. Thirty research participants—twenty name-givers and ten name-bearers—were purposively selected for this study. Only male participants were selected for this study. The reason for such selection is informed by the fact that naming among the Bette is exclusively reserved for men. The right to name a child belongs to the father. In the absence of the child’s father, the grandfather or any elderly male relative can name the child. In the Bette onomastic practice, women can only assign informal names to their children; they can also name dogs only if they own or buy them (Ushie and Imbua 2011). Socio-demographic variables—age, education, occupation, religion, and gender—of research participants were considered. The ages of participants were within 30–104 years. Participants were mostly subsistent farmers, traders, and civil servants. The Bette people are predominantly Christians; however, a handful practice African Traditional Religion (ATR).

Two ethnographic approaches—semi-structured interviews and informal interactions—were used in collecting data. Semi-structured interviews enabled the researchers to ask participants open-ended and predetermined questions that were in line with their cultural understanding of Bette naming traditions. The researchers asked participants questions about the connection between proverbs and names, the events that circumstantiated the choices of names, and their perceptions about their names. Questions that addressed the underlying power dynamics, gender dichotomies and the heteronormative ideologies that underscore names and naming practices among the Bette were posed. This method of data collection encourages free-flowing conversations between the participants and the researchers (Mensah 2023a). Despite being natives and competent speakers of Bette and conversant with the undercurrents of naming among our people, we also deployed informal interactions in gathering data. Informal interactions, as a vital source of data gathering, ensure authenticity and add naturalness to and locate data within a specific ethnocultural context (Aboh et al. 2023; Mensah et al. 2024). Informal interactions allowed the researchers to further gain insights into name-bearers’ perceptions about their names and enabled the researchers to understand how the people’s sociocultural universe expresses itself in their naming practices and how both the names and naming practices are gendered, reflective of the patriarchal inclination of the Bette. The ‘insider-outsider’ stance of the researchers allowed for objectivity and proper contextualisation of the collected data because they derive their meaning and depth from their contextualisation. This approach to data collection aligns with the methods of ethnopragmatics, which promotes ‘insider perspectives’ in properly situating and analysing language within their cultural context (Goddard and Ye 2015).

A corpus of forty names was collected during the fieldwork exercise. However, to avoid repetition, only thirty-three BPPNs were analysed. Data were collected using a tape recorder and field notes. They were transcribed, translated from Bette to English and coded into relevant categorical frames. To probe the historical and contemporary perspective of the collected names, they were placed on Bette-Bendi Renaissance, a sociocultural group on WhatsApp that is comprised of literate and competent speakers of Bette-Bendi. Members of the group who had deep knowledge of Bette’s naming and cultural practices provided answers to questions about the meaning, cultural significations, and spelling of the names. Though the members of this group were not among the primary research participants that were specifically selected for this study, their knowledge of Bette culture and onomasticon helped in confirming the accuracy of the data and provided the researchers with broad spectra of ideas about Bette cultural practices that characterise BPPNs. The BPPNs were analysed following a descriptive method. This method allowed for a detailed analysis of the core features of the names and highlighted research participants’ perspectives about names and naming practices. Ethnopragmatics theory was used to drive the analysis. Some of these names are usually abridged because they are too long. We have provided the shortened forms of the long names in brackets, beside their full forms, in the tables they are presented. It is imperative to clarify that the shortening of the names does not change their meaning.

5. Data Analysis and Discussion

The analysis was developed into two broad sections, following the research objectives. The first section, male BPPNs, was further divided into five categorical frames: Section 5.1.1 focuses on BPPNs as social control, the second category (Section 5.1.2) on BPPNs used to discourage ingratitude, Section 5.1.3 on BPPNs that uphold peaceful coexistence, Section 5.1.4 on BPPNs that articulate courage, and Section 5.1.5 on death-related BPPNs. Section 2, Section 5.2, deals with female BPPNs.

5.1. Male BPPNs

5.1.1. BPPNs as Social Control

Some BPPNs carry the illocutionary force of social control. Mensah et al. (2024) note that names can also be considered indispensable cultural emblems for facilitating social relations. BPPNs are used to regulate people’s behaviour and ensure that they live in accordance with societal expectations, as represented in

Table 1. BPPNs as social control.

S/N	BPPNs	Gloss	Contextual Meaning
1.	Á shí dór ítíang	He did a proverb	He did it to set a precedence.
2.	Ű ké líná ű ngyá lé kibá ki tór yé (Űké líná)	Trouble seeker does not know that wound is painful	It is advisable to stay out of trouble given its consequences.
3.	Bé kóng téndór (Aténdór)	Do not say all	Be mindful of what you say.
4.	Bé ndá lísú lé kȕkáh yé (Űkáhyé)	They do not have sex by force	Rape is an abomination.
5.	Áyádé bé ngiá kúshȕ yé (Áyádé)	No one knows tomorrow	It is difficult to advise an all-knowing person.
6.	Bé keé úshié hé kátél yé (Békeéh)	You do not look for justice in hatred	Do not expect justice from an enemy.

