The Origin & Meaning Of The Luo (East African) Name "Obama"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on Luo (East African) naming traditions.

Part II provides excerpts from online articles about the origin and meaning of the Luo name "Obama", with special focus on the genealogy of United States President Barack Obama.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/excerpts-from-selected-articles-about.html For Part I of this series. Part I provides an excerpt from an article about the Luo ethnic group as well as excerpts from selected articles about Luo naming traditions.

The content of this post is presented for etymological purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
Part II
INFORMATION ABOUT THE NAME "OBAMA" (with special focus on United States President Barack Obama's descendents)

These articles are quoted in no particular order. Numbers are assigned for references purposes only.

Excerpt #1
From https://www.thoughtco.com/obama-last-name-meaning-and-origin-3860852 Obama Surname Meaning and Origin by Kimberly Powell, Updated March 03, 2017
"Obama is an ancient Kenyan surname, found most frequently among the Luo, the third largest ethnic group in Kenya. The surname is believed to be patronymic in origin, meaning "descendant of Obama." The given name Obama, in turn, derived from the root word obam, meaning �to lean or bend.�

Traditional African given names often reflect the circumstances at the time of the birth. Thus, the given name Obama may mean a child born "bent," such as with a crooked spine or limbs, or possibly refers to a breech birth.

Obama is also a Japanese word meaning "little beach."

Surname Origin: African

Surname Variations: OBAM, OBAMMA, OOBAMA, O'BAMA, AOBAMA,

WHERE DO PEOPLE WITH THE SURNAME OBAMA LIVE?

WorldNames publicprofiler indicates that individuals with the Obama last name are found in greatest numbers in the country of Japan, especially in the Okinawa and Kyushu regions. However, this site does not include data from Africa. Forebears.co.uk shows the highest distribution of the Obama surname to be in Cameroon, with the highest density in Equatorial Guinea, where it is the 10th most common surname. The name is next most common in Kenya, followed by Spain and France.

FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH THE SURNAME OBAMA
Barack Hussein Obama - 44th president of the United States

GENEALOGY RESOURCES FOR THE SURNAME OBAMA
Ancestry of Barack Obama
Learn about the deep African and American roots of Barack Obama. His African roots stretch back for generations in Kenya, while his American roots connect to Jefferson Davis.�

****
Excerpt #2
From http://forums.canadiancontent.net/hot-topics/111274-what-meaning-name-obama.html "What is the meaning of the name 'Obama'?" B00Mer, Nov 8th, 2012
" "Obama" is a name from the Luo ethnic group of southwestern Kenya, where Barack Obama, Sr. was born. It was originally the given name of Barack Obama's great-grandfather. It is based on the Luo (technically, Dholuo, the name of the language of the Luo) word bam, which means "crooked, slightly bending."

The prefix O means "he," and many Luo male names begin with it. Since most traditional Luo names were given by the baby's mother referring to something about the child's birth, the best guess is that when Obama's great-grandfather was born, one of his arms or legs looked slightly bent.�...
-snip-
This article continue with the etymology of the names "Barack" and "Hussein� (the first name and the middle name of President Barack Obama.)

****
Excerpt #3
From https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bR8wLfqrEfIJ:blog.jaluo.com/%3Fp%3D764+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
[This site is no longer available except in this cached version.]

"Re: What does �obama� mean in Luo | Jaluo dot Kom
blog.jaluo.com/?p=764
Re: What does �obama� mean in Luo

3 Replies
Quoting marc bauer :

Dear Dr Odundo:

Would you please reply to this email? I am wondering what the word �obama� in Luo means. Would you please help me?

Thank you in advance.

Marc Bauer
[Great Falls Montana, United States of America]

� � � � � � � � � � �

O � male
BA � father
MA � Mother

The original name came as a result of the cry of a young woman who was having her first child, and kept screaming for days while in labor, �Ba, Ma� in reference to her father and mother. It is not uncommon for a Luo woman or man in extreme pain to remember and call for their parents. The �O� at the beginning simply denotes that the child was male.

Odundo jaKarateng�

� � �
Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 05:50:43 -0400
From: odundo@ . . .
Subject: Re: What does �obama� mean in Luo

This entry was posted in Who's Who on May 28, 2008 by alangreen.

