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A SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF KONGO ANTHROPONYMS IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
ANALYSE SOCIOLINGUISTIQUE DES ANTHROPONYMES KONGO EN REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO

Remy NSIMAMBOTE ZOLA*
remy.nsimambote@unkin.ac.cd
(+243) 812830728

Abstract

Different typologies of anthroponyms found in some African communities are also identified in the Kongo community of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The social contexts of the Kongo anthroponyms share more similarities than differences in comparison with those of African communities. The Kongo anthroponyms related to good and virtue category such as Lusakumunu (blessings) and Ngolo (power) are identified. The latter are discovered in the Nigerian Igbo community respectively as Ngozi and Ike. The social context related to how the name bearer will be in future is also identified with the Kongo anthroponyms, mainly with Mvuama and Nsimambote (a wealthy person). This social context is also applied by the Ugandan Rukiga community that names a baby Mutungi expecting that it will be a wealthy person.

Key words: anthroponyms, social context, similarities, differences, semantic value.
Received: September 26, 2023
Accepted: December 7, 2023

Résumé

L’analyse sociolinguistique des anthroponymes Kongo révèle que les différentes typologies identifiées par beaucoup de sociolinguistes et anthropologues dans les différentes communautés africaines sont bien présentes dans la communauté Kongo de la République Démocratique du Congo. Les contextes sociaux et champs sémantiques exploités dans cette étude concernant les anthroponymes Kongo, comparativement avec ceux d’autres communautés africaines, exhibent plus de similitudes que de différences. Les anthroponymes Kongo relatif à la catégorie de la vertu et du bien, notamment Lusakumunu (la bénédiction)) et Ngolo (le pouvoir) ont des équivalences sémantiques et socio-contextes similaires aux anthroponymes Igbo du Nigeria, notamment Ngozi et Ike qui signifient respectivement (la bénédiction) et (le pouvoir). Curieusement, le contexte social de l’anthroponyme illustrant les parents qui projettent le bonheur à leur futur enfant est décelé chez les Bakongo avec les anthroponymes Mvuama (riche) et Nsimambote (le pays de bonheur). Ces derniers partagent (la richesse) comme champ sémantique. La communauté Rukiga de l’Uganda utilise l’anthroponyme Mutungi avec le même contexte social qui projette un meilleur avenir au nouveau-né.

Mots clés : anthroponymes, contexte social, similarités, différences, champ sémantique
Reçu le : 26 Septembre 2023
Accepté le : 7 décembre 2023

Introduction

Naming is a universal and cultural practice since nothing on this earth exists without a name. Every society gives names as tags to people. The way names are given in societies are not similar. Practices and rituals and interpretations differ from one society to another ( Agyekum 2006 : 208).
As for the Democratic Republic of Congo, historically, in 1971, an important event occurred in the former Zaire during the reign of the president Mobutu. The event was named ‘Resort to Authenticity’. President Mobutu required citizens who bore western foreign names to adopt the cultural authentic ones. As an example shower, Mobutu himself abandoned his Christian name ‘Joseph’ and was called Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngwendu Wazabanga which literally means in Kingbandi, small spices that heat.
After Mobutu had left the power, the president who followed, Mzee Laurent Desire Kabila, brought back foreign names, mainly first names. The Congolese names became mixed as it is made of a foreign first name and authentic names. The latter was made of name and post name. The Kongo authentic names are the focus of the current paper which sets out to explore their social contexts and semantic values.
The objectives of this paper is twofold: first, to identify the different types of Kongo anthroponyms. Second, to examine their social contexts and semantic values. The following two questions sought answers in this investigation: first, what are the different types of Kongo anthroponyms? Second, how do their social contexts and semantic values look like?

The researcher needed data from people bearing those names and the Kongo parents giving the Kongo names to their children. Having to do with a qualitative study, he had recourse to the documentary and interview techniques. In the documentary technique, different journals on anthroponyms, mainly those related to African communities were consulted. In the interview, the researcher used his own resources. He sorted out, from his phone book, twenty Kongo names among his acquaintances and friends. After listing those names, he planned a phone interview with each of them. The thirty- minute phone talk was essentially based on the sociocultural aspects and meanings of their names.The interview technique allowed the researcher to get more details. The interviewees, who missed information or needed some more information from their parents or older people, were called back since they had to talk with their parents or relatives who provided them with the needed information. The above two major questions, which were broken into minor questions, led the researcher to get the needed data. The phone interview questions, which were asked in French for evident reasons.

