MORPHOSEMANTICS ANALYSIS OF IHEMBOSI PERSONAL NAMES

Abstract

Personal names in Igbo society function as linguistic texts that encode history, belief, identity, worldview, and social experience. This study investigates the morphosemantics of twenty personal names from Ihembosi, a town in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State. Emphasis is placed on names that share common root morphemes, as well as circumstantial names derived from specific life events. Using a qualitative descriptive research design, data were collected from twenty respondents aged 40 years and above who are indigenous residents of Ihembosi. Through morphosemantic analysis—combining morphological decomposition and semantic interpretation—the study identifies the dominant morphological processes in the selected names, including compounding, derivation, and semantic extension. The findings reveal that Ihembosi names reflect themes of divine reverence, resilience, lineage pride, kinship, wealth, bravery, gratitude, and survival. Circumstantial names encode lived histories and serve as oral archives of family experiences. The study concludes that personal names in Ihembosi possess rich morphological structures and deep cultural meanings, reinforcing the interconnectedness of language and identity in Igbo society. It recommends the documentation of indigenous naming practices to preserve linguistic heritage.