Abstract:
Scholars on anthroponyms are agreed that African names are not mere appellations. Igbo personal names are loaded with pragmatic, historical and ideational information and meanings. The names represent normal language expressions. This is why Igbo names could occur in different structural forms ranging from single lexical items to clauses. The clausal names could be simple declarative (affirmative and negative), conditional/subjunctive, imperative/prohibitive and interrogative. Igbo names could be derived from virtually every type of structure in the language. Based on the general assumption that names are supposed to be brief and mnemonic, this paper focuses on the processes of morphemic reduction and nominalization of Igbo desentential (clausal) names and the consequential phonological and morphological processes of elision, assimilation, clipping and tonal changes. These processes could lead to changes in the meaning of the names, or lead to total loss of meaning which could only be recovered by some etymological reconstructions.