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The name, Ű ké líná ű ngyá lé kibá ki tór yé, which translates roughly to ‘trouble seeker does not know that wound is painful’, forewarns people to stay away from trouble, as well as reminding them of the consequences thereof. The name embodies the name-giver’s perception of the other’s behaviour. Adugba, a 73-year-old participant, explained that he had a troublesome younger brother who gets into trouble very often. On one of those occasions, he was involved in a fight and got his arm fractured. The event coincided with the birth of the participant’s son, so he named his son Ű ké líná ű ngyá lé kibá ki tór yé. This name confirms how the Bette do not give names haphazardly; their names are rooted in their ethnic sensibilities and interaction with their sociocultural universe. For them, names are vital linguistic means of expressing a name-giver’s perspective on life. In this context, the name is intended to adjust a brother’s behaviour, to make him see why he has ‘to stay away from trouble’. Utonshi, 67 years old, affirmed that the name is used ‘to let people know that trouble is bad’. Utonshi further explained that he named his younger brother’s son Ű ké líná ű ngyá lé kibá ki tór yé to caution his brother’s wife, who was ‘too quarrelsome’ and behaved as though she ‘eats trouble before she sleeps’. Utonshi noted that there was a time when his brother manhandled his wife and gave her a black eye. Months later, when the same woman gave birth to a baby boy, the name that readily came to his mind was Ű ké líná ű ngyá lé kibá ki tór yé. Within the ethnic framework of the people, Ű ké líná ű ngyá lé kibá ki tór yé is used to dismantle untoward relationships with family members. Also, it is used to advance inclusive behavioural change that strengthens oneness.

Another BPPN that serves the function of social control and advocates behavioural change for the good of the community is Á shí dór ítíang (he did a proverb). The Bette, like many African people, often make comments with names. A name-giver narrated that he called his son Á shí dór ítíang because when he wanted to send his sister-in-law to university, his elder brother protested against the idea. The elder brother did not see the need to send a girl child, especially one that is not a relative, to university. He preferred that she learned a trade. However, the name-giver objected, insisting he was sending her to school to set a precedence and to also let the girl in question understand that it pays to be of good behaviour. The name-giver’s decision fractured the cordial relationship he had with his brother. So, to make his brother understand his action, he named his son Á shí dór ítíang. Owing to shared cultural scripts, the name makes sense to both the name-giver and the one the name was directed at.

Within the Bette ethnocultural context in which names are derived and meanings assigned to them, these names function as pragmatic tools of social control and mobilisation against injustice. For example, Bé kóng téndór (Be mindful of what you say) serves as a medium of social control; it admonishes one to be watchful of what they say and the manner they say what they know. This name draws from the people’s proverb: wó sháng hé ábeé wó bo, wó sháng hé ungwu, whu boh ye (if you slip with your legs, you will rise; but if you slip with your mouth/words, you will not rise). This proverb, which underscores the power of words, is used to advise people to bridle their tongues, for what is said cannot be retrieved. Akomaye (63 years old) narrated that he named his son Bé kóng téndór as an indirect message to his wife, who demeaned him when things were a bit tough for him. This serves as the name-giver’s advice to his wife to mind how she talks, for a speaker’s words, already registered in the hearer’s memory, can be used against the speaker in the future. As Akomaye puts it, ‘because we can’t see tomorrow, it is good for us to count our words. Now, I am doing well; can she take back what she told me years ago?’ Akomaye’s admonition is rooted in the people’s culture of mindfulness.

Similarly, Bé ndá lísú lé kȕkáh yé (rape is abominable) expresses the people’s abhorrence for rape. For them, sex is consensual. The people’s sexual euphemism, li ke bende, which means that sexual partners have to woo each other before sexual intercourse, underscores their disdain for any form of coercive sexual relationship. Adie, a 63-year-old participant, reported that rape is an unpardonable offence. Therefore, this name is given to a male child when a female member of the family was raped to archive the event and to admonish people to stay away from rape.

The name Áyádé bé ngiá kúshȕ yé (it is difficult to advise an all-knowing person) functions to checkmate unacceptable behaviour. In the local communicative practice of the Bette, this name is used to restrain people from assuming that they are all-knowing. The name emanates from the people’s gerontocratic practice, where decisions are collectively taken; so, anyone who does not listen or adhere to the community’s council is thought to exist at variance with the community’s ethos of oneness. The name Bé keé úshié hé kátél yé (do not expect justice from an enemy) details the name-giver’s response to the injustice he suffered in the past. Kisha, 45 years old, reported that he should have known that one cannot get justice from an enemy. From the name-giver’s account, he was not wise enough to know that his haters would never support him. According to him, he lost the case (land dispute) not because the land was not his but because he failed to advise himself not to seek justice from his haters. These names, thus, depict a metapragmatic correlation between the names and their bearers because the names reflect certain characteristics of the bearers, who are the ‘memory bearers’ of the name-givers’ history.

