An Onomastic Analysis of Character Names in Bessie Head’s Maru and When Rain Clouds Gather

ABSTRACT: This literary onomastics paper explores character naming in two of Bessie Head’s novels, namely, When Rain Clouds Gather and Maru , both set in villages of Botswana. The purpose is to illustrate how the author uses character names to advance her themes and storylines. The paper relies heavily on the lexical transparency of the names from a structural linguistics perspective and on the sociocultural contexts of the names from a sociolinguistics perspective. The analysis reveals that Head’s choice of character names is intentional and deliberate, meant to achieve a specific purpose, and this is reflective of the process of names and naming in real life scenarios, particularly in the African context. The names mirror the sociocultural contexts of the characters and in the process reveal their personalities, physical attributes, and the types of relationships they have with other characters. The paper concludes that Head employs a lot of symbolism and irony in naming her characters, powerful features that help to effectively communicate her themes.