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ORÚKỌ, ORÍIKÌ AND ORÍLẸ̀: THE UNIQUE GENIUS OF THE YORUBAS IN HUMAN NOMENCLATURE



Just recently, I was discussing with an adult Yoruba man and I asked him what is the Orílẹ̀ of his family so that I could tell him where his family originated from. But surprisingly, not only that he did not know his family’s Orílẹ̀ but it would seem he has not even heard the word Orílẹ̀ before. When I asked him what is Oríkì is, it took him about five minutes before he could remember.

This would have been understandable if he had been a man born of a Yoruba father and a Briton or American mother who has never been in Yoruba-land in his life. But this is a man born of two Yoruba parents, and who has lived all his life in Ibadan.
It is this that then prompted me to put down these few words as a matter of urgency so that the heritage of our ancestors would not die out.
If this present trend continues, I wonder if in the next 50 years any Yoruba person would know what an Oríkì is, not to talk of what an Orílẹ̀ is.

Where I grew up, we have a saying which goes as follows:-
Àìríse ní í mú onílù lọ sí Gaa, se Fulani lórúkọ ni, abi o lóríkì which when translated goes as follows:
It is lack that makes a drummer praise-singer to go to Gaa ( a place where Fulanis live), does a Fulani have a name (that can be praised) or an Oríkì (that can be recited).
We also have a saying which goes thus:
Èmi o ni ki Gambari má sun rárà, kó sá ti mà kì’ran àn mi which when translated goes as follows:
I do not forbid a Hausa praise singer to sing praises, so long as he does not sing the praises of my family.

I included these sayings not in order to promote or assert the racial superiority of the Yorubas above other nationalities in Nigeria, but to show forth the fact that the Yorubas are aware that they themselves are the only race in the world which has a name (Orúkọ), an Oríkì ( a cognomen) and an Orílẹ̀ ( a totem).
No other tribe or race in the entire world has this three-fold nomenclature, and it is something that is worth preserving by us as it is one of the things that make us unique and set us apart.

In fact if the Yoruba system of nomenclature had been a tangible object it would have been something that the UNESCO. would have preserved as a World Heritage because it is the only one of its kind in the whole wide world.

Now ask the person next to you, if he is a Yoruba person, "Do you know your name, your Oríkì and your Orílẹ̀". If he knows the three give him ten over ten; if he knows only the first two give him four over ten; but if he knows only his name give him zero.

In ancient times, the Yorubas did not use to bear their father’s name or grandfather’s name as their surname as is the case now.
Each individual was known by their personal name (the Orúkọ) his cognomen (the Oríkì) and his totem (the Orílẹ̀ )
The current system that is now prevalent of an individual being recognised by his name and his surname came into Yorubaland through our adoption of the British System of nomenclature when being registered for school.
Up till now if you meet a pure Yoruba of the “un-educated” type and ask him his name, what he will tell you is his personal name and Oríkì. It is only if you press him for his surname that he would now tell you his father’s name.

Now to our matter; Orúkọ is the personal name of a Yoruba person his Oríkì is his attributive or cognomen, while his Orílẹ̀ is the totem of his family.
For an illustration, under the Yoruba System of nomenclature, the full names for the purpose of identification of the writer of this article will be Ayodele Àjàó Ìjí.

Ayodele being my personal name (Orúkọ), Ajao being my cognomen (Oríkì) and Ìjí being the totem of my family on my father’s side.

The Totem, Orílẹ̀ : there are many Orílẹ̀s in Yorubaland. The Orílẹ̀s denote the original family stock from which an individual descended. It is a means whereby the pedigree of an individual may be traced. From your Orílẹ̀ you can know where your forefathers originated from. For an instance I am from Ibadan; my forefathers in the recent past were from Oyo-Ile; they vacated Oyo-Ile and came to Ibadan when Oyo-Ile was deserted for fear of invasion by the Fulanis. However from our totem Ìjí, I understood (though no one ever told me the story) that we were descended from the Onigbeti, which shows that originally we were from Igbeti. This is because Ìjí is the totem of the Onigbeti.
Other totems in Yorubaland and some known persons from that totem are:

Òpó (post) :- This is the totem of a noble Oyo family. This shows that people having this totem are originally from Oyo-Ile. A popular family belonging to this family is the family of the Emir of Ilorin family. Though they are Fulani on their father (Alimi)’s side; the family adopted the totem of their mother, a Yoruba-woman who though being Alimi’s second wife produced the first two sons of Alimi, and her lineage had been producing the Emirs of Ilorin to the exclusion of the sons of the Fulani wife who was the first wife ever since.

