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The Connection between a Personal Name and Name Groups in Shawnee Social Organisation

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I’m always attracted to and interested in the culturally distinct and characteristic elements of different traditions or societies. Reading about the Shawnee people of Native American tribes is no different. I immediately fell in love with the linkage between Shawnee name groups and personal names. The name groups seem to present the Shawnee as a one-descent group with five major divisions. To examine this connection between a personal name and name group, a brief description of Shawnee will help in understanding the Shawnee social organisation.

Shawnee People

The term ‘Shawnee’ written in different forms (Shaawanwaki, Shaawanowi lenaweeki, and Shawano) is Algonquian like the archaic term ‘shaawanwa’ meaning ‘south.’ Thus, the term ‘Shawnee’ is (pronounced shaw-nee) meaning the ‘southern people.’

The Shawnees are categorised as Algonquian-speaking North American Indian people whose pristine homeland was the greater part of the middle Ohio River Valley region comprising today’s Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. With the European colonisation of eastern North America, Shawnee’s traditional lifestyles were disrupted; the impact of the spread of European diseases and various raids led to their displacements and resettlements in somewhat today’s Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. But the Shawnee continued to be moved around through different treaties with the United States Congress: the 1825 treaty made the tribe cede their Missouri lands, a 1.6-million-acre reservation in today’s eastern Kansas. This led to other Shawnees relocating to Texas and Old Mexico and latterly to southern Oklahoma.

In the 1831 treaty, the Ohio Shawnees ceded their lands and were removed to Kansas where they joined the Shawnee tribe members from Cape Girardeau. Because of the constant antagonism, conflicts, and pillaging by white settlers, most Shawnees relocated to Cherokee Nation in northeastern Oklahoma. However, with the Shawnee Tribe Status Act of 2000, through Public Law 106-568, the Shawnee Tribe’s status has been restored as a sovereign Indian nation. Though, today the Shawnees are grouped into three federally recognised tribes: The absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Shawnee tribe.

The Divisions

The Shawnees have five divisions that are organised through some patrilineal clans, where their civil chieftaincy authority was passed on by hereditary, and chiefs in battle were chosen based on bravery, experience, and prowess. They include:

  • Chillicothe – This is the English version of the term ‘Chalahgawtha.’ Chillicothe was the name of the main village of the division.
  • Hathawekela – The French version of the term is ‘Chalaqua.’ Among the Shawnees, the Hathawekela claimed to be the ‘elder brothers’ and the first created people of the tribe.
  • Kispoko – A name that means swamps or marshy grounds. The Kispoko were considered the smallest of the five divisions during the 18th century.
  • Mekoche – Notably, Shawnee healers came from the patrilineal division of Mekoche.
  • Pekowi – Shawnee ritual leaders came from the Pekowi patrilineal division.

The Name Groups and Personal Names

The Shawnees have six name groups that are very common among the five divisions of the tribe and individuals are said to belong to a name group because of a personal name given to the individual shortly after birth. The name groups are:

Table: 1 Shawnee Name Groups

Name Group

Representation

Pellewomhsoomi (Turkey)

Bird life

Kkahkileewomhsoomi (Turtle)

Aquatic life

Petekoθiteewomhsoomi (Rounded-feet)

Carnivorous animals: dogs, wolves, or those with paws that are ball-shaped or rounded.

Mseewiwomhsoomi (Horse)

Herbivorous animals: horses and deer.

Θepatiiwomhsoomi (Raccoon)

Animals with paws that can rip and tear, like a raccoon or bear.

Petakineeθiiwomhsoomi (Rabbit)

A gentle and peaceful nature.

C.F. and E.W. Voegelin wrote about Shawnee name groups and linguistically analysed personal names of Shawnees as both ambiguously and subjectively linked and likened to their name groups. In this case, the meaning of a personal name is dependent upon the context and disposition of the name-giver. Also, the analysis of an individual’s personal name will reveal if that individual belongs to your name group or another’s.

A classic example of an English name was used as an analogy to illustrate the Shawnees’ interpretation of personal names. The name ‘Robinson’ allows for different interpretations: It could mean that the person is the ‘son of a Robin.’ This means that the individual, who bears the name ‘Robinson’ belongs to the ‘Bird’ name group. Another could interpret the name ‘Robinson’ to mean ‘a robbing son.’ This means that the individual who bears the name belongs to a ‘rounded-feet’ name group that includes animals like dogs and wolves that plunder and rove around.

But personal name ambiguities are not usually found in cases of sex gender whereby the final elements of names are used to determine the person’s sex gender. For examples:

Table: 2 Personal Names linked with Name Groups

Name

Meaning

Gender

Name Group

Mayataakwipiiwehsi

One who has curious feathers

Feminine

Turkey

Mayataakamhsi

One who reclines in peculiar water

Feminine

Turtle

Mayataakwihsimo

One has a queer voice.

Masculine

Turkey

Pepekihsimo

One who calls in the dark.

Masculine

Rounded-feet

pepekitaakamhsi

One who is in the dark water.

Feminine

Turtle

Papekitaapama

One who looks at dark things.

Feminine

Turkey

Haapetaapiyeskaka

One who is coming along making his feet go in a hurry.

Masculine

Raccoon

The example above in Table 2 shows a few different final elements in different personal names, such as ‘hsi’, and ‘ama’ for feminine and ‘imo’ and ‘aka’ for masculine. Also, the table reveals that feminine and masculine personal names can belong to the same name group as is the case of Mayataakwipiiwehsi (one who has curious feathers) and Mayataakwihsimo (one who has a queer voice).   

When an individual was given a name by the name-giver, it happened that the name was a characterisation of the individual’s personality and the connectedness of the individual to the animal. For example, if an individual is named a ‘rounded feet’, it means that that individual is of a bad disposition. If you are a Horse person, that person kicks like a horse, while Turtle people are considered the best-disposed people, and Rabbit people are viewed as the most teachable people. And if for any reason an individual is given a name that relates to any animal that does not get sick, it is said that the individual will always enjoy good health.

One important fact about name groups is that they function as friendship groups whereby all members of the same name group will boast about the animals, they have been associated with their name group and make fun of other name groups.

There is a lot to learn from the Shawnee people’s social organisation. Among many other things is the meaning they attached to name groups and personal names. In as much as personal names can distinguish a male from a female, both can still belong to one name group.

Source:

VOEGELIN, C.F. and VOEGELIN, E.W. (1935), SHAWNEE NAME GROUPS. American Anthropologist, 37: 617-635. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1935.37.4.02a00070


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