5.1.2. BPPNs That Are Used to Discourage Ingratitude

Our interactions with research participants revealed how some BPPNs communicate the name-giver’s resentment with other people’s attitude of ingratitude. Name-givers assign these names to their children as covert messages to addressees; these names are presented in

Table 2. BPPNs that resist ingratitude.

S/N	BPPNs	Gloss	Contextual Meaning
1.	Ú shí kpé ibiá (Úkpéibiá)	He did good but got blamed	He is unappreciated despite his good deeds.
2.	Á shí lìfeé ndé itung (Áshílìfeé)	He did slavery and slept hungry	He was not rewarded despite all he did.
3.	Ű shî ké bé zí (Űshî kébé)	He labours for others to eat	He is unrewarded in spite of his duty and diligence.
4.	Ú nàm ké bé zí	He farms for them to eat	The farmer (provider) goes hungry.
5.	Ú bén á ndó ipéh, á shí átuó á ngyór likór (Úbén)	Blame has made praise to remain in the grave	Blame has rather come to me in place of appreciation for my good gesture.
6.	Kűkór kúshű kú biá kúndii yí (Akór)	Home stone does not grind yam flour	Relatives do not usually appreciate what they have but believe what others have is better and greater.
7.	Ipéh i hwó bé (Ihwóbé)	Praise passed them	They are ingrates.

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Names in this category depict the people’s abhorrence for ingratitude. For example, Ú shí kpé ibiá (He did good but got blamed) conveys a name-giver’s protest against his sibling’s act of ungratefulness. Amala, 70 years old, narrated that he named his son Ú shí kpé ibiá because of his stepbrother’s unappreciativeness of his kind gesture. In line with the people’s cultural practice, the first son or the eldest male-child of a family immediately assumes the role of a father after the demise of their father. So, in observance of this ethnic tenet, Amala made an effort to play the role of a father by sending his younger brother to school. He was pained that his sibling did not appreciate his effort. Ú shí kpé ibiá is thus an evaluation of his younger brother’s act of ungratefulness.

A confirmation of the fact that names express regrets can be seen in the proverbial name Á shí lìfeé ndé itung (He was not rewarded despite all he did). This name describes the name-giver’s regret for failing to save for the future. Agba, 76 years old, recounted that he named his grandson Á shí lìfeé ndé itung (in the Bette naming system, in the absence of a father, a grandfather, or an uncle can name a child) because he felt abandoned by his siblings’ children he sponsored in school. He regretted not heeding his wife’s advice to save money for himself and his children. His nephews’ and nieces’ failure to reciprocate his kind gesture, coupled with his inability to take care of his needs, gave rise to the name, Á shí lìfeé ndé itung, which literarily translates to ‘I slaved for others/them and now I am hungry’. The name-giver is covertly saying the following: ‘how foolish I was’. As a self-reflective name, the name-giver assesses the ill-treatment mated on him by his siblings’ children. The name-giver’s regret is further amplified in the following lament: ‘Even the one I took a loan to send to the UK has not called me for over ten years now’. This assessment brings about a feeling of regret. Like the name Ú shí kpé ibiá (He did good but got blamed), this name-giver’s regret stemmed from his inability to save for the future and for not noting his wife’s advice. It is instructive to mention that the name-giver’s act of sponsoring his siblings’ children is consistent with the people’s ethical precepts of life as captured in the proverb Ángwú á mb gie osie, u bon abor ukwan ke abe ye itan (He who has climbed to a fruitful tree, should pluck the fruits and throw to those who are down). It means that a family member who is richer (as explicated in the metaphor of a fruitful tree) than others should help in developing others. Within this cultural episteme, children, having grown up, are expected to reciprocate their parents’ or relatives’ kind gestures.

These names’ meanings and values emanate from the Bette people’s traditional concept of morality. Traditionally, the Bette upholds thankfulness as a virtue that must be practised and sustained. Ű shî ké bé zí (He is unrewarded in spite of his duty and diligence) expresses a name-giver’s resentment of his children’s unappreciativeness as demonstrated in their refusal to pay their step-siblings’ school fees. His children’s behaviour is antithetical to the people’s culture of oneness. When he had his second son from his second wife, the name that readily came to him was Ú shí ké bé zí. The name says ‘I have worked for you and now you are eating’. Similarly, Ű nàm ké bé zí (The farmer/provider goes hungry) can be used to articulate a name-giver’s displeasure with another person’s act of ungratefulness. Ubenye, a 54-year-old participant, named his son Ű nàm ké bé zí to respond to his first wife’s behaviour, who refused to give him food despite the fact that he was the provider. The name originated from the Bette traditional culture, where it is a man’s responsibility to provide for his family. In this cultural context, a man who fails to provide for his family is thought to be effeminate. Similarly, it is the woman’s role to cook for the family. However, the woman failed in this regard, as she did not cook for her husband. The woman’s act of ingratitude is indexed in the name Ű nàm ké bé zí, meaning that he ‘farms’ for his wife to eat while he goes hungry. A variant of this name is Ipéh i hwó be; it translates roughly as ‘praise has passed/overpowered them’. The name is a covert message to people who remain ungrateful despite one’s kindness (Awafung, 66 years old).

