Bini Names in Nigeria and Georgia

Summary of a lecture delivered at
Central Conecticut State University on April 19, 1995

by Roger Westcott
Professor Emeritus, Drew University
Source: http://www.ccsu.edu/Afstudy/upd2-3.html#Z2

"Bini" is a formerly derogatory name given to the people of Benin City and
the surrounding countryside, reportedly by their more numerous neighbors,
the Yoruba of Ife and Oyo, Nigeria (the Bini call themselves Edo - a term
which scholars now employ more broadly to include closely related ethnic
groups such as the Ishan and the Urhobo).

 

 

Proper names are a human universal. Originally, all names had a transparent
meaning. They were invariably derived from common words or phrases. In
English, for example, the surname Smith is derived from the obsolescent noun
smith, meaning "metal-worker." Each individual had only one name, which was
by definition a forevalue, like Dick or Jane. The practice of giving an
individual several names arose only in complex societies, as a result of
either or both of two developments. One was increasing population, producing
communities in which a number of people received the same name. In Medieval
England, for example, a village in which there were two men named John might
distinguish them by calling the one who ground grain John Miller and the one
who made bread John Baker. The other development was class stratification,
yielding elites who wanted their names to proclaim their superior status. In
Benin, for example, chiefs and kings were awarded, in addition to their

In Nigeria, many Bini names were given not only to people but also to gods,
tribes, rivers, and planets (these are technically known as theonyms,
ethnonyms, toponyms, and astronyms, respectively, in contradistinction to
personal names, technically termed authroponyms). When Bini war-captives
were sold to European slavers, many were transported to the coast islands of
Georgia and South Carolina. There they lost the conversational use of Bini,
learning instead the slightly Africanized English known as Gullah or
Geechee. But they retained their African names, which they used among
themselves, alongside the Christian names of Eurasian origin by which they
were known to whites.
 

Recent commercial development of the Georgia and South Carolina coast by
chains of resort complexes has unfortunately forced many, if not most,
Gullah-speakers out of their island homes. Such distinctively African
linguistic traits as Bini personal names are now rapidly vanishing in North
America.
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Bini Names in Nigeria and Georgia: Summary of a lecture by Roger Westcott in
AfricaUpdate 3/95