I. On Kikongo and the Kongo

Talking about Kikongo language, it is necessary to mention the history of the Kongo. The Kongo came from the Kongo kingdom whose capital city was located at Northern part of Angola. This kingdom was the most powerful one in the Southern Sahara as it was administratively and politically organized. The King called ‘ Ntotela Kongo or Mani Kongo’ lived in the capital city of the kingdom which is the current ‘ Mbanza Kongo’ , a town in the province of Zaire in the republic of Angola. Formerly, the kingdom had nine provinces and the current capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo belonged to one of the nine provinces called ‘Mpumbu’. Evidences of the Kongo toponyms in Kinshasa testify this fact such as the following toponyms: ‘ Ba dia ndingi’, ‘ Ki ba nseke’ and ‘Kinkole’ which respectively mean ‘ a tree offering a shelter’,’ wild palm tree’ and ‘prison’. The King ruled the whole Kingdom which occupied the Northern part of Angola, the current Province of Kongo Central, the province of Kinshasa, a part of Bandundu province, a part of Congo Brazzaville and the Southern part of Gaboon ( Bendel 1995: 35). The Kongo are spread in the four countries of Central Africa, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Congo Brazzaville and Gaboon. In those countries, different varieties and subvarieties of Kikongo are used. Focusing on the Democratic Republic of Congo, mainly in the province of Kongo Central, four main varieties may be identified: in Lukaya District, Kintandu; in the District of ‘ Cataractes, Kindibu and Kimanyanga and finally, Kiyombe in the District of ‘Bas fleuve’. What is interesting, there is a mutual intelligibility among those varieties. They were found to be able to understand each other despite some slight linguistic differences (Nsimambote 2022: 223). It is important to mention that the anthroponyms examined in this paper concern the four main varieties.

The Kongo have a matrilineal family system. A mother’s brother, that is a maternal uncle who plays a crucial role in the family. He takes care of his nephews and nieces called ‘ bana nkazi’ and the uncle himself is called ‘ ngua nkazi’ which literally means the mother of nephews and nieces. There are three major clanic groups in the Kongo community: Nsaku, Mpanzu and Nzinga. It is from this fact that the Kongo talk of the maxim (Makuku matatu malamba Kongo) implying that Kongo is taken as a pan standing on three stones. These three clanic groups are subdivided into different clans such as Nsundi, Nlanza, Mvemba and Kindamba. The names of the clans were used to identify Ntotela (king) in the former Kingdom. It was a rule that once a person becomes a king, he gives up his personal name and bears the one of the clans of his parents. It is in this way that Mvemba- Nzinga who became a king in the Kongo kingdom was easily recognized as the one coming from the two clans respectively Mvemba and Nzinga. As said early, the king gave similar Kongo place names to different areas of the Kongo Kingdom to perpetuate the language and for the sake of the space identification. There are many similar Kongo place names in Democratic Republic of Congo, to mention only one, the toponym Kenge is identified in both provinces of Bandundu and Kongo Central. Some personal names were similar to those of clans and place names.

II. On Anthroponyms

In the literature of Anthroponymy, many scholars have explored the social context and semantic aspects. In this section, a few scholars are chronologically mentioned, starting with Geertz.
Geertz (1973) mentions that in some cultures, including African ones, anthroponyms have elaborate linguistic structure and complex semantic contents. The complex semantic content of a personal name may be explained with the name such as Moses. Alluding to the bible, the name Moses has the meaning of water. The Pharaoh’s spouse picked up Moses, when it was a baby, from a stream. It is in that context that the baby was named Moses implying a person picked up from a stream.
Akinnaso (1980) adds that all human beings or groups use personal names. They vary from one culture to another. He clarified his statements by drawing a distinction between Western and African personal names. Western people just consider personal names as labels. Children are named after their parents. The first names are generally Christian or religious ones while the family names are from parents, for examples Mickael Otto and Elisabeth Silva whereby the two family names Otto and Silva are just labels without any semantic content.
Adeniyi (2004) views personal names, also called anthroponyms, as reflections of events, values and beliefs which have both psychological and sociocultural information. The information may be the day the child was born, the manner it was born, whether it was born during the boom period or hard time that the parents went through.

