Ga Naming patten
As soon as a child is born, the husband and his family are
at once informed, so that they may go and congratulate both
the mother and the newcomer. The husband then sends a
present to all who have assisted at the birth. The present
frequently consists of rum, and therefore called "Defomo dan,"
the hand washing rum. The husband then sends one of his
cloths for use as a pillow for the child. This is absolutely
necessary, as it is the first actual sign of recognition by
him that the child is his.
On the eighth day, a week after birth, according to the
native calculation, the child is taken out and publicly
presented to families of both the father and mother, as well
as to friends at the father’s or grandfather’s house, if
they live in separate houses. The mother’s and father’s
families meet together at the paternal grandfather’s house
or the father’s house in the morning between 2 and 4; they
take to the meeting corn, wine and other drinks.
A person of good character and reputation in either of the
two families, or outside of them, is next asked to take the
child in his arms, hold it up and bring it down three times
gently on the floor, sprinkle water on it three times, and
then the father’s family name the child with one of their
family names.
Next the owner, or the eldest person in the house or quarter
where the ceremony is being performed, will say the
following prayer for blessing on the child:
Tsua Tsua Tsua manye aba. Tsua Tsua Tsua manye aba. Tsu-a
Tsu-a Tsu-a manye aba, Osoro (Osu) Ahatiri, Obu Ahatiri,
Oboro dutu wokpe, Wodsebu wodse nu, Wo ye wo nu wo kodsii
adso wo, Gboni bale etse yi ana wala, Enye yi ana wala, Esee
tuu, Ehee fann, Eyi aba gbodsen, Ese aba halaann, Wekumei
wona faa ni wo fa le, Eba tsu eha wo ni woye, Eko atasi ni
eko aba, Ganyo humile koyo tsua dani owieo, Tsua Tsua Tsua
manye aba,"
To which the others answer "Yao!" A free translation into
English of the above would be:
Oyez! may the Gods pour their blessing upon us! Oyez! may
the Gods pour their blessing upon us! Oyez! may the Gods
pour their blessing upon us!
A child has been born (presented); we have formed a circle
round to view it.
Whenever we dig may it become a well full of water: and when
we drink out of the means of health and strength to us!
May the parents of this child live long!
May it never look at the place whence it came!
May it be pleased always to dwell with us!
May it have respect for the aged!
May it be obedient to elders, and do what is right and
proper.
May many more follow, full of grace and honour!
May the families always be in a position to pay respect and
regard to this child, and out of his earnings may we have
something to live upon!
May it live long and others come and meet it!
As a Ga person does not speak at random, so may this child
be careful of his words and speech, and speak the truth so
that he may not get into trouble and palavers!
Oyez! may the Gods pour their blessing upon us!"
To which the others say "Amen!"
This ceremony is called "kpodsiemo" and is made up of three
words meaning in English Annunciation, Proclamation, and
naming. Some people compare the word with "Baptism."
Whatever the meaning, there can be little doubt but that the
form of ceremony seems similar to the Jewish one.
The Name.
This is the most important thing among the Gas, much more
important, even, than their tribal facial cut, which is of
comparatively recent origin.
Just as it is possible for an instructed person to pick out
a Ga man from among thousands of other people of a different
tribe, so he can also distinguish from among most of the Ga
people to which family he belongs as soon as he hears the
name of that person.
In old days a Ga man would die for his family name; and,
just as it is considered an insult, not only to the person
to whom the affront is offered, but also to the family to
which he belongs, to serve him with a summons personally, so
it is considered and unpardonable defamation to call a man
or a woman by a name other than the one which was given to
him or her on the eighth day after his or her birth in the
presence of the families of both of his or her parents.
Further, in former days a Ga man asked for nothing more than
to die fighting in the midst of his family, under the family
banner, with the family war song ringing in his ears, or in
the time of peace to die in the midst of his family, and be
laid to rest under the ground in the family house.