Also, Ú bén á ndó ipéh, á shí átuó á ngyór likór (Blame has rather come to me in place of appreciation for good gesture) is used to resist ingratitude. The name explains the people’s abhorrence for one’s failure to appreciate another person. The word likor, meaning unrewarded, captures the entire meaning of the proverbial name and registers the people’s disapproval of behavioural patterns that signal ingratitude. In line with the ethnopragmatic model, this name, like other BPPNs, underscores the Bette dislike for ingratitude. Kűkór kúshű kú biá kúndii yí (Relatives do not usually appreciate what they have but believe what others have is better and greater) is like the saying ‘the grass is greener yonder’. In those days, every compound had a grinding stone for kúndii (yam flour). However, people generally preferred taking their dried yam to their neighbour’s compounds on the ground that the one in their compound was not good enough. The name means that other members of the family hardly appreciate a relative’s pieces of advice.

5.1.3. BPPNs That Uphold Peaceful Coexistence

Certain BPPNs reflect the people’s culture of peaceful coexistence. These names are reflective of the name-giver’s perspective on life. Also, these names, presented in

Table 3. BPPNs that promote peaceful coexistence.

S/N	BPPNs	Gloss	Contextual Meaning
1.	Á buú ndór ábé itàn (Ábuú)	He left the land for them	He left the land for peace to reign.
2.	Bé kwú puú ki ngbéb hwò ápébádén (Békwúpuú)	Staying together is better than scattering	We are better off staying in peace than in trouble.
3.	Ikwún i blé línaá (Ikwún)	Peace has turned to trouble	For peace’s sake, people should be mindful of what they do.
4.	Űnìm ná ú ná ùshé (Űnìmná)	It is God who judges	Surrender all to God, the ultimate judge.
5.	Kíbáng bé tél hé (Atélhé)	Why do they hate him?	There is no point hating anyone.

below, typify the importance of familial bonds.

Peaceful coexistence is a central ideology of the Bette, and they do everything humanly possible to nurture and preserve it. An elderly participant (about 104 years old, the oldest man in the community at the time this research was conducted) told these researchers that he named his son Á buú ndór ábé itàn (He left the land for the sake of peace) to record his migration from the compound he had resided with his brothers to where he was presently residing only to ensure that peace reigns between his brothers and himself. He was the first to leave his extended family compound. When he moved down and occupied a large expanse of land, he encouraged his two younger brothers to join him. Years later, one of the brothers started making trouble, so he left the compound for another place despite being the founder of the new space. The name, therefore, bears the name-giver’s memory as well as his desire for peace. The Bette proverb Ukwuó á swàn linaá, á kúng ánúng féh hé témm (For rejecting trouble/fight, the fowl decided to place its kneels behind its legs) epitomises the people’s deliberate effort to avoid trouble. This proverb derives its meaning from the people’s wrestling culture, where the knee is a core component of strength/power. A skilful wrestler can tactically place his knee to the ground and easily floor his opponent. The participant’s second son’s name, Bé kwú puú ki ngbéb hwò ápébálé (We are better off staying in peace than in trouble), is a furtherance of the people’s ideology of peaceful coexistence. This name advocates in-group maintenance. The name, which is also a response to his brother’s behaviour, characterises the name-giver’s philosophy, as well as the Bette sociocultural script that it is better for people to live together than to be alone.

Ikwún i blé línaá (Peace has turned trouble) also defines the people’s quest for peaceful coexistence. Within the people’s ethnic culture, the name, often shortened as Ikwún (peace), illuminates the unpredictability in human relationships such that a sudden twist in the affairs of persons, a sort of spark in relationships, can turn cordiality into hostility. The people generally use the name as a sort of advice or warning that people must be careful not to take the other for granted, for out of dearest of friends could come trouble. It advocates mindfulness and mutual respect for one another. A name-bearer explained that his father named him Ikwun because his father advised his younger brother to marry another woman since the first could not have children. When the second wife came and began to have children, she became very troublesome, and the name-bearer’s uncle blamed his elder brother for encouraging him to marry another woman. The name-bearer’s father’s piece of advice stemmed from the premium the Bette place on children. For the people, to be considered a ‘man’, one must have children. Contextually, the name expresses how the name-giver’s act of kindness resulted in creating bitterness between brothers who had lived peacefully. Embedded in the name is the idea that for peace, which the people value, to reign, individuals must be mindful of their actions. These names constitute hidden meanings—the essence of life, for the people, is when people coexist peacefully with one another.

