Vol. 44 No. 3 (1996)
Research Article

Naming Practices in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

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  • Vivian de Klerk,
  • Barbara Bosch
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/nam.1996.44.3.167

Published 1996-09-01

Copyright (c) 1996 Maney

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

A survey of the naming practices of the three main linguistic groups of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa (Xhosa, Afrikaans and English) showed clear differences among the groups regarding the naming of babies and the namegivers, and also provided evidence of ongoing change and cross-cultural influence among the groups. From these patterns we suggest that in a post-apartheid South Africa, which offers increasing opportunity for interaction across cultures and languages, naming patterns are in a process of change, the directions of which are only beginning to be determined.

'n Ondersoek van die naamgee-praktyke van die drie hooftaalgroepe in, die Oos-Kaap Provinsie van Suid-Afrika (Xhosa, Afrikaans en Engels) het duidelike verskille vir die onderskeie groepe openbaar: die name wat vir babas gekies word en wie die naamgewers is, verskil. Hierdie verskille dui op 'n proses van verandering en inter-kulturele beïnvloeding tussen die groepe onderling. Uit hierdie naamgeepatrone word afgelei dat in postapartheid Suid-Afrika, waar daar toenemende geleenthede vir interaksie tussen tale en kulture bestaan, mlamgeepatrone besig is om te verander. Dit het pas moontlik geword om die rigting van die veranderingsproses te begin vasstel.

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