? Re: Things have really changed! Nyambane in China? Amani on US Tour ?
3 thoughts on �Re: What does �obama� mean in Luo�

achieng nya alego May 29, 2008 at 7:58 am
so if it was a girl it would it be Abama?

Okoth L. Sola May 29, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Obama.

Bam means bent or crooked.

Bama means bend me.

Obama would mean one who bends things. Just like Otiya- one who is aged, Odhera- one who is thin or Ochwea one who is fat.

I know of a bow legged person called Obama Nyopiyo because of the way he walks.

However some names are gotten from great great grand parents that i am not sure we can trace their original meanings.
Like Obado, Oselu , etc.

To emphasise their uniquiness, they dont have their feminine pairs.
Umesikia Mtu anaitwa ABAMA, ABADO, ASELU?

SOLA.

wuod omera April 30, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I concur with the meaning of the name obama to have connotations with being bent or crooked.no doubt being the name of the most powerful person on the planet it has aroused immense interest so let us who speak dhok not confuse the good people of the world who might be sitting at their computers doing Google searches on the meaning of ja alego�s name.of course the man belies the meaning of his name ,he being a straight arrow politician.

now , jothurwa ,i would like to ask the meaning of some of the following luo names:
1. Midika
2. Oronje
3. Agumba
I once knew friends with these surnames but never got to asking them about their meanings."
-snip-
I've not found this article's first explanation for the name "Obama" on any other website.

****
Except #4
From Google books
Obama Senior. A Dream Fulfilled
By Donde, Fredrick
East African Educational Publishers, Aug 6, 2015

"The Obama Patriarchs [Chapter 2, begins on page 13]

Page 14
..."The Luo regarded the land as their mother, and the tribe as a whole was the proprietor of the land of the land within its jurisdiction. Within the tribe, clan, or sub-clan, the individual laid claim to a piece of land or several pieces depending on his diligence, but he used the land for the benefit of his family, only as long as he lived in the community; as soon as he left to live elsewhere the land reverted to the community and was allocated to the nearest neighbor or given to a newcomer joining that community.

Opiyo, the great- great- grandfather of [United States] President Obama thus located suitable land that he cleared for and claimed for himself. By the time he moved from Alego to Ka� Rachuonyo, Opiyo had got married to two wives, one from Nyakach, and one from Mbita Wasaki, both in Nyanza. It was the latter who bore him his first born, a son that he named �Obama�, Mama Sarah explains. Obama son of Obiyo was born in Ka� Rachuonyo.�...
-snip-
"Mama Sarah" is United States President Barack Obama's step-grandmother.
Here's information about "Mama Sarah" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Onyango_Obama
"Sarah Onyango Obama (born 1920) is a Kenyan educator and philanthropist. She is the third wife of the paternal grandfather of U.S. president Barack Obama.[1] She is known for short as Sarah Obama; she is sometimes referred to as Sarah Ogwel, Sarah Hussein Obama, or Sarah Anyango Obama.[2] She lives in Nyang'oma Kogelo village, 30 miles west of western Kenya's main town, Kisumu, on the edge of Lake Victoria.[3][4][5]

Although she is not a blood relation, Barack Obama calls her "Granny Sarah".[2][6] Sarah, who speaks Luo and only a few words of English, communicates with President Obama through an interpreter."...

****
Example #5:
From http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/opinion/24iht-edkristof.1.10333269.html
"Obama's Kenyan roots" By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOFDEC. 4, 2008
....[Barack] Obama's late grandfather is said to have been the first person in the area to wear Western clothes rather than just a loincloth. For a time he converted to Christianity and adopted the family name Johnson.

Later he converted to Islam, taking four wives. Obama's father, who apparently converted to Catholicism while attending a Roman Catholic school, was also polygamous in keeping with local custom, taking an informal Kenyan wife who preceded Obama's mother but remained a consort, according to accounts by local people and the senator himself.

The father, also named Barack Hussein Obama, was as much of a pathbreaker as his son. He went from herding goats in Kogelo to studying in Hawaii and at Harvard, even if his career as an economist was frustrated in part by ethnic rivalries.

Obama barely knew his father and does not know his Kenyan relatives well. He has visited Kenya three times, most recently very briefly in 2006."...
-snip-
This article doesn�t include the number of times that twice elected [former] President Barack Obama visited Kenya as of the date of this pancocojams� post publication [June 1, 2016]

****
Excerpt #6
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_Sr.
"Barack Hussein Obama Sr... 18 June 1936[2] � 24 November 1982) was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

[...]

