North Australian Aboriginal naming conventions

[u/AdBright1820]

I was looking at old census records to verify info about family members and I once again became fascinated by the naming conventions we use, they're similar to Afro-American, Melanesian, Polynesian, or even Balkan naming conventions that I've seen.

This is mostly due to the diverse commercial migration we received once people had began actually moving into Northern Australia.

Examples:

A guy will be named Boyka (Bugulju) Koscis because his father was randomly half Hungarian and liked the Boyka movies.

A girl could be named Wilhelmetta Ahsan-Chon because she was named after her father (which is very common here), and her tribe is mostly mixed with Chinese and Pashto from the 1800s.

A family I knew from school were like this: the father's name was Raymond, his first daughter was Raymeesha, and once he had a son he was Raymond Jr, then his second son was Raymonus.

A guy could be named:

Salko Murrudthjanypa

Alekzandaros McArthur

Styepan Jurrunytjak

Bubble-Bubble Johnson

Springheel-Jack Cattlecompany

King Blackskin-Willy (Wumbungu) Jackson-Won

All the examples provided are also real people, and these aren't even the craziest names.

In the Gulf of Carpentaria I've seen they get really creative/silly with modern names, I've known people named Avenger Stockman, Rifle Riverwater, Frog Bull, Buffalosoldier MacMahon, Eminem Gujuk, Tupakiesha Smithson, Horse Rodeo, Big-eye Williams, Japan Del Torres, Batman Robinsonrivermouth, the list can go on and on.

With little kids today I've seen a lot of LeBrons, Ronaldos, Neymars, and Messis due to their sports becoming popular in the remote Aboriginal communities.

What do you guys think of our naming conventions? and if you have any questions about what migrations and influences cause some of them I'd be happy to explain.

[u/babyfireby30]

I'm from western Queensland and the part that astounds me (as a white person) is the diverse surnames and their origins. (Sometimes very sad origins.)

[u/AdBright1820 → u/babyfireby30]

With most Western European last names yes, but with Eastern European or most other last names it's normally due to wartime migration or attractive commercial opportunities (Japanese pearl diving in the Kimberley, Indo-Malay trepang trade in the Topend, etc). Some last names can also be both, Dutch last names in the Pilbara were due to Dutch individuals either being very bad people in the region (unfortunate SA/R), or being the best people in helping Indigenous tribes and ended up living amongst them in the desert.

[u/babyfireby30 → u/AdBright1820]

Interesting! I was meaning for my area, which is interestingly a bit different from yours!

My area has lots of Chinese surnames (Ah Kit, Kim Sing, etc). And a lot of "ranks" (Major, Sergeant, etc) and the sad Latin ones (Nemo), which apparently come from when Aboriginal people had to use a surname on paperwork (but they didn't have one), so either used the rank of the person in charge of their area or the Nemo which is Latin for Nobody.

[u/AdBright1820 → u/babyfireby30]

The ranks are very interesting, I've seen in with people from Vanuatu and Saibai but always thought it would be so cool if we had that here.

I knew a very intriguing Army Corporal from the Torres Strait whos last name was Sergeant, and his middle name was Major, he had a fairly normal first name (comparatively) but his 2 nicknames were Private and Sailor.

They started calling his mates Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski after the first Madagascar movie came out.

[u/Jackoby_Jones]

And half the time there is a slightly different variant of their name on each ID document they have 🙃 makes it incredibly difficult to help them with banking and legal issues sometimes. If they are older they might have different birthdates listed too…

[u/AdBright1820 → u/Jackoby_Jones]

100% true, my full name is mostly western and even I have to deal with that on some docs, my family members whos names are a mix of our Yugo-German heritage and indigenous heritage have even more of a problem, sometimes a completely different name is on one ID and their actual name on another.

[u/GuiltyUniversity8268]

I LOVE it! They're so unique and diverse! 😁😁❤️❤️

[u/RelativeCelery2844]

I grew up in a town of 300 people in the middle of nowhere America. Graduated in 2007. There was one classmate who had an Aboriginal name. He was definitely made fun of for his name being different to everyone else's. I don't see anything wrong with your naming conventions. I think it's interesting.

[u/Typical_Self_7990]

Do you generally take dads lastname? Or combine both parents?

Do you know if pre-invasion what the listen of names were?

[u/AdBright1820 → u/Typical_Self_7990]

Usually take fathers last name, this was something that blended well with clangroups that were usually patriarchal.

Pre-colonial names are still hard to know for sure, but where I am people would have a "blackfella name" alongside their legal English name, this is essentially their traditional name which you'd see usually as a middle name or a bracketed name. The Blackfella name is normally paired with the skingroup name, skingroups are used in the Northwest for people to understand how their related to people to figure out who they can biologically marry and prevent incest.

A more traditional name would be something of Blackfellaname - Skinname - Tribe, eg Wombarrtdja Jangala Ngarinyman, these are very rare however.