Sunday, 11 January 2009

Naming People

The process of family names and naming babies is quite different.  Out goes the concept of a family name descended for generations, as does a woman taking a man's name when they marry.  Instead, each child takes their father's name as their second name.  Therefore, where we mainly have distinct firstnames and surnames; here there are just first names everywhere.  Each region also has its favourites: so lots of people in Tigray have "Gebre", "Hiwot" or "Berhane" included.  This is often shortened to G/ or H/.  This means that in polite introduction I am Ato Andrew – "Mr Andrew".



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