March 5, 2010
Empaakos (or "pet names" as people here call them) are used daily by the Batooro and Banyoro tribes who live around Kibale Forest. Most people here are given an empaako a few days after they are born by their parents, and Ugandans in this area tend to address each other by their empaakos as opposed to their 'official' names. The amazing thing to me is that there are only twelve different empaakos (Akiiki, Amooti, Adyeri, Atwoki, Ateenyi, Abwoli, Apuuli, Araali, Abbala, and the twelth – the only one not starting with A – is reserved for the King . This empaako is Okaali) – so everybody here has one of these twelve names as a pet name. Dean has been given the empaako Amooti and I am Akiiki.
Another interesting aspect of the naming system in this region of Uganda is that people don't take their mother's or father's last name like we do in the US. Last names (which are actually called First Names here) are different for every member of the family and tend to have some meaning. For example, I have a friend named John Sunday. Sunday is his "first name" and he was given the name because he was born on a Sunday.
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