Agyekum (2006) investigated on the Akan anthroponyms in Ghana. He disclosed that the Akan anthroponyms refer to the elements of human experience. They also serve as a clue baring as they identify Akan community. What is interesting to notice is the way he displayed contexts where the names are given. To mention only some, there are day, family, circumstantial, manner of birth, death prevention and survival names, theophoric names, insinuating and others. For the day name, it is the name of the day the child is born. These name days are both for males and females even for twins. For example, if a baby is born on Monday, it will be (Akwado/Adwoa) respectively for male and female twins and Kojo/Adwoa respectively for male and female non twins. The family names are from the twelve patrilinear clans. They are given by the father. There are family names for males and females. These names are markers of personal and group identity. The circumstantial names have been grouped into Anthro-toponyms which the names of the place the child is born is given to the child, and temporonyms concern the period of the birth of the child. To differentiate it from day names, this period of birth may relate to important festivals of Akans as for example Odwira. The manner of birth is related to the sequence by which the mother has given birth. In Akan culture the pregnant woman’s astomach is compared to an anthill the first born is considered as the one who has erupted from the anthill making an exit. He or she is a Pesie, the second, Manu, the third, Mansa, the fourth, Anane and son on. Twins are called Ata and Aya; those who come after them are respectively called Tavia, Nyankomago, Atuakosen, Abobakorowa and Damusaa. For death prevention, as it is believed in the Akan culture, if a mother suffers from child mortality, it is because the child’s mother does not want the child to stay in the living world. The fact of giving the child a weird name will prevent death. Theoforic names are given to children when parents have struggled a number years and hopes are lost, for example Nyamekye meaning (God has given). Finally, insinuating, proverbial and insulting names are meant to portray some of the aspects of life and the conflicts that ensue in human relations, for example, Susuka meaning say it moderately. He also identified fauna and flora names.

Mutingea (2014) examined the naming system of the Ngombe, living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, basing on the ethnolinguistic and sociohistorical factors. He mentions the two types of naming system applied by the Ngombe community which are the naming from birth and the one from teenagerhood. The name given from birth depends on the settings, periods and circumstances led during the birth. It is in this way that in the Ngombe community, Mobando and Ndombi are children who were born respectively during the dry and rainy seasons. The two personal names belong to the typology called temporonyms.

Ngozi (2016) examined Igbo personal names. He disclosed that igbo naming system predisposes the name that the child to be born will bear. Those predisposed names are the parents’ family, mainly paternal grandfather, maternal grandfather, parternal grandmother, maternal grandfather even great grandparents depending on the number of children. What is interesting, apart from these grandparents or great grandparents’ ones, the child also bears a second name. For examples for the first male of the family the predisposed name is (Nnannia+ the real name) and this first name is the one the child’s paternal grandfather. The second male will be called (Ogonnia+ the real name) and this one is the name of maternal grandfather to comply with of the equality of both Father and mother’s families. It is similar if it is a case of the first female where grandmothers from both father and mother’s families will provide namesakes which are (Nennia+ the real name) whereby Nennia stands for maternal grandmother and the second female will bear (Nenne+ the real name) whereby Nenne stands for paternal mother. With this naming system, male children will bear whatever the order of birth, Paternal and maternal grandfathers or great grandfathers’ names apart from their second name. Female children will in reverse bear maternal and paternal grandmothers or great grandmothers’ names apart from their second name. It is not a surprise to notice the following first names Nnannia, Ogonnia, Nennia and Nenne Igbo families. He provides eleven categories or typologies of personal names below:
- God and Deities category for example the names Chukwa (God) and Ofo (ritual objet)
- Good and virtue category with the names such as Ike (strength) and Ngozi (Blessing).
- Kinship category for examples Nme ( mother),
- Natural phenomenon category for examples Ndu (life) and Onwa (death).
- Social entities or concepts category with the names such as Ibe ( social group) and Mba (town).
- Calendar category such as Oge (period or time)
- Title category as for example Eze (King)
- Natural and physical objects category with names such as Osimiri (stream) and Ugwu (hill).
- Parts of the body category with the name Isi (Head)
- Material assets such as Ego (money)
- Occupation category with the names Uzu (smith) and Nta (Hunter).