Ìjí:- This is the Totem of the Onígbẹti. People having this Totem are originally from Igbẹti, the totem being that of the Onigbeti. A popular family bearing this totem is the family of Adegoke Adelabu (Penkelemesi) of Oke-Oluokun Area, Ibadan.

Ẹ̀lọ́:- This is the totem of the Ẹlẹ́rìn. People bearing this totem are originally from Ẹ̀rìn-Ilé, it being the Totem of the Ẹlẹ́rìn. The families of the Ẹlẹ́rìn of Ẹ̀rìn-Ilé in Kwara State and the Ẹlẹ́rìn of Erin-Osun in Osun State are some of the families bearing this totem.

Àró:- This is the Totem of the Aare Latoosa family of Ibadan who was the last Aareona Kakanfo of Yorubaland to fight a war. The last two Aareona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, namely Akintola of Ogbomosho and Abiola of Abeokuta were merely ceremonial as they were appointed after the war-era in Yorubaland, even though they also managed one way or the other to die in battle as is customary for anyone bearing that title.

Ọ̀gọ̀:- This is the Totem of some Ijesha families. People bearing this totem are originally from Ijeshaland. Prince Sunday Adegeye (King Sunny Ade) is one popular person I know bearing this totem, so originally his family must have come from Ijeshaland, even though he now claims Ondo as his place of origin.

Ògún:- This is the Totem of the family of the Bashorun of Oyo-Ile; however Alaafin Abiodun Adegoolu whose mother was of the Bashorun of Oyo family adopted the totem of his mother (the Bashoruns of Oyo being then in the ascendant during the reign of Bashorun Gaa) and since then this totem has also been the totem of all descendants of all Alaafins of Oyo from Alaafin Abiodun Adegoolu downward. The ruling families of Oyo who are now exclusively of Alaafin Atiba lineage and the families of the Bashoruns of Oyo are some of the families bearing this totem. So anyone bearing this totem is either from Alaafin of Oyo or Bashorun of Oyo families.

Erin:- This is anciently the totem of the old lines of Alaafins before Alaafin Abiodun Adegoolu. All the families bearing this totem descended from the old lines of Alafins of Oyo before Alaafin Abiodun Adegoolu. So anyone bearing this totem is from the old lines of Alaafin of Oyo.

Okin:- This is the totem of the Olofa of Ofa and the Oloro of Oro both now in Kwara State. The royal families of Olofa and Oloro are the popular families bearing this totem. Anyone bearing this totem descended from either of these two families.

Ade:- This is the totem of the Onikoyi. Anyone bearing this totem is originally from Ikoyi, one of the principal towns in the Ekun Osi Province of old Oyo. The status of the family is now greatly reduced and the family carries on their existence in a town of that name in Osun State. Anyone bearing the totem is originally from Ikoyi of the Ekun Osi Province of old Oyo and I believe though I am not sure that the Onikoyi family of Lagos is a scion of this noble family.

Ẹ̀rí:- This is the totem of the Oloyan. Anyone bearing this totem is originally from Oyan in Osun State. The royal family of Oloyan are the popular people bearing this totem.
Other totems are

Ìkọ́:- the Totem of the Olokunesin family of Oyo. It is the official duty of the title-bearer of this family to hold the reins of the horse of the Alaafin whenever he wants to mount or dismount from his horse and it used also to be his priviledge to die with a dead Alaafin, to go with him to the great beyond to continue to hold his horse for him. However this practice died out when after the death of Alaafin Ladigbolu 1, the Colonial Government prevented the then Olokunesin from being compelled to die with the dead Alaafin, Ladigbolu, even though the then Olokunesin was still made to die mysteriously. Anyone bearing this totem is from the family of Olokunesin of Oyo.

Baba Rev. Samuel Johnson (Àyìnlá-Ògún) the then CMS Pastor of Oyo in his book History of the Yorubas (first published in 1897) also identified other totems as being Edu, Ojo, Agbo, Ekan, and Oge. I don’t know anything about these totems and so I will not be able to expatiate on them.

I know it is not everyone that is intrested in things like this, but for those who like me, have an obsessive interest in knowing the origin and true meaning of things and the lores of Yoruba land, I commend this post.

By: Daniel Ayodele Adeniran Àjàó-Iji

Do you still have lpfo if so send me a scanned copy of allocation paper to ayodeleadeniran@gmail.com

Do you still have lpfo? if so send me a scanned copy to ayodeleadeniran@gmail.com. Thanks