Elizabeth writes:

Names are very important to Basotho people and their meaning is always significant.

When a baby is born, it is seen as a new member of the whole family, not just of the parents.  The name is usually chosen by the grandparents, and most names are normal vocabulary words of the Sesotho language.  Most are also given to either sex.

As you may expect, there are plenty of cheerful names such as Neo (gift),  Lerato (love), Rethabile (we are rejoicing).  Sometimes babies are named according to when they were born e.g. Masiu (night), Puleng (rain), Paseka (Easter) or even Khetho (election).  If there has been a recent death in the family, the baby may be called Malefu (death), Mahlomola (sorrow) or Sello (crying).  It seems quite a burden to be called “Death” for the whole of your life!  Variations on Tseliso are common; it literally means consolation, and is usually used when the parents’ previous child has died - sadly a frequent event here.  Alternatively, it may be thought that evil sprits took the previous child (superstition thrives here), so the child is given an unpleasant name such as Mantja (mother of a dog) to dissuade the spirits from taking this child.

When the baby is baptised, which they all are, then a Christian name is given, there must be some ancient “Name your Baby” books around, since, as well as John and Lucy, some seem to have names like Doris and Alfred.

This means that everyone has three names - First name, surname and Christian names.  Most people choose to be known by their first name, but quite a few like to be called by their surname or Christian name.  Men are always addressed with the prefix Ntate (literally father) and women by ‘Me (mother);  this is a godsend when you cannot remember their names, as Ntate or ‘Me alone will suffice.

As in our tradition, a woman takes her husband’s surname on marriage.  However, her identity disappears completely when she has a child.  She becomes “mother of …”; so, if her child is called Thabo, her first name is now Mathabo.

Soon after we arrived, we were welcomed into the community at Ha Fusi by being given Sesotho names.  David is Tsepo (trust/hope); mine is Maboitelo (sacrifice) - very worthy!