These categories are used in different social contexts which are similar to the ones described by Agyekum (2006: 17), namely birthday name, physical appearance, circumstantial names, theophoric names, flora and fauna names and authentic nicknames.
Dianka (2020) investigated the anthroponyms of Khassonke in Bamako. He disclosed the following contexts where anthroponyms are given to children: the order of births, personal names of twins, personal names as death prevention, personal names according to skin complexion and physical characteristics, personal names depicting belief in God, personal names according to injunctions, personal names depicting kinship, social cohesion and expression of gratitude, personal names according to circumstances surrounding the birth and personal names describing bravery. For the order of births, the first child to be born has its cultural authentic name and its followers recognized by the community. Twins have the specific cultural names depending on the first to be born and the following one. Personal names as death, in Khassonte community is applied in the context of a woman whose children die most of the time. To keep children alive, they give a weird name to them. The physical characteristics and skin complexion lead parents to give a culture name to their child. There are specific names for big headed babies and short legged ones. It is similar of the skin complexion. The personal names depicting kinship, social cohesion and expression of gratitude are positive ones. They are given to children to restore or reinforce kinship, social cohesion and expression of gratitude keeps the community in a perfect harmony. For personal names according to the circumstances around the birth, there are many circumstances for example the period the child is born which can be economically stable or unstable one. A child can get a name corresponding to either one of the two periods. In the Kongo community, a child named Mampasi was born during an economically unstable period.

Aldiouma et al (2020) examined personal names in the Dogon Community. They disclosed many factors which are involved in giving personal names to children. Those personal names are generally traditional authentic ones. They mention that the prompts to determine names are the social contexts and circumstances surrounding the birth of the child. For the social context, they mention the order of birth. In the Dongo community, the order of birth is marked with the ordinal number and gender distinction. For example, the name of the first child to be born starts with the prefix A- for males and Ya- for females. For the situation surrounding the birth, the child may be born whether by presenting first its leg or head which prompts the parents to give names. Another situation surrounding the death concerns death prevention. The Dogons give the baby a weird name delivered by a woman who suffers from intense mortality to prevent death. Significantly enough, the Dogon weird name contain the lexeme (Bojo) which means (excrement) and (Abojo) is given to male while a female is called (Yabojo). Excrement suggests the idea of what is not eatable basing on witchcraft. The baby is not eatable so let it live.

Aswiimwe (2022) focused on the morphosyntactic features of Rukiga personal names in Uganda. He mentioned a few socio cultural aspects, similar to the ones described by the above scholars. He states that in Rukiga, one of the Bantu languages, factors such as birth, physical appearance, relationship, value in God or deities and political situations determine the choice of providing names to children. There are some names that project how the bearer will be in future. They are similar to Good and virtue category identified by Ngozi (2016). As an example, if a parent projects wealth for his or her child, in Rukiga community, the name Mutungi, which literally means a wealthy person will be given to the child. The parent expects his child to become a wealthy person in his adulthood. Moreover, the prefix O- is added to Mutungi which becomes Omutungi and it refers to the adjective (wealthy) used in Rukiga language.

III. On the Results of the Investigation

On the basis of different responses provided by the twenty interviewed informants and observation, the following can be reported concerning the Kongo anthroponyms. There are different types of Kongo anthroponyms. To start with the manners of birth and delivery, the following can be mentioned:
For the manners of birth, a Kongo mother giving birth to twins, the latter are named Nsimba and Nzuzi, whatever their gender. It is contrary to the Akan anthroponyms in Ghana where the names of the twins depend on their gender, for examples (Akwado/Adwoa) respectively designate male and female twins (Agyekum 2006: 15). The Kongo twin anthroponyms are similar for both male and female twins. In the Kongo culture, Nsimba and Nzuzi are sacred names. During the birth ceremony of twins, the participants sing: (Eh Nsimba ye Nzuzi, bana banlongo eee) implying the Kongo twins are sacred.
The predisposed order in Kongo anthroponyms is different from the Akans ones as in the latter, it is not necessarily conditioned by the first births of twins (Agyekum 2006: 14). The tables below provide the naming systems of the two communities:

Table 1: Kongo anthroponyms in predisposed order

Table 2: The Akans anthroponyms in predisposed order

For the Akans, all Ananes are the fourth births and all Pesies are the first ones.
In case a Kongo mother gives birth twice or three times to twins, the above predisposed names are kept but the second names can distinguish children. An interviewee reported that a family of twins who came twice were respectively called Nsimba Mete, Nzuzi Mete, Nsimba Luzolo and Nzuzi Luzolo. The second names Mete and Luzolo distinguish the twins. For the yombe, the twins personal names are reduplicated to convey the meaning of a father’s name sake, generally for male twins. Nsimba Nsimba and Nzuzi Nzuzi imply respectively a son of a father named Nsimba and the one of a father named Nzuzi (Nsimambote 2023: 436).
For the manners of delivery, the Kongo name their children differently. The following table lists four manners with different anthroponyms:

Table 3: Anthroponyms related to manners of delivering

Apart from the above names, parents can add other names for a better identification of the named children. The following names are heard in the Kongo community: Nsunda Bamba, Nzongo Zola and Nzinga Tembo.
Secondly, there are different circumstantial names in Kongo anthroponyms. Temporonyms can be first mentioned. They are related to the time the child is born for example the birth may coincide with a period of a death case. In the Kongo community, if a woman passes away after delivering, the name will be given to her baby after the burial as the meaning of the death event which is (Mayamba). The name provides the information that the mother of the baby had passed away. This can confirm the way Adeniyi (2004: 152) views anthroponyms, as reflections of events. Mayamba recalls the death event, which is in this context, the circumstance surrounding the birth of the child (Aldiouma et al 2020). The Yombe use the temporonym Masiala for a baby whose mother or father passed away before its birth. In Kiyombe, literally, Masiala is derived from the sentence: Mwana usiala implying the child left by a late mother or/ and father.

The period of the day the child was born is also given as a name (Ngozi 2016). The names: Nkokela, Muini and Fuku were mentioned in the investigation. They are not true temporonyms in Kikongo. One of the interviewee named Nkokela denied to be born in the evening. Mutingea (2014: 38) mentioned Bobando and Ndombi as respectively names given to children born during the dry and rainy seasons.
Thirdly, there is a type of weird name in the Kongo community. Children who were born with a physical defect are pejoratively called Kisimbi. They are generally still born and big headed. To avoid them coming back to the world, they are not buried with dignity since their corpses are covered with herbs instead of blankets. The day of the burial, people attending the burial ceremony shout to it: Kisimbi, wenda mvimba) implying do not come back. The weird name Kisimbi is given to it to avoid its coming back to the world. The Kongo weird name Kisimbi is different from the Dogons one, Abojo, in the sense that the latter prevents death of an alive baby without a physical defect.
Fourthly, Proverbial names are disclosed among Kongo anthroponyms. They are didactic as they teach something to the community. They are sentential names similar to the ones identified by Aswiimwe (2022). The following table lists five anthroponyms.

Table 4: Proverbial Kongo anthroponyms

For the first name (Kiaku mbuta), what has been reported from an interviewee concerns a story of a Kongo father who was disappointed by his relative. The latter offered him a house when he did not have a job, but he was disappointed by the fact that he was expelled from the house just when his spouse was expecting a baby. When the spouse gave birth, he named it: Kiaku Mbuta. The moral lesson behind this name is that everyone should not rely on other people’s ownships. Other related Kongo names are: Kiaku Kiaku, Kinavuidi Mbuta, Kiangani and so on.
The second name (Mankueno Dinamuene), the bearer provided an explanation that the name was given by a parent who was a victim of jealousy. The third one (Ngolo Kintuadi) was given to encourage the community to unite. The fourth one was given by a parent who had suffered in a foreign village. The last one (Mbongo Muntu) was given by a parent who was not assisted during a death ceremony since people did not come massively to the ceremony.
Fifthly, there are also personal names expressing the message of kinship, social cohesion and they are also didactic. Five of them are listed below:

Table 5: Kongo anthroponyms expressing different messages

Among the above five personal names, the fourth one, ( Nlangu madikuntima) is in Kiyombe. It is literally rendered in Kindibu as (Maza menakuntima). It is clear that the Kongo personal names can linguistically predict the different subgroup they belong to. The following five examples serve for illustration.

