Letter 25: Ikka Naay Iinna? - The Noob's guide to choosing a Nubian name
A guide on picking your very own modern Nubian (Nobiin, Andaandi-Mattokki, Tid/Midob) or ancient Nubian (Meroitic, Old Nubian) name for yourself!
Peace be upon those who follow the right path. Which is to say, hey besties! Serious question: did any of y’all ever read Captain Underpants growing up?
I have to say – Captain Underpants is one of my favorite children’s book series. Read it as a kid, and then, as an adult, read it to my kid siblings, which is when I really fell in love with them. After all, when you’re a kid, what is Captain Underpants? An unapologetically childish, chaotic, and rebellious exploration of childhood through the eyes of two troublemaking kids, George and Harold, with potty humor at every turn; not exactly, you know, a brilliant piece of satire.
Or so you’d think! My views changed when I was reading one of the books to my kid brother and realized: holy fucking shit these books are so funny. I feel like Dav knew there’d be adults who’d be forced to read this to their restless children, and in consideration of us, he decided to accompany his chaotic exploration of childhood with witty narration and meta humor that makes the Captain Underpants books never a bore. At least, in my opinion.
One of my favorite things about the Captain Underpants series, though, a big part of its appeal as a kid, was its interactivity: Flip-O-Rama (where you literally hand animate the action scenes – a cartoon-obsessed kid’s dream), and also, of course, Professor Poopypants’ Name Change-O-Chart 2000. As a kid, my kid sister and I couldn’t get enough of these names: bring the book onto the playground, five minutes later, and all your friends are named Flunky Diapermouth, Buttercup Rhinotush, and a bunch of other names that our elementary school selves thought were hilarious, despite the fact (or maybe because) our humorless teachers insisted they were “inappropriate.”
Now, I love my birth name, don’t get me wrong: but using a name you’ve chosen for yourself is just a different experience. It’s kind of like the best possible nickname: nicknames are a great way to preserve particular personal memories, convey a special relationship, and when you use a name you’ve chosen for yourself, it’s like that times ten. The process of discovering what kind of name you’d like to use to summarize some aspect of, well, you, is pretty rewarding. At least in my opinion.
I think this is a part of why African anti-imperialists often abandoned their white, “Christian” names and chose indigenous names instead that they felt reflected their heritage, their self, and empowered them: Kwame Ture, for instance. Or Tanekalouit-Touraouet, a person whose Twitter account I followed pretty closely in my earlier college years. Like I’ve alluded to in letter 10, this inspired me to pick my own Nubian name: I’d come to take pride in being Mahasi, v.s. being ashamed of belonging to a tribe at all, and I reflected that by choosing a Mahasi name for myself. And I know lots of people out there want to reconnect with their pre-Arab, indigenous Sudani heritage. Now, that pre-Arab, indigenous Sudani heritage isn’t solely Nubian, of course: Bidawiyet (Beja), Nilotic languages, Funj languages, Fur, Zaghawi, Masalit, and the other 100 or so Sudanese languages are also hugely formative of modern Sudanese heritage. That said, I really only know Nubian shit really well – so, for every bitt 3arab nuubeeyya or bitt nuuba 3arabeeyya out there, I’ve decided to make this: a guide to picking your very own Nubian name.
First, before we really get into it, I’d like to clarify, again, the same shit I detailed in letter 13: there’s no such thing as the Nubian language. There are, however, Nubian languages. In the modern-day, those include, but are not limited to:
Nobiin: This is the most widely spoken and best known Nubian language, and it helps that its name literally means “language of the nob,” AKA language of the Nubians, AKA language of the peasants (letter 10). Spoken by the Fadicca in Egypt, and the Halfawiyyin, Sikkot, and Mahas of Sudan. Indirectly descended from Old Nubian, the main written language of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Migi and Makuria.
