Sarcouncil Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies

Abstract: This paper is grounded in onomastics, and it specifically focuses on personal names given to children among the Tonga people of the valley, Zimbabwe (Chiwe dialect). It explores the traditional and current naming practices of this minority group. The aim of the study is to find out the perceptions of the Tonga people regarding gender and naming in their culture. The question to ask is what do these names reflect about masculinity and femininity? The position of the researchers is that names are conduits through which people communicate prevailing perceptions about various factors affecting their lives, and that includes gender perceptions. The paper is based on the premise that there is a strong interface between a people’s language and their cultural practices. It mirrors on how language is used as a powerful tool to view and understand the world view of a particular society. This paper used the qualitative approach as it is located in the interpretive paradigm. Through documentary analysis, informant interviews and unstructured interviews, the paper provides empirical evidence to show how naming provides significant insights into changes in gender perceptions among the Tonga from the 1960s up to 2017. Findings of this research reveal that some feminine and masculine names in Tonga are distinguished by the presence or absence of the noun prefix Sya- and Na-, names do not express male supremacy over females like some names in other African cultures. Results also highlight that naming practices among the Tonga are governed by other factors other than gender to reflect history, beliefs, values, behaviour, emotions and circumstances at birth. The study thus concludes that gender is to a greater extent obliterate in the valley Tonga under investigation in this paper.