SOCIO-SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL VALUES OF TIV NAMES

t Names as mark of identification have socio-semantic and cultural values and can reveal one's experiences, and prevailing situations of a particular person or bearers. To this end, our native names are a reflection of our beliefs, notion, views, experience and identity. It is true that human cultures are divergent in nature, the ways in which wc view the world are equally diverse and these are clearly reflected in the way we give names. The Tiv people attach a great importance to proper names and are holding fast to them. It is in view of this that this paper wants to look at the socio-semantic values of some names in Tiv cultural undertones and meanings as well as their relevance to cultural promotion and identity of Tiv nation. This and other reasons will be examined in the paper. The paper therefore, attempts to bring to light the perspectives leading to the understanding of Tiv names and attempt to explore what Tiv names means to Tiv society.