How Gas, Ewes, others came to bear Akuapem names

Nowadays, it is not unusual to hear a native of a Ga, Ewe, or other community bearing an Akan name, particularly that of the Akuapems.

Despite this, however, there is especially high prevalence of indigenes of Gas who have Akuapem names.

The rise in this occurrence, the Kronti Asafohene of Akropong explains, is borne out of the high marriage rate between Akuapems and the Gas.

The reason, he reveals is simply because they are the tribe closest to the Akuapem people with regards to their proximity.

Taking his turn on GhanaWeb’s People and Places, Nana Addo Kwataa noted that the people of Akuapem are open to all persons regardless of the tribe.

“Previously it was very rare to hear the name Serwaa or Prempeh in Akuapem... but you can find the Neequaye’s, Obodai’s, the Pappoe’s jumping about in Akropong…”

He cited a town within the Akuapem enclave where the major indigenous language spoken is Ga. Nana Addo Kwataa explained that “Ketase is a mixed town where they speak more of Ga than even the Akuapem, so we have that link with the Gas.”

“In the same vein when you enter the Ga territory, you will hear the Offei-Ansah, you will hear Addo, Opare; a Ga man called Opare causing trouble in Accra, a whole lot of things happening.

“Here again, you hear certain Ewe names like Mawuli, Enyonam etc, but there are certain particular names that you hear when you get to Ho; ‘Manukre,’ this is an original Akuapem name but the person is an Ewe because his father or mother comes from this place. Or his ancestors are from here,” Nana Addo Kwataa added.

The Akuapem chief also disclosed that there are some residents in the area bearing names of Northern Regional indigenes due to the intermarriages.

“… now it is so common that we have all the tribes coming in. Recently we have some northerners section here, so we have the Babuga, Tarere. All of them are here now and are part and parcel of the system,” Nana Addo Kwataa stated to Wonder Hagan.

The incidence of naming individuals after influential persons is also characteristic of the Akuapems.