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Names are important to Afrikan=Black people of the continent and diaspora as, traditionally, one’s name is seen as playing a crucial role in the fulfillment (or lack thereof) of one’s life purpose. However, due to enslavement and neo-enslavement in the diaspora as well as colonialism and neo-colonialism on the continent, many Afrikan=Black people now give their children the names of their enslavers or colonial enemies. In this article, we utilize a comparative anthroponymic analysis making use of case studies from two institutions, namely, the Institute of African Studies (IAS)–University of Ghana at Legon and Abibitumi Kasa, with locations in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Accra, Ghana, in order to observe how some Afrikan=Black people adopt Eurasian names and/or reclaim Afrikan names, as well as the forms such names take. In our findings, we observe that in the case of names from Abibitumi Kasa, pulling largely from the diaspora, Afrikan=Black individuals tend to have names from all over the Afrikan world whereby the first name may be from one cultural-linguistic group while the surname is from another. There also may be a disparity whereby a preferred Afrikan=Black name may be different from one’s “legal” name, which may still be Eurasian. In the case of IAS, we find that names tend to be either from colonial enemies, a single Afrikan cultural-linguistic group, or a mixture of these two. In conclusion, we argue that these tendencies of the continent and the diaspora as represented by these two Afrikan=Black institutions may serve as a litmus test for understanding the current state of Pan-Afrikanism.

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In this study, we undertook an experiment in which native speakers of Akan were given serial verbs both with and without oblique non-verbal elements (such as relator nouns, direct objects, postpositions, etc.) and asked them to construct Serial Verb Construction Nominals (SVCNs) from them. We found that, by and large, when not given said non-verbal elements, speakers were not able to construct nominal forms. In another task, we gave speakers nominal forms and asked them to deconstruct them to the constituent serial verbs from which they were derived. Time and again, speakers gave, not only the serial verbs, but also the non-verbal elements even though they were not asked to do so. Gestalt meanings were also given by speakers when asked the meanings of individual elements. Thus, the semantic integration and lexicalization that takes place in full lexicalized-integrated serial verb constructions extends not only to serial verbs but also to these non-verbal elements which, to native speakers, seem to form just as important a part of the SVC as the verbal elements. Thus, we argue that definitions of SVCs, henceforth, should not prejudice the serial verbs to the detriment of other equally important parts of the construction.