Praise Names among Heterosexual Igbo Women in Nigeria: Construction of Identity, Social Positioning, and Egalitarian Femininity

Among heterosexual Igbo women in Southeastern Nigeria, the use of praise names is an essential aspect of their cultural socialisation, expression of feminine essence, and tranquil marital union. Relying on a social constructionist understanding of doing gender and socio-onomastic theory, this article investigates the motivations and layers of signification that married Igbo women ascribe to praise names in their varied communities of practice. Drawing on an ethnographic approach using semi-structured interviews with 25 participants who were purposively sampled in two friendship networks in Anambra State and Enugu State, we argue that heterosexual Igbo women have ambivalent attitudes towards praise names in negotiating gender boundaries: they adopt names that either conform to or resist stereotyped patriarchal regimes; thus praise names are utilised as tools for doing and/or undoing gender. In this way, praise names provide performance platforms to measure women's sense of self-worth, increase their visibility in the public space, and accentuate their social personality.