Ga Names in Colonial Records
Written Ga Names in The Colonial Records of the Accra Town Council
By Elton Kwei
In my time on the building Early Accra Project, where I digitize colonial archival materials, there have been many misspelt local names and surnames by the governors and officials in charge of keeping the records and forms. I was going through a set of files dating from the late 1890s to the 1930s when I realized that most of the Ga names in the colonial official documents were spelt differently from what I am used to as a person of Ga descent.
Ga is a Kwa language spoken by about 745,000 people around Accra, the capital of Ghana, with a phonetic distinction of three vowel lengths. There are 26 letters based on Latin alphabets, and the Ga alphabet does not have C, Q or X (Wikipedia, 2021).
Paying attention to small details can go a long way in maintaining the ethnic identity of the Ga people. Every name of the Gas is a descriptive term with a cultural context. The names are in correlation to Day names, Family names, Sabla names, Stool names and Deity names.
Some of the files I have come across had the name Densua spelt as Dainsuah, Dannsuah or Dansuah. It could be that the Dannsuah was to be spelt as Dansowaa. The Ga phonetic alphabets might have been a problem for the officials documenting the names of the people, and they ended up misspelling the names.
The name Dede was spelt as Deday and, in some cases, Dedey. Aryealey in lieu of Ayeley; Boakyewaa documented as Buachewah, Adukoi for Adukwei, Lamchoe for Lankwei and Lamtchoi for Lantso. Tsotso is spelt Chochoe, Amehley instead of Amerley; Adjeley had two variations Adjaley and Adjailey.
Other names of foreign origin can also be identified amongst the Gas. Some of these names, such as Kpakpovie, are borne of different ethnic groups like the Ewe and the Akan. Some others, like European names, are as a result of the relationships and intermarriages between Ga and European people living in castles, forts and plantations. There are some official papers bearing the name Vanderpuye Vanderpuije, Reindoff and Reindorf. There were also names of Brazilian origin, such as Peregrino, Ribiero and Nelson, amongst others. Some other names I have come across are O’dametten and O’lokko.
The family name Addy is sometimes spelt as Arday, Okuei for Okwei and Janfie instead of Gyamfi. Also, some towns like Tarkwa were recorded in the books as Tarquah. And Winneba as Winnebah. Korley Gono had variations of Korli, Korle, with Gono and Gonno. Kin Bu is sometimes written as King B’wu.
These are examples of differently spelt and misspelt names I have encountered while digitizing these documents on the building Early Accra Project, but there are many more. Likely, the colonial officials found it difficult or tedious to directly spell out the names they heard in the written text, so they went with their version of how the names sounded.
About the Author: Elton Kwei is the Digitisation Officer on the building Early Accra Project. He is a dynamic IT enthusiast who has undertaken digitization projects with several Ghanaian institutions. His educational background is in Computer Science and Economics (BA)