A SOCIO- CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF GBAGYI NAMES

Names apart from serving as marks of individuals ’ identities reveal the deep rooted socio semantic and cultural values, experience, prevailing situations and philosophies of a given society. The focus of this paper therefore, is to examine Linguistics and socio-semantic and Linguistics implications of Gbagyi names and their relevance to cultural promotion and identity of Gbagyi nation. It will basically carry out a linguistics analysis of Gbagyi names looking at the semantic and structural implications of the names. The primary and secondary research methods were employed in carrying this work; while the primary source shall be based on the interaction and direct observations among native speakers of the language, the secondary source shall be based on written materials on Gbagyi language. The Data collected shall be analysed based on the structure and meaning of Gbagyi given names. The paper therefore, though may not be as exhaustive, is hoped to provide an insight into the structure and semantic values of Gbagyi personal names and will also make the reader to appreciate the implication and importance of names to the bearers in Gbagyi language.