5.1.4. BPPNs That Are Used to Construct Courage

The Bette extol valour and construct ‘manliness’ as synonymous with strength and toughness. Often, this cultural script of manliness is reflected in the way they name their male children, as exemplified in

Table 4. BPNs that articulate courage.

S/N	BPPNs	Gloss	Contextual Meaning
1.	Úshú ú ndé ná bé kàm Úshúndé)	Home is difficult to prepare	It takes courage to manage one’s home/family.
2.	Bétté bé wá úfúng (Awá úfúng)	Bette are excited	The Bette are daring.
3.	Kí shí fé undi kí weé abwò yé (Kíshíféundi)	What happened to you should not discourage you	Life is generally characterised by challenges.
3.	Ú keé úgáh ú ké lé lizí (Ú gáh)	He who looks for guests should also look for what they will eat	It takes a strong man to feed his guests without complaining.
4.	Áyáng ú yiá űkòng (Áyángúyiá)	Who is there to talk?	Let them do or say to us/me as they please.
5.	Bé ndé kípí bé kóng, kishéll úgűgáh kítòr űhwé yé (Béndékípíbékóng)	They have seen where to talk	They think I am weak.

below.

The ethnopragmatic significance of valour, as extolled by the Bette, is articulated in the name Áyáng ú yiá űkòng. A sort of rhetorical question, the name implies the following: Let them do or say to us/me as they please, for their question is, who is there in that compound or family to question what we do or say to them? When read out of the context that circumstantiated the name, it will appear as a form of surrender or weakness on the part of the name-giver. However, a situationalised reading of the name indicates how one of our research participants deployed the name to caution his neighbours. They were fond of making demeaning comments about his family. So, he used the name to covertly say that his family is not as weak as the detractors think. The name offers insightful looks into the people’s naming practice: the people employ names to make fundamental statements about their existence. Closely related to the above name is Bé ndé kípí bé kóng, kishéll úgűgáh kítòr űhwé yé. Another participant mentioned that he named his son Bé ndé kípí bé kóng, kishéll úgűgáh kítòr űhwé yé, which roughly translates to ‘They have found the soft target about which everyone talks ill of’, to intimate his neighbours that he is not as easy as they think. This name can also be interpreted as ‘this is the pepper without the hotness of pepper, so they devour it anyhow’ (with their mouths/tongues). Contextually, the name-giver employed the name to simultaneously threaten and advise his detractors to rethink before they continue their bé kóng (talk/gossip). This suggests that the detractors should anticipate the seriousness of their unfavourable talks against him and his family. This name is born out of the honour a man derives in upholding the integrity of his family. According to the people’s cultural norm, it is unethical to think of another as a weakling.

One of our participants explained that the name Bétté bé wá úfúng (the Bette people are daring) dignifies the warrior identity of the Bette people, who are always full of anxiety as to the next step/s to take in order to outsmart their enemies. Specifically, the Bette man is always prepared for any eventuality. If a father names his son Bétté bé wá úfúng, he is evoking the name’s owner’s toughness. In most instances, such children grow into their names and become tough. For the people, toughness is a symbol of respect and acceptance, a reputable quality of a ‘man’; it defines how the man is socially accepted by his peers, other men, and even by women. Similarly, toughness is evoked in the name Úshú ú ndé ná bé kàm (It takes courage to manage a home). This name helps to spur the bearer to be resilient and to inform him that it is a manly quality to be in full control of his home. The name is meant to call the attention of the bearer to the difficulty involved in raising a family. A participant explained how difficult it can be to be in charge of a home and bring up responsible children. In line with the cultural values of the people, if a man’s children are not well-behaved, the man is considered to be a failure. Another name that eulogises valour is Ú keé úgáh ú ké lé lizí (It takes a strong man to feed his guests without complaining). This name, apart from amplifying bravery, enacts the people’s food culture and encourages the man to always provide food in abundance to whoever visits. So, to show that one is a ‘man’, he occasionally invites people to a feast where food and drinks are provided in abundance. When a man names his son Ú keé úgáh ú ké lé lizí, not only does he announce his generosity but also his wealth. For the Bette, one’s wealth is measured against the number of people one has, and it is an instinct of masculinity.

Ki shí fé undi kí wéh abwó yé (Life is generally characterised by challenges, so be courageous) is among the names that define the people’s celebration of courage. A name-giver (Unimke, 77 years old) told these researchers that in 1985, when General Mohammadu Buhari was overthrown, his yam barn was gutted by fire, all his pigs and goats died within two weeks, and his youngest wife left him. According to him, it was a difficult year, for he lost almost everything. The name emanates from the people’s disposition to life: they must not give up despite the trials they encounter. This means that one must be courageous because life is generally characterised by daunting challenges. Also, the name embodies the idea that it is only a weak person who gives up when they encounter trials. Importantly, the name eulogises the die-hard spirit of the Bette.