It is this enchantment in the family name that makes every
man go to war taking for his party the father’s side; in a
word, he does all he can to enhance the fame and the good
name of his family.
It is only the present generation that has forgotten the
house that bore and bred their forefathers, a generation
that apes that which is foreign to its creation, nationless
descendants of the generation that witnessed heroic acts and
deeds, that look down on what is intended for them by
nature, abashed, disgraced, and defamed to own the name into
which they were born, considering it unbecoming to bear the
honour of their father’s family name, but not ashamed to
assume names coming form a land and people as foreign as it
was unknown to his early imagination, and knowing not what
the meaning or purport of that name may be these are the men
who weaken the very roots of all attempt to live a national
life suited to the country of their birth; without ambition,
they look forward to being what they will never be, and,
being without faith in the strength of indigenous things
truly their own, they look for help and support from that
which is entirely extraneous and exogamous.
It appears that in other tribes there is always a difficulty
in naming a child; therefore children are mostly called
after the day on which they were born. But there is no such
difficulty experienced among the members of the Ga tribes
because, in most cases, if not in all, children are born
into their names, i.e., before a child is born, it is known
what name it will bear, irrespective of the day on which it
is born they have their names according to the order of
their birth.
It may be mentioned that in case a husband in either line
has more than one wife, the issue of each wife has to be
named the same order in the particular line and number.
There are generally two sets of names: the senior or first
set, i.e., the fathers; and the junior or second set, i.e.,
the children. The fathers give the names in the second set
to their children, and the children give the names in the
first set to their own children. It means that the customary
law lays it down that children are bound to give to their
own children the names which their fathers, uncles and aunts
bear or have borne.
Among the Ga tribes one or two of the following are given to
children, viz.: Tribal names. Family names. Day names.
Fetish names. Kra names. Nicknames. The following are the
names in general use among the hole of the Ga tribes, viz.:
Ayite (Male), e.g., Ga Nyo Ayite. Ayele (Female), e.g., Ga
Nyo Ayele. Dede do. Korkor do. Tette (male). Ayi do.
Family Names.
It is evident that a country like that occupied by the Ga
tribes must necessarily contain a population made up of
heterogeneous groups containing two or more families with
distinctive names and customs peculiar to each of them,
besides the general custom of the mass over which a Mantse
rules or the unity of masses over which the paramount head
called the Ga Mantse reigns.
Apart from any fame or importance which any particular
family might have attained subsequently in politics or
otherwise by individual exertions on the part of a member or
by a whole family, the fact remains that these family names
have in their origin a meaning attached to each of them, and
also that they are arranged like a chain in make and female
lines.
It is quite true that many of the family names have lost
their original meaning, yet some of them can be traced even
now. In this matter of the family names it is considered
expedient to take Accra, the principal town of the Ga people
and the seat of the Ga native government, which also has
become the seat of the English government since the
seventies, wherein the following family names exist, with
all historic peculiarities attached hereto:
I. Ankrahs.
The family name of the Ankrahs of Otublohum of Otoo Street,
Dutch Accra.This is not the original name belonging to this
family. The seat of the family is in the stool of the Gbese
Quarter of Dutch Accra, and the head of the famil is known
by the name of Ayi; but a member of that family was
nicknamed "Wankara," abbreviated to "Ankra," a Twi word,
which means "He never bids good-bye" or "He never gives
anyone notice when leaving or going away."
Others also allege that a member of that family became so
rich that he kept hotels at Accra for the white people who
dealt in the iniquitous slave trade, and that when these
white men were coming to Accra thy said, "We are going to
Ankra" i.e., Accra, and lodged in his hotel, hence the name.
The family names of this family by a wife with a husband in
either line are:
First line,
Male. Second line,
Female. First line,
Male. Second line,
Female. (i) Ayi or Ankrah. Ayite. Okaile. Ayikaile.
The other names are the same as those of the Gbese Stool
family names given below. There are more of the names
belonging to each line, but thy are invariable taken from
other branches of the family and therefore need not be given
here.