Early life
Barack Obama Sr. was born in 1936 in Rachuonyo District[3] on the shores of Lake Victoria just outside Kendu Bay, British Kenya, at the time a colony and protectorate of the British Empire. He was raised in the village of Nyang'oma Kogelo, Siaya District, Nyanza Province.[14] His family are members of the Luo ethnic group.

His father was Onyango (later Hussein) Obama (c. 1895�1979), and his mother was Habiba Akumu Nyanjango of Karabondi, Kenya, Onyango's second wife. They had two daughters and a son together, Barack Obama (Sr).

After Akumu separated from Onyango and left the family in 1945, her three children were raised by Onyango's third wife, Sarah Ogwel of Kogelo.[5][15]

As a young man, the senior Obama traveled widely, enlisting in the British colonial forces and visiting Europe, India, and Zanzibar. There, Obama converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam and took the name Hussein. He became a cook for missionaries and a local herbalist in Nairobi.

[...]

Barack Obama Sr. Parent(s): Hussein Onyango Obama and Akumu Habiba[5]

****
This concludes Part II of this two part series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Categories: African names and naming traditions Kenyan culture Luo President Barack Obama

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Excerpts from Selected Articles About Luo Naming Traditions (East Africa)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on Luo (East African) naming traditions.

Part I provides an excerpt from an article about the Luo ethnic group as well as excerpts from selected articles about Luo naming traditions.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-origin-meaning-of-luo-east-african.html For Part II of this series. Part II provides excerpts from various online articles about the origin and meaning of the Luo (East African) name "Obama" with special focus on the genealogy of United States President Barack Obama.

The content of this post is presented for etymological purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
Part I

INFORMATION ABOUT LUO [ETHNIC GROUP)
From http://www.kenya-information-guide.com/luo-tribe.html
"The Kenyan Luo tribe is a subgroup of the larger Luo community that spans across Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Congo and Ethiopia.

The people of Kenya are comprised of 42 ethnic groups or tribes, each with its own unique values, skills, language and cultural practices.

The luo tribe is the third largest community in Kenya and makes up close to 13% of the entire population. History suggests that the Luo travelled along the River Nile from Sudan. They made entry into Kenya around 500 years ago and established settlements in the lands surrounding Lake Victoria- Africa�s biggest fresh water lake. Their arrival took place in phases.

[...]

Political History of the Luo
Under British colonial rule, the Luo people did not have their land taken from them, unlike some other Kenyan tribes. The Luo community has been a key player in the Kenyan political scene since the pre-colonial times. Some of its favored sons in the pre-colonial and post-colonial period include...

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga
Being the first vice president of Kenya, he arguably was the biggest force in the Luo political landscape at the time. He was deemed to follow a communist approach and was an exact foil of the founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. His differences with the president later led him to pioneer the birth of opposition politics in Kenya. Interestingly, the Luo community still continues to stage opposition politics today. He died in 1994.

[...]

Kenya's other famous People from the Luo Tribe
Other well-known Luo people include Washington Jalang'o Okumu [and] James Orengo. Obama [Senior] - the late father of Barack Obama, the current president of the United States of America, was from the Luo tribe.

The Luo tribe has traditionally produced many scholars and other educated persons, including some who have graduated from very prestigious colleges around the world. As a result, Luo professionals are dominant in nearly every area of the Kenyan economy, business and government, serving as university professors, doctors, engineers and lawyers."...

****
EXCERPTS FROM SELECTED ONLINE ARTICLES ABOUT LUO NAMING TRADITIONS
These articles are quoted in no particular order. Numbers are assigned for references purposes only.

Excerpt #1:
From https://www.villagevolunteers.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Luo-Cultural-Guide1.pdf
A Cultural Guide to the Luo People

"Introduction
Around the sixteenth century, the ancestors of the Luo began migrating from the Bahr alGhazal region, south of the Nile, finally settling on the eastern side of the Lake Victoria basin. They continued arriving in a steady stream until the nineteenth century. Practitioners of pastoralism, they spoke a western Nilotic language known as DhoLuo, which is distinct from the language spoken by their neighbors.