Andaandi-Mattokki: This is the only (surviving) Nile Nubian language: all the other languages are Western Nubian languages, spoken in Darfur and South Kordofan. Lots of people consider it a dialect of Nobiin because Nobiin and Andaandi-Mattokki have 70% “lexicostatistical” similarity, which is to say, they’re pretty closely related languages. That said, this is a lower lexicostatistical similarity than, say, Spanish and Portuguese, or French and Spanish, or Spanish and Italian, so I still consider them separate. Anyways, Andaandi is better known as Dongolawi or “Dongolese Nubian,” and is spoken by – you guessed it! – the Danagla. After the fall of the Kingdom of Makuria, it’s believed that a number of Makurian elites moved up to Egypt, bringing with them their Andaandi language. Thus, in Egypt, you have the Mattokki language spoken by the Kunuz, which every Mattokki and Andaandi speaker I’ve ever met consider to be the same language as Andaandi (albeit with some differences, like US English and UK English, maybe). Andaandi means “language of our home,” whereas Mattokki means “language of the people of the east,” which some believe points to a unique relationship between the Kunuz and the Beja and Arabs of the region.
Tid-n-Aal: Also known as Midob Nubian, this is a Nubian language spoken by the Midob. This is the Western Nubian language with the highest lexicostatistical similarity to the Nile Nubian languages, and even some Old Nubian loanwords, but beyond that, it’s pretty distinct. The name of the language literally means “language (lit. mouth, compare to Nob/And/Matt “aag”) of the Tid,” which is what the Midob call themselves in their language.
Murgidi: The unfortunately (probably?) extinct Nubian language of the Birgid.
Ajangwe: A group of Nubian languages spoken by the Ajang subset of the Nuba peoples of South Kordofan.
I really know nothing about Murgidi and Ajangwe. As far as I can tell, they’re not nearly as well-documented as Nobiin, Andaandi-Mattokki, or Tid-n-Aal, which, to be fair, are also just much bigger languages.
Some might be wondering: wait, what about the language of the Kushites? That’s Meroitic, and even though it’s not a member of the Nubian language family or ancestral to any modern Nubian language, I’ll still talk about some Meroitic naming practices since I know tons of y’all are interested, even if The Kingdom of Kush is severely overrated.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s begin our ten-step program for getting YOU, ⲟⲛⲧⲁⲕⲣ̄ⲁⲅⲟⲩⲉⲕⲉ (“beloveds, darlings”), a Nubian ⲧⲁⳟⲥ̄ (name lol).
Step #1: Choose YOUR Nubian language!
I looked to Nobiin names cuz, well, I’m Mahasi, and Mahas historically speak Nobiin. Of course, you, beloved, may not be Mahasi: I’m expecting a lot of y’all don’t belong to any of the Nubian tribes I just listed above. In fact, I’mma go out on a limb and say that most of y’all are probably Sudani Arabs of some description. Don’t worry, though, I have a few solutions:
First of all, you can look into the language your group most likely spoke historically. Without getting too much into it, that means:
If you’re Ja’ali or belong to a branch of the Ja’aliyya (i.e. Shawayga, Rubaataab, etc.): Nobiin, probably, despite the fact that geographically Ja’aliyyin are way closer to where Andaandi is spoken. That said, though, Jay Spaulding analyzed non-Arabic words in documents of the Nidayfab, a Shaigiya chieftainship, and it’s pretty clear from the morphology of those loanwords, as well as other Nubian words in Sudani Arabic, that the Nubian language they were in closest proximity to was probably something more Nobiin-like than Andaandi-like. The giveaway is the “ga” or “ka” you get at the end of a lot of Nubian loanwords: this is a Nobiin thing to do, Andaandi-Mattokki and basically every other Nubian language prefer gi/ki.
If you’re a member of some eastern-ly Arab tribe: I’m talking Kawaahla, Rufaa’a, Shukriyya, ‘Abaabda, these groups you find the Butana or East Sudan or lots of el-Gezira, you know? I mean, specifically, the traditionally pastoralist tribe even though lots – if not most – of the people in these groups have settled to some extent and very few live entirely pastoralist lifestyles. Anyways: honestly, it’s probably most likely your ancestors spoke Bidawiyet/Beja, and we know from Arab geographers that the Beja historically had a huge presence in the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Migi/Nobadia, Makuria, and Arwa/Alwa/Alodia, and we have lots of Bidawiyet loanwords in Sudani Arabic, too. As a result, you can probably assume that if they spoke Nubian languages (which they probably did as well – multilingualism is historically the norm in Sudan, this has only changed in the past few centuries), they would’ve spoken what was most common. Arwa Nubian, Haraza Nubian, and lots of those other more southern-ly Nubian languages are unfortunately extinct, but I’d say Nobiin is a safe bet. I mean, we have an Old Nubian inscription all the way in Kordofan, it’s not hard to imagine Old Nubian or Old Nobiin being something of a lingua franca till Arabic came along, the same way Arabic is still a medium language between the different language groups of Sudan.