The Ayi family, now known as the Ankrah family, in connected
with family that has the charge and right of occupation to
the Gbese Stool as Mantsemei or political representatives of
the Gbese people.
It may be mentioned that the occupant of the Gbese Stool at
present is called Ayi Bonte, Ayi being his proper family
name and Bonte a nickname. There are other families in the
Otublohum quarter of Accra which are Gas and not Skwamu, but
it appears there is some difficulty in following the line of
their names after the first two or three births, and
generally only the first four names can be given with
precision.
II. The Ama Family Names
This is a place or family in the Asere quarter of Dutch
Accra called or known by the name of Amatsewe, and the
people living there, or the members of this family, are
called Amatsewebii. The head or principal man among this
family of people is the Jase-Asafoatse, or the captain of
the bodyguard, of the Asere Mantse, and every male child of
this family is a member of the bodyguard of the holder of
the Asere Stool. It appears there is a family connection
between this family and that of the Kpakpatsewe people and
through that family to that of the Damtedsanwe people or
family.
Certainly there can be no doubt but that the Amatsewe and
the Kpakpatsewe peoples are smiths by trade originally; the
amatsewe family being gold- and silver- and copper- smiths
and the Kpakpatsewe peoples blacksmiths. Whether these two
failies were related previous to their arrival at Accra it
is not easy to say in this twentieth century.
This family has attained to great influence and reputation
among the Gas, not only because the members thereof are
gold-, silver-, and copper-smith, as well as being the
bodyguard for the occupant of the Asere Stool, but also by
the personal exertions of individual members of the family
both politically and in their private business undertakings.
Whether the family brought with them the craft of gold-,
silver-, and copper-smith from where they came, or whether
they had some knowledge of it and improved upon it when they
came into contact with Europeans on the Gold Coast, or
whether thy only learnt their craft from Europeans after
their arrival here and coming in contact with them, is a
matter for another article.
The family name for this people starts by each wife to each
man in either line with Armah or Ama for the first male line
and Amale for the first female line, e.g.:
Male. First Line. Second Line. 1. Ama. 1. Amate. 2. Amakai.
2. Amatei. 3. Amalai. 3. Amakwei 4. Amakwei. 4. Amalei. 5.
Boi. 5. Laryea.
After these names others are borrowed from other families or
fetishes to give to male children that may follow in either
line.
After these names others are borrowed from other families or
fetishes to give to female children that may follow in
either line; they then run on through the grades like any
other family name. This family is described in the article
on "The Native Tribunals of the Akras." The customary ideas
of this family are not unlike those of the Kpakpatsewe
people, which are opposed to twin births.
III. The Kwate or Kpakpa Family.
There is another family, also in the Asere quarter, known as
the Kpakpatsewe people, which family is also fully described
in the article on "The Native Tribunals of the Akras." How
this family came to be known as Kpakpatsewe instead of
Kwatetsewe or Kwateitsewe is difficult to deal with under
native tradition. The word Kpakpa was not originally the
family mane; according to tradition, it was first given as a
nickname to one of its members.
It is stated that the Kpakpatsewe people, besides being
farmers and blacksmiths, sometimes engage in trade with
other tribes, and that one of them, called Kwate, treated
his customers so well that he was nicknamed by the Twi-speaking
people "Papa," or "Kpakpa." This word "Papa," or "Kpakpa" in
Akan-Twi, means "Good and strong," which came into common
use afterwards and has led to all the members of the family
who are called "Kwate" being known afterwards as "Kpakpa,"
and, like the nickname "Ankrah" in the Ayi family, the
nickname "Kpakpa" also became prominent in this family
instead of the proper family names of Kwate or Kwatei.
It is easy to try in this way to explain away how it is that
in one family there are three distinct first male child
names, when there should be only one or two, as usual. But
if this explanation is correct, how came it about then that
the first of the two principal stools of this family is
called Kpakpa? It appears also that the first male child of
the senior half of this family has been called Kpakpa
previously to the coming of this family from Ayawaso to
Accra with the other Ga tribes.
