Where names indicate the order of birth in a family

Subject: Geography

Section: Human geography

Context:

In the Lisu or Yobin community of Arunachal Pradesh, India, the naming convention reflects the birth order of children.
This unique naming practice is a significant aspect of their culture, underlining the importance of family and tradition within the Lisu community.
Recently, Birdwatchers have discovered a new species of wren babblers (bird) in remote northeastern Arunachal Pradesh which has been named as Lisu wren babbler.

Details:

For instance, the eldest daughter’s name includes “Ana,” while subsequent daughters are named “Angyi,” “Acha,” and so forth up to “Apshi” for the tenth daughter.
Boys’ names follow a similar pattern, with “Apu” for the eldest and names like “Adu,””Akhi,” continuing in order.
To avoid confusion in cases where multiple families might have children with similar naming patterns due to their birth order, the Lisu employ a system of prefixes or suffixes.
This customization adds uniqueness to each name, reflecting both the individual’s birth order and potentially their clan affiliation.
Clan names such as Ngwazah, Jeazah, and Michey, among others, are examples of this practice.
This system of naming not only signifies the individual’s position in their family but also connects them to their broader cultural heritage and community identity.

Lisu and Singpho communities:

The Lisu andSingpho communities, part of the Tibeto-Burman ethnic family, share the tradition of using numbered names to indicate birth order within their families, reflecting their ethnic bonds and cultural heritage.
This naming convention is prevalent among the Lisus, who are spread across Arunachal Pradesh, China, Myanmar, and Thailand, and the Singphos, found in 27 countries, including significant populations in India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
Both communities use specific sequences of names for boys and girls, with additional practices to avoid confusion in cases of similar name counts within families.
These practices can include prefixing or suffixing given names.
Moreover, names can also include clan or ancestral references, further enriching the cultural and familial significance of the naming convention.
This system underscores the communities’ deep-rooted traditions and the importance of family and clan identities.

About Wren Babblers:

Babbler family: There are about 20 species of small Asian birds belonging to the babbler family Timaliidae.
Features:
- They are 10 to 15 centimetres (4 to 6 inches) long, short-tailed and have a rather short and straight bill.
Habitat: Wren-babblers occur chiefly in southern Asia.
Grey-bellied wren babblers: Which are almost similar to this new species are found mostly in Myanmar and in smaller numbers in China and Thailand.

Source: TH