Man is the Price: Exploring Gender Ideologies in Igbo Personal Naming Practices
Conference: ISA 22nd Annual International Conference (2025)
Presenter(s): Akumjika Chikamma Michael
Tags: 2025 Nigeria Akumjika Chikamma Michael Calabar University of Calabar
Abstract
Igbo of southeast Nigeria is a patriarchal society, and this is evident in every aspect of the cultural practices of Igbo people, including naming practices. A name is a significant aspect of Igbo culture that communicates the society's values and belief system. The paper adopts an ethnopragmatics approach, which studies how language performs social and cultural actions by reinforcing social norms to analyse the socio-cultural significance of Igbo naming practices and how names perpetuate patriarchy and gender discrimination in Igbo society. The paper examines gender ideology conveyed in Igbo names and the implications of Igbo naming practices for women's empowerment. Through ethnographic approaches like participant observation and semi-structured interviews involving thirty participants, 30 participants were selected purposively from the five core Igbo states of Southeast Nigeria: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States. This paper argues that Igbo names and naming practices reflect the cultural values of the society, which encourage male dominance, lineage continuity, and inheritance. It also reveals gender expectations, social roles, power dynamics and social control. The study concludes that Igbo personal naming impacts gender discrimination and power dominance, leading to social control.
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