A Shift in Batonu Personal Naming Practices

Abstract

The contact of the Batonu people with Arab traders and Islamic missionaries back in the 16th century resulted in the Batonu people's embrace o Islam which has brought profound effects on most of the traditional practices of the Batonu people. Before the Batonu people converted to Islam, every Batonu child had been given a Batonu name at birth based on order of birth, gentility, circumstance of birth, parents' occupation, natural phenomena, etc.