826 MASAI, TURKANA, SUK, NANDI, ETC. 



it is given a name. (During its infancy, if no name was given,, the 

 mother called it by the name of its father's father.) This individual 

 appellation, which is conferred on it with some ceremony, may possibly 

 be the name of the father, or it may be a name which has no direct 

 associations with any relation. If the child is its mother's firstborn she 

 also takes its new name for her own. A goat and a cow are killed on 

 this occasion, at which are present most of the relations, and the flesh is 

 cooked and eaten by the family party. The undigested food from the 

 intestines of these animals is made up into "medicine," and a little of 

 this is put into the child's mouth. From that time forward until the 

 next name-change takes place both child and mother are called by this 

 new name. If the eldest child should die, the mother retains its name 

 until she gives birth to another child, and, in like manner, a year after 

 the birth of this next child, she assumes the name which is given to it 

 at the family gathering. When a girl child is born, she is given her 

 mother's name, which she retains until her marriage ; then she is 

 renamed by her husband; and ever afterwards it is considered to entail 

 on her bad luck if she is addressed by the name of her girlhood. Of 

 course, as soon as she is a mother she again changes her name to that 

 which is bestowed on her eldest child a year after its birth ; while, if 

 she remains childless after some years of marriage, she assumes once 

 more the mother's name which she bore as a child. Boys retain the 

 names given to them a year after birth all through their warriorhood, 

 but change them when they marry. After this change of name it is 

 likewise considered, in their case, a most unpropitious and unfriendly 

 thing to do to address them by the name they bore in their bachelor 

 days. 



A dead man is never referred to by name, if possible. It is 

 considered so unlucky to do this that the action is equivalent to an 

 intentional desire to bring harm on the relatives of the deceased. If 

 any reference must be made to a dead person, it is generally by means 

 of a roundabout description, or by such terms as "my brother," " my 

 father," " my uncle," " my sister." Husbands and wives may with less 

 disastrous consequences refer to their dead partners by name, though 

 even this is done in a whisper and with reluctance. Amongst the living 

 there is a very intricate ceremony on the subject of addressing by name, 

 and a Masai of good manners would feel quite at home in the British 

 House of Commons, where much the same prejudice prevails. If you 

 wish to get at the real name borne by a Masai man, it is advisable to 

 ask one of his friends standing by, who, in reply, will probably give you 

 the name of the man's mother, if he be an eldest son and unmarried, 

 for in such case it mui-t be identical with the man's own name. It is 