Table 6: Kiyombe personal names

The above five personal names are specifically used in Kiyombe. Three of them are related flora. The one labelled number (1), Khasa is spelled in Kiyombe. Kimanyanga, Kindibu and Kintandu spell it (Nkasa) with the nasal cluster (nk) instead of (Kh). The one labelled (4), Tsabi is spelled in Kiyombe (Tsabi) with the initial(t-) replacing the nasal (n-). The equivalents of Mbuilu and Nsitu in Kindibu are respectively Mbuila and Nfinda.

The Kikongo connective (ya) is one of the identification features of the Kongo subgroup personal names. To illustrate it, the personal name (Nsia nkulu) in Kimanyanga becomes (Nsi nkulu) in Kindibu. Kimanyanga keeps the connective (ya) while Kindibu omits it.
Sixthly, some Kongo personal names express different views of the parents concerning diverse problems they encountered in life. The interviewees provided different names. For the sake of restriction, the following five were retained:

Table 7: Kongo anthroponyms on life experience

For Kufuidi, the interviewee provided the answer that it is his grandparent who remained alone while his siblings were mysteriously killed. To remember the event, the grandfather gave this name to his father and in his turn the father gave the same name to him.
Ludiakueno, was given to a parent who experienced a loss of children. His children were so mysteriously killed that he lost hope. When the child who is given is born, he is given the name of Ludiakueno which literally means (You may eat it.) connotes (I am not afraid if you want to kill the child mysteriously). It is usually given to prevent death. This situation is different from the Dogons who give a baby delivered by a woman who suffers from intense mortality a weird name to prevent death (Dianka 2020).
Matondo has the same social context as the theoforic personal names identified by Agyekum (2006:36) who pointed that theoforic personal names are given to children whose parents have struggled a number years and hopes are lost and once they are given an opportunity to give birth, they thank God. Matondo is the short form of the Kongo personal name (Matondo Kua Nzambi) which literally means (Thanks to God).
Nkia Mpila Kiese and Makiese are semantically similar since they have the same social contexts. Either of the two personal names is given to the child who was born in a fortunate period. The parents did not experience hard times.
Seventhly, a type of fauna names similar to the ones identified by Agyekum (2006:22) were found in Kongo anthroponyms. The following five were retained.

Table 8: Kongo anthroponyms related to fauna

The five social contexts were provided by the respondents. They are also related to the qualities of the mentioned animal. For example, leopard has the leadership quality. It is a custom for traditional leaders in the Kongo community to wear a garment made of leopard skin. The remaining four personal names have respectively power, intelligence, greatness and strength as social contexts.
Eighthly, the personal names related to natural and physical objects were also identified in the data. The following five are listed below:

Table 9: Kongo anthroponyms related to natural, flora and physical objects

The above names are used by the four main tribal groups mentioned in this paper. As illustration, the personal names Ngoma and Nsitu are mostly used by the Yombe; Minlangu is mostly used by the manyanga and yombe, the remaining are used by all of them.
Lastly, the study has identified the kind of personal names that Ngozi (2016) termed good and virtue category. The following are mentioned:

Table 10: Kongo anthroponyms related to good and virtue category

The personal names Lusakumunu and Ngolo have as equivalents in Igbo respectively (Ngozi) and ( Ike).
These names are given to children as the parents wish their children to live those virtues.

Conclusion

The current paper aimed first, at identifying the different types the Kongo anthroponyms. Second, examining their social contexts and semantic values. The available literature came from Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Different types of anthroponyms identified by the scholars in some African communities are found in the Kongo community. It has been disclosed that proverbial personal names display the parents’ views of the society, not only for the circumstances of the birth but also for showing what they think about the society they live in. The Kongo personal names of this type look like novels written by parents. The study has disclosed the following ten types of Kongo anthroponyms that are the main ones:
- Anthroponyms related to the manners of birth and delivery;
- Kongo temporonyms;
- Kongo theorofic anthroponyms;
- Kongo anthroponyms related to natural phenomenon;
- Kongo proverbial anthroponyms;
- Kongo anthroponyms expressing different messages;
- Kongo anthroponyms related to life experience;
- Kongo anthroponyms related to natural and physical objects;
- Kongo anthroponyms related to good and virtue;
- Kongo anthroponyms related to fauna and flora.