5.1.5. Death-Related BPPNs

Death-related BPPNs also perform archival roles in that they account for the worldview and the sociocultural reality of the name-giver (Aboh et al. 2023) and also the people’s disposition towards infant mortality. Some death-related names are represented in

Table 5. Death-related BPPNs.

S/N	BPPNs	Gloss	Contextual Meaning
1.	Undí ű mór há yé	No human misses there	Death is an inevitable end for all.
2.	Únaá ná liwhű lí gwú (Únaálígwú)	I prepared/worked, and death killed	Death is a destroyer of human labour/effort.
3.	Lihwű lí gwú ábé (Lihwű)	Death killed them	Death has been unkind to us.
4.	Lihwű lí tianábé (Lihwű)	Death, leave them	Death, be kind/merciful to us.
5.	Ákpé kwú lihwű (Ákpékwú)	He collects and keeps for death	Death is a snatcher of life.
6.	Lihwű li hwó bé (Lihwű)	Death passed them	They are overpowered by death.

below.

Like other BPPNs examined in this study, death-related BPPNs are circumstantial; they also function as indirect communication tools. A participant narrated that he named his son Undí ű mór há yé (Death is an inevitable end for all), who was born shortly after the demise of his father, to console himself. The name-giver reported that his father was his best friend, and whenever he thinks of the demise of his father, it ‘leaves a hole in my heart’. Undí ű mór há yé, in this context, performs a consolatory role since death is an unavoidable end for every mortal. Illuminating how the meaning of a name can best be understood in its context of use, another participant reported that he named his son Undí ű mór há yé (Death is an inevitable end for all) to remind his neighbours who were happy that he lost his son that everyone will die. The underlying meaning is that death is not reserved for a particular set of people; everyone, including his neighbours, ‘will go there’ (die). Death is metaphorically constructed as a journey that will be embarked upon by everybody.

Other proverbial death-related names express name-givers’ helplessness before death. Únaá ná liwhű lí gwú (Death is a destroyer of human’s labour/effort) depicts a name-giver’s lament over the death of his children, who die each time they become one year old. This participant (Akpika, 46 years old) lamented how he ‘was working’ only for death to kill. Únaá ná liwhű lí gwú, the name of the child who came after the death of four children, details his displeasure with death. When he had another boy, and out of the strong persuasion that he was merely keeping both children for death, he named him Ákpé kwú lihwű (He keeps it for death). He had a third son, who was about 5 years old, and a girl of about 3 years old at the time this interview was conducted. The participant named the third boy Lihwű lí tianábé (Death, be kind/merciful to us) as his empathetic appeal to death to allow his children to survive. The girl child was named Beshî-Unim (God’s mercy). This name symbolises his appreciation of God’s infinite mercy. Importantly, the man’s narrative coupled with the name Beshî-Unim details the people’s ethnoreligious identity; they believe that all the good things they possess come from Unim (God), just as any evil occurrence is thought to be the handiwork of the devil (Bewútàng). This belief system is articulated in the people’s names.

Apart from foregrounding the people’s perception of death, death-related anthroponyms function as death prevention strategies as well as appeal to death to be kind to the sufferer. Lihwu li gwube (Death has killed them/us) and Liwhú li hwó bé (Death overcame/overpowered them/us) show humans’ powerlessness before death and death as a powerful force that acts and directs the sequence of human events. One of the research participants bemoaned, ‘death dealt with me’. He recounted how his son died just a few days after he was offered admission to university. These names demonstrate how Bette naming practices interweave with their understanding of their social universe. Scholars have argued that death-prevention names are assigned to male children for two interwoven reasons. First, to deceive children’s underworld parents that such children were worthless and were not desired by their earthly parents (Mensah 2015; Akung and Abang 2019). Second, death-prevention names were given to male children because the mortality rate was higher with male children than female children. Also, the male-child is more valued than the girl child in some African cultural contexts (Aboh 2018). This naming practice highlights how naming can be orchestrated to construct gender identity (Mensah 2023a; Aboh et al. 2024). These conclusions are arrived at by contextualising the ethnocultural meanings embedded in the Bette people’s onomastic capital that constructs the boy child as superior to the girl child.

5.2. Female BPPNs

In the Bette society, as is with some African societies, personal names can be deployed to construct gender identity. Gendering through naming manifests where particular sets of names are assigned to female children while others are preserved for male children. Mensah explains how names can be explored to exercise agency and to express gendered biases (Mensah 2023b, p. 44). This perspective is further pursued in this section of this study; there is evidence of how BPPNs are deployed to construct gendered subjectivities by name-givers, as illustrated in

Table 6. Female BPPNs.

