The Efik people of old had eight days in a week just like the Hebrews one of the major Hebrew practices which the Scottish missionaries met in the mid-19th century Old Calabar. A list of most proper names is given below S/N All these are what the Efik people refer to as proper names which appear in official documents and are used in genealogical tracings. Examples of such male names shared by females include Ekpenyong (Ekpenyonganwan for female). Most Efik names for men can also be adapted for women by a simple introduction of the suffix-añwan, but strictly female names cannot be so adapted. The Abatim descendants of Eniọñ pride themselves in names like Erete, Esañ, Ekpiken, Amaku, Obiom, Ikpeme, Onoyom and Okure. Obutong has names like Oso, Eso, Adim, Asiya and Amata while Usukakpa people have kept theirs as Osukpọñ, Ntekim, Ọdiọñ, Uyi and Mba.
Distinguishable names like Atiñ, Antigha, Esemin, Esu, Ebieme, Etifit, Ọkpọ and Ọrọk are common in Eñwañ while Ukorebi and Ndem are remembered among the Abayens. Quite apart from the Iboku clan and its sub-groups, other clans also have their identifiable names like Mbọ, Otu, Efa, Adoka, Anyin and Asa in Adiabọ Ankot, Eniañ, Ani, Ọfiọñ, Etọn in Mbiabọ clan.
Names like Ekpo, Efiom, Edem are for the Efiom Ekpo group while Efaña, Ewa and Ekeñ have stuck to Nsiduñ of the Efiom Ekpo group of Iboku clan. Names like Akabom, Itam, Okpo, Mkpang and Ene are immediately linked to Otung sub-clan of Iboku whereas names like Oku and Esien are linked to Mbarakom sub-clan of the same Iboku. The system of naming is the same in all the clans but the names are so different that, in time past when there was a lot of control over name usages, children could easily be traced to their ancestral clans by the very nature of their names. The Efik tribe is made of twelve clans traceable, either patrillineally or matrillinearly, to the founding ancestor, Iboku. The first son could also have a first son named after his own father Eyo whose genealogical name now reads Eyo Akabom Eyo Akabom (Eeyo also for short) while the second son will have his first son’s genealogical name as Eyo Eyo Eyo Akabom (Eyo-Ita or Eyita for short). The same man named his second son after himself Eyo thus the second son’s genealogical name becomes Eyo Eyo Akabom (Eeyo for short). Once the names are given, descendants of the bearer naturally continue these names in a fashion demonstrable by this example.Ī man named Eyo whose father was Akabom named his first son after his father and the child’s genealogical name reads Akabom Eyo Akabom, meaning Akabom the son of Eyo and grandson of Akabom. This is one unique feature of the Efik people. The Efik, as a tribe, do not use the sentence format of names as observed among their neighbours and all other tribes in the country. Only some oriental proper names that came with the people in the 13th century into Nigeria which could be found in the Holy Bible could be said to have meanings. Most Efik proper names are historical, many of which depict their oriental origin. Most of these names have been proudly adopted as surnames by some families who still view them as consequential. It is imperative to add that the early contact made by the Efik people with the Europeans also impacted on their names which the people refer to as Anglicization. These include proper names which trace children genealogically to the founding ancestor of the Efik tribe names that indicate what day or time of day that a child is born, the pet name kind traceable through time to the parent after whom the child is properly named and a system of names used only by peers and contemporaries oftentimes indicating valor or some other exceptional attribute of note.
The Efik people have a system of naming categorized into four.
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