Naming System of Baduy Tribe

Name characterizes a person, place, object, without having trouble in describing it. We can imagine how difficult for us to call someone or say something considering how many people and kinds of things in this world. Therefore, there are efforts in naming system through conventions of each society. The Baduy community in the Banten region, Indonesia has a unique naming system. The name of a child is related to his/her parent. This study aims to describe the naming system in the Baduy community that has been going on so far and to examine the dynamics of its changes. Data collection methods include in-depth interviews (open-ended interviews) and observations, both participatory and periodic observations in the field, and the written document study method. The results show that the names for women are taken from the component of the father's name, whereas the names for boys are taken from the component of the mother's name. Indeed, not all Baduy names follow this pattern. There are also names that do not take component from the name of the father/mother due to their beliefs. For example, many Baduy women named Runtah which means 'trash/waste'. They believe that Runtah name is an enchantment in order for the child would not get sick easily. There also parents’ names belong to their children with additional surename like Ambu for mother and Ayah for Father.