Usually last names in Ngabere designate where you're from. Basically, you add "-bu" to your origin to get your last name. If you're from Calante, your last name would "Calanbu". If you're from Kwite, your last name would be Kwibu.
When I got to Calante, the first order of business was getting a Ngabere name. We had a community-wide meeting to discuss this matter of grave importance. The oldest woman in the community was consulted. It was a big deal.
For the last year and a half, my name has been Oti. Supposedly, there's no meaning, that it's just a name from the area. In fact, one of the other volunteers from my training group had the same name given to him.
Now there's the matter of my last name, which is not Calanbu, but is instead Grabu. During the community meeting, someone had suggested Grabu and the entire community burst into laughter. Yes, the tribe had spoken. My name would be Oti Grabu. I had no idea what it meant. My name could be Oti Chicken$#!& for all I knew, but I already had all my chips on the experiential table, so I've worn my name like a badge of honor.
There are many communities scattered along the river basin with an intricate network of trails connecting everyone. My "job" involves a lot of hiking so, naturally, you run into a lot of people. If I see someone I've never met, I stop and introduce myself, say where I live, what I'm doing here, etc. Whenever I tell the person my full name, I'm sure to make them laugh. I ask what it means, why my name is so funny. They kinda shrug. Some give me some vague story about how it's the name of the river. I bet.
So after awhile of consistently making people laugh by introducing myself, I looked up my name (don't know why I hadn't done it right after the original meeting). Under gra, the book lists: handle, stem, stalk, support. That seemed to jive with the nebulous stories I'd heard about someone cutting down sections of forest near the river. Maybe the river got its name from the handle of the ax used to clear those areas of jungle. (In a culture without much storytelling or songs, the stories of the past are disappearing quickly). But it was really the last definition in the book that caught my attention.
Gra: puberty ritual for boys
That would explain a few things all right. So I started calling people out on it. But the funny thing is, they've sworn up and down that it was the name of the river, that the name was here long before the white kid showed up. They still laugh whenever I use my name, but I tend to believe them.
So who knows? They could be laughing because I have an old Ngabe name that is so nuanced it's funny to hear some gringo claiming it as his own. Or I could be going through puberty. Either way, my name is a good ice-breaker. It has embedded PR value. Anyone I meet will smile and could never be intimidated by the tall white guy who's still going through puberty.
I don't fully understand their sense of humor, but my name helps bridge the gap. And so on one level, I can have a joke between us, and on a completely different level, I have the inside joke with myself of having a name fitting for all the changes that have transpired in this chapter of my life.