There must therfore be reasons other than those given to
explainwhy there are three distinctive first male child
names in this family. It may be mentionedthat from "Kpakpa"
sprung "Kpakpafio" or "Papafio," the name of the
Quartey-Papafios, which name should be spelt Kwate-Kpakpafio
instead of the euphonic spelling Quartey-Kpakpafio, as
adopted in these days.
The following are a few of the names of the members of this
family by a wife to a husband in either line.
Male Female First or
Senior Line Second or
Junior Line Senior
Line Junior
Line (1) Kwate or Kpakpa Kwatei Kwalei Oyo (2) Kwate
Kwatelai Kwateokor Kwateokor (3) Kwakwei Kwate-Kwei Kwatekai
Kwatekai (4) Kwaboi Kwate-Boi Kwatecho Kwatecho (5) Laryea
Laryea Kwatefo Oyiofo (6) Afutu Afutu Ashame Ashame
It should also be mentioned that in olden days the Amatsewe
and the Kpakpatsewe peoples use their family names in
common, as is observable form the family names given of the
two families. Not only did they use the family names in
common, but many other things as well; in fact they were in
olden days known as what might be called "Cousins."
IV. The Damte Family
There is another family also in the same quarter as the last
two known as the Damtedsanwe people. This family is also
described in the article on "The Native Tribunals among the
Akras."
This appears to be an important family that occupied
themselves largely in mercantile business. The members of
this family are proverbially known to be acute in finding
money but very careless in keeping it. They are proper
members of the Ga tribe in many respects, and it is in a
house in the "place" where this family lives that the
Elephant and the Palm tree, which form the emblem of the
Gold Coast Colony, was, according to tradition, first known.
This family formerly played a not ignoble part in the
history of the Ga peoples; but the scorn which they now have
for anything native, and their intimacy, love, and devotion
for everything foreign, have greatly weakened their
influence. The Chief, or political head, of this family went
to live at Gbere together with Mantse Okaija; since that
date the Priest of the Damte fetish, which is the fetish for
this family, has become the head and representative of the
family politically.
He it is that regulates the calendar every year for the Gas.
He manipulates it so nicely that the Honowo or Harvest
Custom falls on Saturdays always.
Male Female First Line Second Line First Line Second Line
(1) Odarte Lamptey or Damte Lamile Koshi (2) Odatei Lamtei
Lamiokor Odakor (3) Odakwei Lamkwei Lamikai Odakai (4)
Odalai Lamiaya Lamtsoi Odacho
Here also thy borrow names from other families to add on. As
stated before, the Damtedsanwe people are not only good and
proficient traders, but thy are also not at all behind any
other tribe or people in martial spirit. In fact, so much is
this the case that some of them adopted such nicknames as
follows:
Owusu = Owuolisu, i.e., death is crying: this is the
nickname now belonging to every Odate.
Ajebu = he sizes and breaks: this is also the nickname of
every Odate.
Owusu = Wonwuso, i.e., he boldly speaks his mind and never
dies.
Abolo = the meaning of this varies.
There is another family known by the name of Sackey in
Adansi, a place in the Alata quarter of British Accra. The
founder of his family was an Obutu man, a member of the
aggregate Ga tribes.
There are many other families in the town of Accra, but it
is difficult to discuss them, because the members have lost
touch with their traditions, and at present either refuse or
else are not in a position to give any reliable information
whatever about them; such are the Addys of Atukpai (Otuopai),
the Nunoos of Abola, the Alloteys, Addos and Kpakpos of
Sempe, the Ayikais of Akamaije, the Yaotes of Gbese the
Krotes of Asere, the Abbeys of Asere, the Netteys of Gbese,
the Amoos of Otublohum, the Lalais of Gbese, and others,
many of whom are not strictly Ga.
The Stool Name.
This is the greatest of all names, and designates the
members of family which occupy stools.