S/N	BPPNs	Gloss	Contextual Meaning
1.	Bé kóng gim kùhwó (Kóngim)	Let them talk and remember tomorrow	Be mindful of what you say.
2.	Áshi bé bóng yé (Ábóngyé)	I do, but they do not agree	I am unappreciated despite all I do.
3.	Bé zá kűnùng úngyé yé (Kűnùng)	They do not eat a wife’s beauty	Good character is better than beauty.

below.

Bé kóng gim kùhwó (Be mindful of what you say) is a variant of the male name, Bé kòng téng ndór (Be mindful of what you say/how you talk). According to Akpanke, 56 years old, he named his daughter Bé kóng gim kùhwó as a message to his wife, who talks carelessly. Contextually, the name speaks indirectly, though polemically, to Akpanke’s wife, who is thought to be talking without restraint. Beyond its illocutionary act of admonition, Bé kóng gim kùhwó reminds the woman of her powerlessness both in her marriage and in the entire community she exits. The name is embedded with the culture of silence; in the Bette society, women are restrained from expressing themselves. The woman is often told to count her words, and it is an example of structured hegemony. In most instances, women are reminded that their stay in their marriages is predicated upon their ‘good behaviour’. Áténdór, an 86-year-old man, furthered this patriarchal ideology by noting that Bé kóng gim kùhwó can be assigned to a female child whose mother has a history of ‘talking like farting buttocks’, meaning that the woman talks without constraint. This name exemplifies how names can be used to reflect a wife’s negative character traits. According to Áténdór, the woman is expected to be well-behaved and talk less. Not only does Áténdór’s linguistic choices offer insights into how names can be positioned to silence the woman, but it also indicates how names can be calibrated to sustain gender-linked behaviour, where ‘good behaviour’, especially for women, is a precondition for her to enjoy her marriage.

Similarly, Áshi bé bóng yé (I am unappreciated despite all I do) is used to express a husband’s displeasure with his wife’s attitude of unappreciativeness. Akpanke, mentioned earlier, recounted that women are ingrates and are always complaining about everything. Akpanke explained that he named his daughter Áshi bé bóng yé because of his wife’s attitude of thanklessness. In line with Bette cultural practices, Áshi bé bóng yé provides the name-giver with broad cultural spectra for the expression of resistance to and discontent with a wife’s supposedly rude character.

An intriguing angle, perhaps, about these female BPPNs is that they represent the power tussle in marriages. In the Bette onomastic tradition, a woman does not name her child; her husband or a male relative does. However, a woman can name her child either Bé kóng gim úhwó or Áshi bé bóng yé to register her resentment of her husband’s negative behaviour. Yet, such names remain ‘home names’. That is, they are not officially recognised; they are only used by the woman, the name-giver. In most polemical homes where the man is aware that the name is directed at him, he does not identify the child by the name. The husband’s refusal to identify the child by the name entrenches male dominance. Thus, the name given by a woman is immaterial. As the girl child enrols in school and engages in other official activities, she is registered by the name given to her by her father. This naming practice defines the polemic nature of onomastic messages (Batoma 2009, p. 223). In such a context, the child becomes the conveyor of the message emplaced in the name.

Another name that accounts for the interconnectedness between gender(ing) and nam(ing) practice is Bé zá kűnùng úngyé yé. Roughly translated as ‘they do not eat the beauty of a wife’, it means that good character is better than beauty. According to Ukah, an 88-year-old male participant, character is cardinal to humans’ survival and existence, and if a woman does not have good character, her beauty does not make any difference. The name-giver explained how he divorced a beautiful wife ‘whose mother did not train her well’. When he remarried and had a daughter, he named her Bé zá kűnùng úngyé yé to register how his former wife’s bad character was the reason he divorced her. Importantly, the name indirectly advises the girl’s mother to be of good behaviour, for good character is better than beauty. We see how the man’s naming intersects with gender identity construction and how the culture of the people is crystalised in their naming practice. These names underscore existing Bette patriarchal ideologies where men are considered to be different from and superior to women based on gendered roles. The names accentuate the fundamentally unequal power relation between men and women, sustain inequality and highlight the devaluation of women in the Bette ethnolinguistic context.

6. Discussion and Conclusions

Adopting ethnopragmatics as our study’s theoretical model enabled us to appreciate the dynamic interplay between culture and naming practices among the Bette. Ethnopragmatics advances the exploration of language within its ethnic context. The adoption of ethnopragmatics enabled an understanding of the symbolic relation between proverbs and names and also highlighted how Bette people use names to interact with and depict their cultural practices and ethnic identity. This suggests that to interpret these names outside the context that gave rise to them is to gloss over the ethnocultural consciousness of the people and how the names are, in themselves, reflections of the people’s philosophy of life. Also, these names illustrate how name-givers negotiate shared ethnic knowledge with other members of their community. The analysis undertaken in this study confirms what has been explored by other studies on African names—indigenous African names are linguistic tools that preserve collective memory, social stability, community values, and common knowledge and entrench gender dichotomy (Madu and Sone 2022).

