Names in Uganda carry a lot of meaning. Many Ugandans have a local name chosen through their family’s tradition, often linked to the clan, the circumstances of birth or an ancestor, alongside a Christian or Muslim name given at baptism or in the faith. Naming may be marked by family ceremonies, such as the Baganda gathering to present children to the clan, while among the Batooro and Banyoro every person also receives one of a small set of respect names, the empaako. Here are some of the main traditions.

Buganda: clan names

Among the Baganda, each clan has its own set of names, so a person’s name often tells you which clan they belong to. Traditionally, the father’s clan held a ceremony to present children, confirm their membership and give them clan names chosen by elders. Twins have special names, with boy twins usually named Waswa and Kato and girls Nakato and Babirye, and their birth is celebrated with particular rituals. See our guide to the Buganda kingdom.

Tooro and Bunyoro: empaako

In Tooro and Bunyoro, besides their given names, people receive an empaako, one of about a dozen respect names such as Akiiki, Amooti, Abwooli, Adyeeri, Araali and Atwooki. Using someone’s empaako in greeting expresses warmth and respect, and the custom was inscribed by UNESCO in 2013 as intangible heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. Visitors to Fort Portal are sometimes given an empaako by their hosts. See our guide to Fort Portal and Tooro.

Names that tell a story

In many communities, names describe the circumstances of birth: the time of day, the season, a difficult labour, the birth order, or events in the family. In the south-west, Runyankore and Rukiga names often carry religious meanings, such as Tumusiime, “let us thank God”, or Ainembabazi, “God has grace”. Among the Luo-speaking Acholi and Langi, names such as Okello mark a child born after twins. See our guides to Acholi culture and Bakiga culture.

For visitors

Ugandans enjoy explaining their names, and asking what a name means is a good conversation starter with your guide or porter. Using people’s names in greetings matters. The gorilla permit costs US$800, or US$600 in April, May and November.

Frequently asked questions

Name Systems and Social Identity

Uganda’s naming traditions reflect the country’s ethnic and religious diversity through a layering of traditional clan names, Christian and Muslim given names (introduced through the colonial mission education system), and the empaako praise name system that is specific to the Banyankole, Batoro, Banyoro, and Batooro groups of western Uganda. A single individual in Ankole may carry a clan name that identifies their patrilineal descent, a personal name given at birth that reflects the circumstances of their arrival, a Christian or Muslim name acquired at religious initiation, and an empaako name that creates horizontal bonds of respect across clan boundaries. The empaako names — Abwooli, Amooti, Adyeri, Apuuli, Araali, Acaali, Acooli, Akiiki, Atwooki, Abbala, Abooki, and the royal name Okaali — each carry specific associations with character traits and obligations that the name’s holders are expected to embody and that people sharing the same empaako name are expected to honour in their interactions with each other.

The naming moment for a newborn child in the Baganda tradition — the kwabya omwana ceremony — is one of the most socially significant events in the family calendar, involving the extended family’s assembly, the clan elder’s naming authority, and the specific consultation process that matches the child’s birth circumstances with the appropriate name from the clan’s naming vocabulary. The name given at birth carries specific expectations about the child’s character and the family’s intentions for them — names from the clan’s heroic tradition signal ambition, names from the agricultural tradition signal rootedness, names from the protective tradition signal the family’s desire for the child’s safety in a world that is still understood to require supernatural as well as human protection. The Christian or Muslim name that accompanies the traditional name since the mission education period does not replace it — it occupies a parallel identity layer that the education and administrative system accesses while the traditional name continues to function within the family and clan context.