If you’re a member of a western-ly Arab tribe: I’m thinking Juhayna tribes, thinking Miseyriyya, talking about your Baggara and your Abbala and your Kababeesh: well, the Western Nubian languages that would’ve been most likely spoken in modern-day Western Sudan are largely extinct. But, I mean, Tid-n-Aal is a pretty good option.
But you know, you might not be interested in taking a name from a modern Nubian language: maybe you’re more into ancient Nubia. I totally get it. Plus, you know, there’s probably some cultural appropriation discourse to be had about picking a name from a modern Nubian language that you don’t personally speak, and you might not be comfortable with that. That’s totally fine!
In that case, I have two suggestions for you: either pick a Meroitic name, which lots of modern Nubians do as well (there are Nubian kids named Taharqa or Bi’aankhi, for instance), or pick an Old Nubian name, which is to say, a Christian Nubian name.
Once you’ve set your heart on a language, the next step is…
Step #2: Find a language-appropriate resource!
I’ll save you the Google search:
If you want a Nile Nubian (Nobiin, Andaandi-Mattokki) name, there’s this small list of Nubian names, divided by gender, specifically drawn from modern Nile Nubian naming practices – no archaic shit here. I have it on good authority that this list was also formed with the help of Nubian activists like Tanekalouit Touraouet, Kamal (Nubia Ambassador on Twitter), and the genius behind the Nubian Language page on Instagram. The list sometimes specifies if it’s of Nobiin, Andaandi-Mattokki, or Arabic origin, but not always. There’s also this great list and this SUPER EXTENSIVE LIST (where I found my Nubian name, hehe), but be warned: they’re in Arabic letters. Why is this a problem? Because the Nubian language has 10 vowel letters to Arabic’s whopping 3: the spellings here really won’t tell you how the name is necessarily actually pronounced, so watch out!
If you want a Tid-n-Aal name, Roland Werner’s study of Tid-n-Aal is the only place where I’ve encountered, like, an easy to read list of Midob names. And there aren’t even that many, and basically all of them are Tid-ized/Midob-ized versions of Arabic names, so I’ll just list them out here, with their Nubian alphabet spellings, too:
ⲟⲩⲡⲡⲁⲛⲇⲓⲙⲓ/Úbbàndímí: Werner thinks this word is connected to the Tid word for grandfather.
ⲙⲉ̄ⲧ/Mèet: The Tid version of the Arabic name Muhammad.
ⲙⲉ̄ⲇⲉⲛ/Méedèn: The Tid version of the Arabic name Medina.
ⲡⲉⲇⲛⲉ/Pèdné: Another Tid version of the Arabic name Medina.
Ϩⲁⲱⲁⲕⲁ/Háwáká: The Tid version of the name Hawaa (Eve in Arabic), with a diminutive suffix (like adding -ito/-ita in Spanish, or tasgheer in Arabic).
ⲁϩⲙⲁⲇ ⲁⲗ ⲁⲇⲟ̄ⲃ/Áhmád àl-Ádóob: The name of the purported ancestor of the Tid.
ⲥⲁⲓ̈ⲁ̄/Sayaa: The name of a Tid king.
ⲁ̄ⲇⲁⲙ/Áadám: Just take a guess.
ⲙⲁⲣⲓ̈ⲁⲙ/Máryám: Seriously, just guess.
ⲁϩⲙⲉⲇ/Áhméd: See previous.
ⲙⲁϩⲁⲙⲙⲁⲇ/Màhámmád: In case you weren’t into Mèet…
ⲁ̄ⲗⲓ/Áali: Tid version of ‘Ali.