For the anthroponyms related to the manners of birth and delivery, the Kongo twins have the predisposed twin names: Nsimba and Nzuzi for either male or female, but in the Akan community, personal names of twins can predict their gender as they are named (Akwado/Adwoa) respectively for male and female twins. The following anthroponyms: Nsunda, Nzinga and Masunguna are used for the manners of delivery. The order of birth for personal names in Kongo community is restricted to five names whereas the one igbo is complex and inclusive in terms of integrating both paternal and maternal families. The three manner of delivering are identified in Kongo community. The following personal names reveal Nsunda as a child who shows either a leg or hand while it is delivered. Nzinga is a child born with an umbilical cord around the neck. Nzongo, a baby whose mother menstruated during its pregnancy. Masunguna, a child born from a pregnancy that went beyond nine months.
The anthroponyms related to children born after their parents had passed away were found in the Kongo community. Children were named Mayambas when their mothers had passed away after delivering them. The Yombe, a subgroup of the Kongo community, use Masiala deriving from the sentence (muana usiala) which implies the child left by a late father or/ and mother.
Matondo makes part of theoforic anthroponym. It is given by a Kongo parent to show gratitude to God. However, parents who name their children Mampasis take into account the hardship they led and managed to keep their children alive. The parents of all Matondos and Mampasis had struggled before the birth of those children.
The weird name Kisimbi is given to a still born child in the Kongo community. The reverse situation is observed with the Dogons who give a baby a weird name Abojo and Yabojo respectively for male and female for death prevention. In the community, mainly for the Ndibu, the personal name Ludiakueno (You can kill it) also serves for death prevention.
The personal names related to fauna and flora and the ones related to natural and physical objects were also identified in the data. Those related to fauna were given for the positive quality of the animals. For example, Nzau (elephant) was given to person for his or value and importance. Nkosi (Lion) was given for its strength and Mesila (gazelle) for its witness. These fauna names were also identified by Agyekum (2016:18). The names such as Nsitu and Ngoma that are respectively related to flora and physical objects had a great significance as a forest implies richness and a drum is an important tool of communication in a community.

Concerning the personal names related to good and virtue category. The five names mentioned in the study Mambote, Ngolo, Lusakumunu and Lendo show positive meanings. They are similar to the intentions of parent in Kuriga community. In this community, if a parent projects wealth for his child, the name (Mutungi) which literally means a wealthy person is given to the child. The parent expects his child to become a weathy person in his adulthood (Aswiimwe (2022:45). This practice is also identified in Kikongo, one of the Bantu languages with the names Mambote. The personal name Mutungi from Rukiga community has the same social context as Mambote or Nsimambote. Some children who were given Kongo names with negative meanings, but with positive social contexts have changed them into positive meanings. Thus, all Mankendas, that is to say, people bearing the personal name Mankenda (sadness) have become Makieses (hapiness) and all Mampasis (difficulties) have become Mambotes (wealth).
Both semantic fields and social contexts must be taken into in the examination of the Kongo anthroponyms. A semantic field of a personal name can be negative while the social context is positive. For example, Tsobo, which means in Kiyombe dirty, may have a valid and positive social context.
Although they do not focus on the social contexts, the Igbo naming system can resolve the family disputes on name saking. The system integrates the parents’ family names made of paternal grandfather, maternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather even great grandparents provided interesting information.
It has been discovered that the Kongo Anthroponyms can predict the Kongo subgroups they belong to basing on the linguistic features. The different spellings between Kindibu and Kiyombe anthroponyms have attested the fact. A prospective linguistic study identifying the subgroups of Kongo Anthroponyms will reveal more.

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Par NSIMAMBOTE ZOLA Remy, dans RIFRA, Presses Universitaires de Kinshasa, 2024