Onomastics of Luo Names

Worldwide, different communities have systems of naming babies according to their observed norms. Naming systems according to the time of the day is not unique to the Luo community and it is one of the most common systems used worldwide. In the Luo community, the baby was given a name according to the time of birth.

The year began when the rains came and this season was known as Chwiri- when the rains begin – koth chako. January through February and even March and April. Activities that took place in this period were: golo pur, land preparation and planting of seeds, komo.

In today’s world, the thinking among the modern Luo is to dump and ignore names such as Ojwang, Ochola, Oloo among others because they are seen as being attached to the negative energies of death and sorrow. On the contrary these were very powerful names.