Currently, the Luo are the third most populous tribe in Kenya, comprising over 13% (2.8 million) of the country�s population and many of its most influential intellectual and political minds. Due to the supra-national states created during the scramble for Africa by European colonists in 1884-85, there is also a significant number of Luo people living in neighboring Uganda and Tanzania.

Culture
Culture permeates the daily life of the Luo. From the name one receives at birth, to the placement of one�s grave at death, culture and tradition dictate movements of the society. Because of countless deaths due to the AIDS virus, there are fewer and fewer elders to pass down customs, and the cultural fabric of the Luo society is unraveling.

An example of Luo culture, representative of life in Luoland, is the naming process of the Luo people. Luo names refer to forces or spirits that exist beyond the immediate presence of life on earth. When individuals are deceased, they are referred to as the spirits of the ancestors. The means by which children receive spirit names is tied directly to the position of the sun in relation to the earth when they are born. Different names carry different personality characteristics. So, when meeting a stranger on a dusty crossroad, one gains insight into the character of that person simply by learning the individual�s name.

Luos name their children at the time of day that they are born, for example: Atieno is a girl born at night, Akinyi is morning, Achien�g when the sun is high.

Akeyo is the name given during harvesting, and Apiyo and Adongo are twins, with Apiyo as the name of the first to be born. The first letter of a name also indicates gender: �A� signifies a woman, and �O� for a boy. For example, Otieno would be the name of a boy and Atieno for a girl, both of the same name.�...
Page 1 of 5"

****
Excerpt #2
https://friendspioneer.wordpress.com/kenya/name-giving-traditions/ Naming-traditions

"Name giving traditions in the Luo- tribe
A Luo is given three names. A first name that now more and more often is an international name, as Joseph, Leonard, Florence etc. The second name depends on the conditions of the day or time of the day of birth. For example if it was an early morning or a rainy season. The day Obama was elected as a president, many children was given Obama as their second name!. The third name, the surname, is the fathers second name. Further on the second name starts with an A if it is a girl and an O if it is a boy. Take Josephs second name: Opiyo, which means fast, normally used for the first twin, but for Joseph he was an early born, only 6 months old he wanted to come out and start living, he even bounced down on the floor, he was that eager! But if it would have been a girl instead, the name would have been Apiyo.

Below we are explaining some of the names that our children have:
Achieng: Hot sun, midday
Adiambo: Evening
Owilli: Forgetful
Awiti: Thrown away
Okoth: Rainy
Oyoo: Season for rain, but also used as a Hallo!!
Akinyi: Morning
Amondi: Early morning
Okinda: Determined
Odello: Hungry
Atieno: Night
Onyango: Daytime�

****
Example #3
From https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Luo_surnames
"Appendix: Luo surnames
Main category: Luo surnames
List of Luo Surnames:

Luo names follow an order pattern of (1) a Christian given name (these used at least for the past two generations), (2) a personal surname (selected from among over 50 "special" attributes, usually relating to the circumstances of a birth, see below), and (3) a patronymic, the child�s father�s personal surname (a woman assumes her husband�s at marriage). Thus, e.g., Valentine Odhiambo Pengo or Philomena Ogwang Odede.

The commonest Luo �personal surnames� are as follows (O- always indicates a male; A- indicates a female; about 85% of Luo names include one of these). The meaning is indicated, when well known and accepted.

By spelling distortion, �personal surnames� finishing by the �lo� letters can also be find with a double �l� as Akello for Akelo or Omollo for Omolo etc.