ⲓ̈ⲟ̅ⲩ̅ⲥⲟⲩⲫ/Yúusúf: Tid version of Yusuf/Joseph.
If you want an Old Nubian name, the best resource is probs the Medieval Nubia Wiki, but unfortunately, this is a site for academics and not normal fucks like you and me, so there’s no explanation of what the names mean, or what genders they’re used for, or even a description of their origin, since this list indiscriminately includes Nubian versions of Greek names (like Ioannes/John/Juan or Georgios/George/Jorge) alongside indigenous names. Not to mention it’s scholarly transliteration, which means these names are spelled in a way that mirrors their Old Nubian spelling, but isn’t really great at telling a normal motherfucker how to pronounce them: like, how are YOU supposed to know Iesouaggikouda is pronounced “I-esoo-angi-koo-da” without some Old Nubian knowledge? Anyways, good list, though, even includes some Old Nubian forms of Arabic names like Mouhoumeti (Muhammad) or Ajjaji (Hajjaaj).
If you want a Meroitic name, my usual go to would be Rilly’s “The Meroitic Language and Writing System,” although it seems some nigga (Dr. A.G.M. Abdalla) has written a thesis that linguistically analyzes Meroitic personal names, which is probably way more detailed and better for the purpose, but I haven’t read it yet! To make up for it, I’ll list out some of the Meroitic personal names (names of royals) Rilly records in his book with Nubian spellings and a little pronunciation guide (not Meroitic spellings, cuz…there are no Meroitic keyboards). Hope that works for y’all! Should be noted: Amanai, usually shortened to Aman or Amani, is the name of one of the most important gods in Kushite religion, known in English as Amun. Rilly has speculated that Meroitic royals, after ascending to the throne, would always add Amani/Amanai to their name, hence why their names are always so fucking long, but who knows? We don’t even know for sure how these names were pronounced. That said, this Amani element is present in a lot of Meroitic names for the reason so many Sudanis got ‘Abd (insert name of God here) names.
ⲁⲣⲕⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓ/Arkamani: Or possibly Arakamanai? Every Meroitic consonant letter has the default vowel “a,” but this isn’t always reflected in the English spellings of their names. Anyways, Meroitic king, 3rd-century BCE.
ⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓϣⲁⲗⲟⲩ/Amanishalu: Known as Amanislo in English, another 3rd-century BCE royal.
ⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓⲧⲓⲭⲁ/ⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓⲧⲓⳟⲁ/Amanitigha/Amanitinga: The Meroitic “kh” was most likely pronounced “gha” or “nga” depending on the word, hence the two options: Amanitigha, or Amanitinga.
ⲁⲣⲁⲛⲉⲭⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓ/ⲁⲣⲁⲛⲉⳟⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓ/Araneghamani/Aranengamani: Another 3rd-century BCE king.
ⲛⲁⲭⳣⲓⲣⲕⳣⲟ/ⲛⲁⳟⳣⲓⲣⲕⳣⲟ/Naghwirkwo/Nangwirkwo: The Meroitic “h” was most likely pronounced either “ghwa” or “ngwa”: this is the name of a 2nd-century BCE Meroitic queen.
ⲧⲁⲛⲉ-ⲓⲇⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓ/Taneyidamani: The Meroitic “ya” was probably just a dummy letter, used to break up two vowels in succession that were parts of different words, thus…Tane-Idamani.
ⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓⲣⲉⲛⲁⲥ: The One-Eyed Kandake and Kwure (queen and ruler) herself. Rilly has speculated that her birth name might’ve been Arenas (meaning “you are tall,” cuz she might’ve been a chad of a baby), becoming Amanirenas once she ascended to the throne.
ⲛⲁⲕⳣⲁ-ⲣⲓⲛⲁϣⲁⲛ/Nakwa-Rinashan: Known in English as Naqyrinsan. 1st-century BCE.
ⲧⲉⲣⲉⲧⲓⲕⳣⲁⲥ/Teretikwas: Or maybe Teretikwash?? Anyways, 1st-century BCE.
