NAMES OF PERSONS. 41 



CHAPTER XIII. 



NAMES OF PERSONS. 



Until a child is able to walk it is not distinguished by any individual name, and 

 is called by the general term ' puupuup.' When it learns to walk, the father 

 gives it a name. If the father is dead, the grandfather confers the name ; and, 

 failin<T him, the mother or nearest relative does so. The first child of either sex 

 is called after its father, and the second, if a daughter, after its mother. If 

 requested, the father will name his other children after friends, who call them 

 ' laing,' meaning ' namesake,' and who are ever afterwards kind to them. In 

 return, they address their godfathers by the same term. WHien children are not 

 thus called after a friend, their names are taken from something in the 

 neighbourhood, such as a swamp, rivulet, waterhole, hill, or animal ; or from 

 some peculiarity in the child or in its parents. Girls are sometimes named after 

 flowers. 



The name does not necessarily adhere to the individual during life. People 

 sometimes exchange names as a mark of friendship. But as this would lead to 

 confusion if it were done privately, it takes place only at one of the great 

 meetings of the tribes, when the parties are full-grown, in order that every 

 person may be informed of it, and may know that the chiefs and the parents 

 give their consent, without which the exchange would not be permitted. 

 The ceremony commences by the friends of each of the persons ranging them- 

 selves in opposite lines, with the principals in the centre facing each other, with 

 firebrands in their hands. The chiefs inquire into the wishes of the parties, 

 proclaim the names, and declare them exchanged for ever ; and the principals 

 then hand to each other their fire-sticks, weapons, and all other personal 

 property. A man who wishes thus to express his love for a little boy two or 

 three years old, or a woman who wishes to signify her affection for a little girl, 

 can, with the consent of the parents and the chief, exchange names by tying 

 strips of kangaroo skin round each of their own wrists, and the wrists of the 

 children. These strips must remain till the transfer of rugs, personal property, 

 and fire-sticks takes place at the first great meeting. Women's names are not 



