Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online) Vol.6, No.12, 2016 95 Dynamics of Onomastics in Afikpo Igbo Society Ngozi U. Emeka-Nwobia Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, Ebonyi State University Abakaliki - Nigeria Abstract Afikpo is one of the societies in Igbo land with unique names and naming conventions, which predisposes a child to have had a name before he is born. Naming systems reflect the complicated systems of ascribing identities based on certain cultures, conventions and worldviews of the people. The paper examines the totality of Afikpo names from traditional to contemporary trends. It explores the naming convention of Afikpo Igbo, the similarities and differences with other Igbo cultural areas, and the present trend in the face of globalization and urbanization. It critically examines the namesake ‘ogbo’ phenomenon in Ehugbo cultural area. This discussion on names, meaning and convention in traditional Afikpo society reveal that names are not mere appellation or tag but intrinsically tied to primogenitors (progenitor / antecedents). Due to the influence of religion, westernization and urbanization people now bear or give additional names to reflect their religious leaning, philosophical or ideological view, and to display their knowledge and contact with the western culture. Keywords: Onomastics, Anthroponyms, Personal names, Afikpo Igbo 1. Introduction The history, philosophy, and ideology of the Igbo people are encapsulated in the name they bear. Name is as important as a people’s history and Igbo people take pride in their culture and ancestry. Child naming is one of the most important rites of passage in most societies in Africa and across the world. Personal names in indigenous African societies are laden with meaning and may well identify the socio-cultural, political, professional and religious background of the person bearing the name and the person giving the name. Names are not just arbitrary labels but are socio-cultural tags that function as communicative tools. They carry a variety of semantic, pragmatic and socio-cultural information, and mete out the ethos of the people. Personal names are not just empty labels but are associated with certain interpretations that parents, the extended family and society at large give. The literature is replete on the study of names, and most of these work have studied personal people (anthroponyms), places names (toponyms ), domestic animals, ethnic and religious groups (ethnonyms) and beer halls (Makondo 2011) etc. Anthroponym is a branch of onomastics that deals with the study of personal names including their forms and uses. A name identifies, specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individual. It is a word (s) by which an entity is identified, designated and distinguished form others. (Agyekum K. (2006). According to Ubahakwe (1982:27) “an indigenous African name on the whole personifies the individual, tells some story about the parents and/or the family of the bearer; and in a more general sense, points to the values of the society into which the individual is born.” This aligns with Mphande (2006:109) opinion that African names as “statements about religion and beliefs of the speakers and their relationship with the supernatural.” They function as mini-narratives about the past or future (Duranti, 1997:19).Based on the available literature, a number of studies have been conducted on Igbo anthroponyms. Such works include Ubahakwe’s (1981) study of the structure and meanings of Igbo names. His subsequent study (1982) is on the culture content of Igbo personal names. Also, Onukawa (1998) conducted an anthropolinguistic study of the Igbo market-day names. He further worked on the significance of the verb kwe (agree, consent) in Igbo names (Onukawa, 1999(a)) and the anthropolinguistic evidence of chi names in Igbo (Onukawa, 1999(b)). Maxwell Kadenge, Patricia Ruramisai Mabugu, Ester Chivero, Rejoice Chiwara (2014) delved further to focus on the naming of albinos in African societies. They argue that derisive personal names of albinos are best understood in the socio-cultural and religious context of the society in which they are born. . 2. The Afikpo-Igbo People The Afikpo-Igbo is a group of people that cover an area of sixty four square mile on and near the west bank of the Cross River about ninety miles north of the Atlantic coast in a transitional region between tropical rain forest and savannah. It is a hilly region, with sand stone ridges. The altitude is about five hundred feet above sea level (Forde and Jones (1950:51-56). Afikpo consists of twenty two villages bound together by a common speech form, government, numerous social, ritual and economic trees. The Afikpo are classified as belonging to waawa Igbo (Ikekeonwu 1986) .The twenty two villages are grouped into five subdivisions or communities: Ozizza, Mkpogoro, Ugwuegu, Ohaisu and Itim. Linguistically, Afikpo is a cultural Igbo group of the Kwa subfamily of the Niger Congo family. The variety is similar to other