The various stools in Accra and their origin are treated in
the article on "The Native Tribunals among the Akras."
The Ga stool _ Nicknamed Takyi. The names of the occupants
of the Ga stool since the eighteenth century are Yaote,
Adama, Obile, and others which are not easy to give in
detail.
The Gbese stool _ Nicknamed Okaija. The names of the Gbese
family stool holders ever since its foundation are:
Males. First Line Second Line (1) Ayi. (1) Ayite. (2)
Ayikwei. (2) Amma. (3) Ayai. (3) Adu. (4) Boi. (4) Okai. (5)
Adama. (6) Ayikai. (7) Teiko. (8) Ankama.
Females. First Line. Second Line (1) Ayikale. (1) Okaile.
(2) Ayikaikor. (2) Okaikor. (3) Ayikaikai. (3) Okaikai. (4)
Ayikaitso. (4) Okaitso. (5) Ayikaifo. (5) Okaifo.
The Abola Stool _ Nicknamed Nunu. The name of the Abola
Stool holder is generally known as Nunoo, followed by Anuum,
words which are not strictly Ga.
The Otublohum Stool _ the name of the Otublohum stool holder
is Amu, followed be Daku and other names, which are strictly
Akwamu in origin.
The Asere Stool _ the name of the Asere stool holder is not
fixed, since the change took place after the fall of the Ga
Mantse in June, 1660, during the Akwamu War, as described in
the article on the "Native Tribunals among the Gas" but the
present names are taken from the two families which supply
occupants for the stool.
The Sempe Stool – Nicknamed Anege. The name of the Sempe
stool holder is generally known as Anege; the other names
are Kpakpo, Akwei, &c.
The Akamai-je Stool – Nicknamed Ayikai. The name of the
Akamai-je stool holder is Ayikai.
The Alata Stool _ the name of the Alata stool holder is now
ganerally Kojo, but this is not a Ga name.
The Ga Akwason Stool _ Nicknamed Kpakpa. The name of the
stool holder of the Kpakpatsewe family is Kwate or Kpakpa,
but the stools themselves are called Kpakpa and Kwatei.
Birthday Names.
There are people who, though Gas, are nevertheless called be
the name of the day of the week on which they were born in
addition to their family names. The seven days of the week
have names attached to them, and by which they are known.
It is stated that these are named after some fetish or other
such ting, and some of them declared holidays on which
certain classes of the people do not carry on their trades
and vocations. The names of the days of the weeks are the
following:
Ga. English. 1. Dsu Monday 2. Dsufo Tuesday 3. So or Shor
Wednesday 4. So Thursday 5. Soha Friday 6. Ho Saturday 7.
Hogba Sunday
It is rather curious that although the Ga language has names
for the seven days of the week, the Gas are said in
reckoning their time, to count eight days to the week, but I
think the real thing is that they cannot count the day on
which the matter happened, but include the day of the same
name following, and when giving birth names they take the
name of the day of the week form the Akan-Twi names of the
days of the week. This may be an indicative reason to show
that the usage of naming people by the name for the days of
the week was by the Gas acquired from the practice of the
Twis. The names of the days of the week according to the
Akan or Twi language, where also eight days make a week, are
the following:
Akan-Twi. English. 1. Dsoda Monday 2. Bla Da Tuesday 3. Kuda
or Okuda Wednesday 4. Yaoda Thursday 5. Fida Friday 6.
Memleda Saturday 7. Kwesida Sunday
It will be seen from the following that the birth day names
are strictly Akan-Twi, or what is commonly called Twi. The
following are the birth day names:
Male Female Born on Monday called Kojo Ajua Tuesday " Kobla,
Kwabina or Kobina Abla Wednesday " Kwaku or Kweku Aku or
Akua Thursday " Yao or Kwao Yawa or Aba Friday "
Information
Total population Approximately 2.0 million Regions with significant populations
Ghana - Greater Accra Region & Eastern Region-, Togo Languages
Ga and Adangme