Agina
Adida
Obong'o/Abong'o -- Only child
Ahenda
Hera -- "Love"
Obama � Twisting
Obiero/Abiero -- born with the placenta (biero mean placenta)
Obonyo/[Abonyo] -- Born during locust infestation (Bonyo is locust)
Obura/Abura -- Born during a meeting (bura mean meeting)
Oburu/Aburu -- Born during a funeral (buru mean ash)
Obuo/[Abuo] -- Is a medicinal water plant
Ochanda/XXXXX -- Difficult birth (Same for male and female)
Ochieng�/Achieng� -- Born with the sun shining (Born about Noon & after (12n �2pm)) (chieng' mean sun)
Ochola/Achola -- Born after the father�s death
Ochuka/[Achuka] --
Odede/[Adede] --
Odero/Adero -- Born during a during a period of abundance (dero mean a granary)
Odhiambo/Adhiambo -- Born in the afternoon (Born around dusk (3-6pm); Born in the evening; Born after sunset) (odhiambo mean afternoon)
Odhon�g/Adhon�g -- Very old name; Meaning "Fist"
Odek - Born when mother had gone to pick traditional vegetables from farm
Odika/[Adika] -- Something that Steps hard on the ground
Odinga - Luhya Origin
Odiwuor/Adiwuor -- Born at night Like Owuor/Awuor(11pm-2am)
Odondi/[Adondi] -- Quarrelsome
Odongo/Adongo -- Second born of a twin pair
Odoyo/Adoyo -- Born during weeding
Oduol/[Aduol] -- Born in the father's house (Duol)
Oero/Aero -- Very old name; Meaning "To Love"
Ogola -- Born outside the house, just under the eave
Ogol -- Remove
Ogolo --Striger weed
Ogot/[Agot] -- Born on a hill (Especially if the mother had taken a walk not expecting the child to come).
Ogutu/[Agutu] -- Born next to the traditional Luo Ugali Bowl (Called Ogutu or Hagudu)
Oigo/[Aigo] -- Wrestle with
Ojwang'/Ajwang' -- Born after father died
Ojuok -- Born by the intervention of a spirit (juok mean spirit)
Okelo/Akelo -- Born after a pair of twins or the third born of triplets
Okech/Akech -- Born in famine
Okeyo/Akeyo -- Born at harvest time
Okinyi or Okinyo/Akinyi -- Born at dawn (Born just after dawn (6am-10am); Male form rare
Okombo/[Akombo] --
Okomo/Akomo -- Born in prosperous times or during planting
Okongo/Akongo -- Born during celebration especially where alcohol brew is plenty
Okoth/Akoth -- Born during rainy season (koth mean rain)
Okumu/Akumu -- �Mysterious birth�: Conception after a birth, but before resumption of menses (kum mean punition)
Okungu/[Akungu] -- Born during the outbreak of caterpillars, which was also an indication of impending bumpler harvest.
Oloo/[Aloo] -- It's the luo name for Adam
Oludhe/[Aludhe] -- Provoking, as the case of Peninah to Hannah in the Bible
Oluoch/Aluoch -- Born during a cloudy season
Omolo/Amolo -- Born around dawn (4-6am)
Omole
Omondi/Amondi -- Born around dawn (6-10am). Mostly men, used interchangeably with Akinyi for women
Okoka/[Anoka] -- Luo for Enock
Ondiek - Monster or A wild animal especially the Leopard
Oneko/[Aneko] -- Mad or Wild
[Ong�ina]/Ang�ina -- Round
Ongonga/[Angonga] --
Onyango/Anyango -- Born in the early morning (Born before Noon (10am-12noon)
Ooko/Aoko -- Born out-of-doors (usually unintentionally!)
Ooro/Aoro -- Born during dry season (oro mean drought)
Opiyo/Apiyo -- First born of a twin pair
Opolo/Apolo -- Very old name; Meaning Heavenly
Opondo/Apondo -- born hidden (pregnancy was not visible)
Osano
Otieno/Atieno -- Born at night (7- 11pm) (otieno mean night)
Otiende/[Atiende] -- Luhya Origin
Ouma/Auma -- Infant delivered into a prostrate position on the ground
Owino/Awino -- Born with umbilical cord around neck (Born covered in meconium or caul)
Ounda
Ouko
Ochanda
Owiti/Awiti -- �Thrown out�: Mother disowns infant for difficult birth as an apotropaic gesture
Owuor or Odwuor/Awuor -- Born between midnight & 2am
Oyange/Ayange -- Very old name; Meaning Discovered"
-snip-
This page also includes a list of �Other Luo surnames, not following the �classic� pattern�

****
Excerpt #4
From http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37912748 "Africa's naming traditions: Nine ways to name your child" By Adelaide Arthur, BBC News
30 December 2016

[...]

Day and night
Among some groups in eastern and southern Africa, certain names are selected depending on the time of the day or season a child is born.

[...]

Olweny means time of war (Luo)

[...]

While the Luos are very specific:
Omondi (dawn)
Okinyi (morning)
Onyango (mid-morning)
Ochieng' (sunny midday)
Otieno (night)
Oduor (midnight)
Girls are given the same names but starting with an A instead of an O."

****
This concludes Part I of this two part series on Luo naming traditions.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Categories: African names and naming traditions Kenyan culture Luo President Barack Obama

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