ⲁⲕⲓⲛⲓⲇⲁⲇ/Akinidad: Or maybe Akinidada? Anyways, 1st-century BCE.
ⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓϣⲁⲭⲉⲧⲟⲩ/ⲁⲙⲁⲛⲓϣⲁⳟⲉⲧⲟⲩ/Amanishaghetu/Amanishanghetu: The ancient Nubian jewelry stan herself!
ⲕⲁϣⲧⲁ/Kashta: Just like the nickname of a certain Nubian rapper…
Now, this is all assuming you want a name that we know for sure Nubians have used as, you know, names. You might just be like: “well, I have a specific word in mind, and I want my Nubian name to be a translation of that.” Valid: the Werner book, for y’all Tid-n-Aal fans, has a Tid-English dictionary in the back. If you’re looking for a modern Nile Nubian language, tho, I recommend using either G.W. Murray’s English-Nubian comparative dictionary, Yousuf Sambaj’s Nobiin-Andaandi-Mattokki-Arabic-English dictionary, or, for the Andaandi-Mattokki fans, Charles Armbruster’s Dongolese Nubian: A Lexicon.
If you want an Old Nubian or Meroitic name, it’ll be a bit more complicated, though. The Rilly book will do you fine for Meroitic, but for Old Nubian, my favorite way to find words is just scroll through Vincent’s Reference Grammar of Old Nubian since he translates tons of Old Nubian there.
Step #3: Make sure you know how to pronounce it.
Don’t just guess based on the English or Arabic spelling: that is a highway to disaster. If you know somebody who speaks the language of the name you’ve picked, just go ahead and ask them! If you don’t know anybody, or have picked an ancient language that is now extinct, like Old Nubian or Meroitic, it’ll be more complicated. With Old Nubian, following Nobiin pronunciation rules and make sure you know how to read the Old Nubian alphabet – different from the modern Nubian alphabet – then give it a shot. Best you can do. With Meroitic, you gotta learn some IPA and read some linguistics shit. Sorry.
Step #4: Learn to write it in English, Arabic, and an indigenous alphabet!
No Nubian language has an official writing system, but for the most part, I think the modern Nubian alphabet with Kabbaran spelling is what I usually see Nobiin, Andaandi-Mattokki, and Tid writers use when they want to use an indigenous alphabet. If you need some help learning to write in modern Nubian by hand or on the computer, check out these videos! The Taras Press site and Suntuwekane also have some of the Geri Fai Omir books which teach Nubian literacy.
If you want to write in Meroitic, though, nigga you’re just making things harder for yourself. I have to make a whole other fucking thing teaching how to write Meroitic, Meroitic is more like Arabic than Nubian in how it’s written: right to left, also, you don’t write out every vowel like you do in modern Nubian or, say, Spanish or Turkish.
But, the challenge is character building!
Step #5: Choose a last name!
You can either go with your patronym (dad’s name), matronym (mom’s name, the tradition among Halfawiyyin and other Nile Nubians), or a place, clan, or tribe name: i.e. I could be Iesounkouda Mamitod (Iesounkouda son of Muhammad), Iesounkouda Massintod (Iesounkouda, son of the Mahas), or Iesounkouda Sawardantod (Iesounkouda of the town of Sawarda), or even Iesounkouda Jazirantod/Artintod (Iesounkouda of el-Gezira/the Island). The -tod suffix (meaning “son of”) is, of course, Nobiin: you can use nga/ngal if you want to go Old Nubian, or you can just not fuck with the suffixes. Also, if you’re a daughter and not a son, you can go with “as” or the Old Nubian form, “asti” (meaning daughter). As for a gender-neutral way to say kid…not sure, but I’ve seen tunynyi (the plural form of “tod”) used for “children,” but if you understandably don’t like the idea of males being the default, you can just go with “as” and use that as the default. I mean, who’s gonna stop you? There’s no language police!
Hope that helps? Next time I see you and ask “ⲓⲕⲕⲁ ⲛⲁ̄ⲓ̈ ⲓ̄ⲛⲛⲁ?” (what do they call you, AKA what is your name in Nobiin), I’m looking forward to hearing you respond with your very own Nubian name. :D