It can be argued that BPPNs are a kind of language that can be regarded as food for thoughts; they tell a lot about the ways of life, the experiences and the mentality of the people (Anisa et al. 2024). BPPNs perform functions that include social control, sustaining the people’s cravings for valour and courage, encouraging peaceful coexistence, and resisting ingratitude, and doing gender. Since Bette names are speech acts, they detail the name-giver’s responses to prevailing circumstances, as well as moments of historical significance. Embedded in this thinking is the construction that BPPNs are sites of self-expression, memory, and sociality. In this regard, an individual’s name is a virtual dairy that explicates who the person is in the scheme of life as well as the community. A name is thus a living diary of its bearer (Abdallah 2020).

BPPNs are deployed to encourage both the name-giver and the name-bearer, underscoring the people’s traditional ideology of bravery, toughness, and valour; these are habitually distinguished as qualities of masculinity. In the Bette cultural thoughts, the man’s gallantry is celebrated, and signs of weakness are abhorred and discouraged right from the early days of the child’s life. The boy child is exposed to diverse forms of toughness, and he is expected to grow into a man who is capable of dealing with tough situations. This ideology is reinforced in their naming practices. Names with underlying meanings of strength and toughness are a part of the Bette misogynistic agenda, in that the male child is expected not only to grow into a strong man, but he also has to be mentally and physically tough.

BPPNs that represent the people’s desire for peaceful coexistence and those that are calibrated to resist ingratitude accentuate local relevant values that underscore conformity to societal norms, establish bonding, extend social relationships, and strengthen the feeling of identity within their local and trans-local space (Mensah 2017). Some BPPNs make reference to past events. Michealian and Sutton (2017) describe this kind of reference to past events as ‘retrieved memories’. Such names are discursive techniques that bind the named, the name-giver, and the entire community to a history. Death-related BPPNs express the people’s anguish over death and also how they find solace in the fact that death is a necessary end.

Our data also indicate that out of the numerous BPPNs reserved for male children, only three are assigned to the girl child. Apart from depicting the Bette society as a deeply patriarchal society, this imbalance, that is, the number of proverbial names assigned to female children, posed a serious challenge to us, the researchers. It made it difficult for us to gain insights into the role of the woman in the upbringing of the child. Besides, considering the unbalanced relationship between men and women, it was difficult for us to interact with women, especially married ones, in the presence of their husbands. Future research may employ a way of investigating why there are few proverbial names assigned to female children. We discovered that women do not name their children; if they do, the names remain ‘home names’: names that are not recognised officially. Because the Bette naming practices recognise only the name given to a child by the father, grandfather, or a male relative, the society only identifies the child by the name given by the man. Encapsulated in this naming system is the idea that the child belongs to the man, not the woman. Even in divorce, the woman leaves the children with the man. So, the name given by the woman is, as noted earlier, a home name. Home, in this context, connotes the private sphere of patriarchal hierarchy and gendered self-identity. In this gendered construction, the notion of home is constructed on the basis of selected inclusions and exclusions (George 1996). The male child is included in the ‘home’, and the female child exists at the fringes of the ‘home’. Despite being constructed as ‘the outsider-insider’, women attempt, we suppose, to resist this patriarchal order through the agency of naming their children. However, this effort keeps them still at the margins of their society since the names they assign to their children remain ‘home names’. To further the Bette men’s misogynistic agenda, where the mother of a child is unmarried, her father or uncle or any close male relative names the child. That the surname of the child must be that of the father, not the mother, is a further entrenchment of patriarchy. This maintains the fundamental distinctions between men and women, revealing how these distinctions are crystalised and rooted in patriarchy. This gendering of names becomes an issue of ‘they versus us’ (van Dijk 1998), reflecting the unequal power relation between men and women. As we conclude this study, certain questions pertinent to understanding the link between gender(ing) and nam(ing) in the Bette ethnocultural context need further interrogation: why do women, knowing that naming a child is the sole responsibility of the man, still name their children? Does the naming of the child, even when the name remains unrecognised by the society, enable the woman to exercise agency, that is, to dominate the home space? These questions, since they are beyond the scope of this study, provide new avenues for further anthropological inquiry into the juncture between naming and gendering and how they intersect and enhance understanding of the concept of home even belonging in the Bette anthroponomic tradition.

In conclusion, this article contributes to an understanding of the role and significance of BPPNs within the framework of ethnopragmatics. BPPNs, as part of African anthroponomic tradition, are rich resources, showcasing significant illuminations into the lived experiences of the people. These names can only be interpreted by competent Bette speakers who are knowledgeable in the Bette onomastic culture because the names reflect the belief systems, thoughts, and philosophy of the people. This presupposes that the linguistic repertoire of these names is inadequate in accounting for the interconnectedness between language and identity (re)construction and the significations hidden in the names. Thus, we extended the analysis of these names beyond their linguistic stock and placed them against the significant ethnolinguistic context that backgrounded their assignment and use.