Apatani naming system

In Apatani tradition we have got two distinct sets of first names for males and females. Most of our names don't bear any meaning, and we also use them only for the sake of naming human beings :)
Many times people asked me : "What does your name mean ???" Huh !!! Luckily my name has got a meaning so I can tell them what it is, but actually most of them don't have any.

While trying to sort out the typical Apatani names I realised that most are very specific to us, and it seems that we don't share a common naming system with other decendants of Abotani such as Nyishis, Adis, Galos, Tagins etc. (anyway I'm sure that we must have a few names in common). In Apatani we prefer to rename the newborn babies with the names of some of our ancestors (close paternal relatives only), with this restriction that two living persons of the same clan should not share the same ancestor's name. That undoubtely encourages the use of a wide array of names. In case of untime death of a man whose son was still in the mother's womb it is preferable to rename the son with the name of his father (this is a rare case). Also, there are few common names which can be used for both sexes, e.g. Sai, Kameng and Yarang. In this post I have tried my best to recall the names we use in Apatani. They are as follows :

Male names

1	APA	46	JILE	92	PUNU	138	TALING
2	APO	47	KACHO	93	PUSSANG	139	TALLEY
3	ATO	48	KAGO	94	RADHE	140	TALLO
4	BAARO	49	KAMENG	95	RAMBO	141	TALYANG
5	BAAKU	50	KANI	96	RANKA	142	TAM
6	BAATH	51	KANO	97	RAVIN	143	TAMA
7	BAKHANG	52	KARA	98	RAYO	144	TAMANG
8	BIDA	53	KECHI	99	RIBYA	145	TAMER
9	BUDDA	54	KHODA	100	RICHO	146	TAMING
10	BUKER	55	KHOKHUNG	101	RIKA	147	TAMO
11	BUTANG	56	KOJI (KOJEE)	102	RIKU	148	TANGU
12	BYAI	57	KOJING	103	RISSANG	149	TANHA
13	CHADA	58	KOYANG	104	RONYA	150	TANI
14	CHALO	59	LAAI	105	RUJA	151	TANYANG
15	CHAMA	60	LALI	106	SAI	152	TANYO
16	CHATUNG	61	LALING	107	SALA	153	TANYUNG
17	CHILYANG	62	LALYANG	108	SALU	154	TAPA
18	CHOBING	63	LAMPUNG	109	SAMA	155	TAPING
19	DELYANG	64	LASA	110	SAMBYO	156	TAPU
20	DEMPYO	65	LAJI (LAZHEE)	111	SIIRA	157	TARA
21	DIIBO	66	LENTO	112	SHAH	158	TARE
22	DODUNG	67	LODER	113	TAAMU	159	TARANG
23	DOLANG	68	LOMA	114	TABING	160	TARI
24	DOLLEY	69	MAILYANG	115	TABYO	161	TARO
25	DOLO	70	MAJI	116	TACHA	162	TAARUN
26	DOLYANG	71	MALI	117	TACHANG	163	TASSANG
27	DONYI	72	MILLO	118	TACHO	164	TASSER
28	DUKHUNG	73	MIMA	119	TADA	165	TATH
29	DURI	74	MOBING	120	TADEY	166	TATU
30	DUYU	75	MODA	121	TADII	167	TATUNG
31	EKHA	76	MUDO	122	TADO	168	TAYO
32	GAMBO	77	NAKU	123	TADUH	169	TAYU
33	GRAYU	78	NAPA	124	TAGIA	170	TAYUNG
34	GYATI	79	NEHA	125	TAGIO	171	TIINI
35	GYUTHE	80	NYIKANG	126	TAGLANG	172	TUPE
36	HAARE	81	NYIME	127	TAGO	173	UMA GURO
37	HABUNG	82	NYIPA	128	TAGUR	174	YAAPA
32	HACHANG	83	OBING	129	TAI	175	YADO
38	HADU	84	OMMO	130	TAJANG	176	YARANG
39	HAGIO	85	PADA	131	TAJO	177	YUBE
40	HAILYANG	86	PAI	132	TAKER
41	HALLEY	87	PALANG	133	TAKHA
42	HASSANG	88	PAYANG	134	TAKKE
43	HINDA	89	PIILO	135	TAKI
44	JARBO	90	PILYA	136	TAKU
45	JARJO	91	PUMBO	137	TAKUNG

Female names

1	AMER	32	MODII	64	RINYA	95	YALO
2	AMPI	33	MONYA	65	RINYO	96	YALU
3	AMUNG	34	MOPE	66	RIPA	97	YALUNG
4	ANKHA	35	MUMPA	67	SAI	98	YALYO
5	BUNE (BIINE)	36	MUNNE	68	SHANTII	99	YAM
6	BUNYI	37	MUNYA	69	SIRI	100	YAMA
7	CHAJANG	38	MURPING	70	SOKI	101	YAMANG
8	CHOKU	39	MURYANG	71	SOLI	102	YAMI
9	CHOZER	40	NAAPI	72	SUMPA	103	YAMII
10	DIMING	41	NAMPI	73	SUMPI	104	YANA
11	DISUNG	42	NYIMUNG	74	SUNKA	105	YAMING
12	DUMI	43	ODII	75	SUNKU	106	YAMUNG
13	JALYANG	44	OMANG	76	SUNYA	107	YANI
14	JAYO	45	ONYA	77	TAACHI	108	YANKA
15	KAKU	46	OPYUNG	78	TANE	109	YANKU
16	KAMENG	47	OTUNG	79	TAADO	110	YANYA
17	KAMPU	48	PABO	80	UNYII	111	YANYO
18	KANYA	49	PAMPI	81	YAAJE	112	YANYUN
19	KARI	50	PAMUNG	82	YAAMI	113	YAPA
20	KIIMER	51	PANE	83	YABII	114	YAPII
21	KOLYANG	52	PAPI	84	YABO	115	YAPYANG
22	KONYA	54	PAPU	85	YABYANG	116	YARANG
23	KUPU	55	PIIRA	86	YADI	117	YARI
24	MADO	56	PUBYANG	87	YADII	118	YARING
25	MAMUNG	57	PUMING	88	YAGUNG	119	YASE
26	MANDI	58	PUYANG	89	YAJA	120	YASSING
27	MANGKA	59	PUNYA	90	YAJI	121	YASSUNG
28	MANU	60	RALYI	91	YAKE	122	YATUNG
29	MAYU	61	REEMU	92	YAKANG	123	YAYING
30	MENII	62	RIJA	93	YAKHA
31	MIDU	63	RILUNG	94	YAKU

Tanii parents generally like to select "rhyming pairs" for naming their sons and daughters, e.g. Chada-Chama for two brothers and Rinyo-Rinya for two sisters. Pairs such as Kojing-Pussang or Dumi-Yami are also said to be "rhyming".
Addressing people by their names is considered as polite among us. But whenever we adress others, depending upon certain factors such as sex/age/relation etc., we also care to address them in a very gentle way. Thus there is a certain decorum for addressing people. For example if a person's name is Rinyo (i.e. female name), we can address her as Anyo, Nanyo, Kanyo.
Similarly for :
Rilung (female) => Alung, Ilung.
Yanku => Anku,Nanku
Tajo => Ajo
Tatu => Natu
Tai (male) => here we prefer to add prefixes such as Nama => Nama Tai.
Tallo => Lallo, Pallo.
Puming (female) can be sometimes addressed as Ampi
Pubyang (female) can be addressed as Otung

Note*** : Ajo, Ampi, Nama, Nanku and Otung can be used as separate names as well.

Note****Dear Tanii readers, please do not hesitate to point out the missing names from the lists. I might have missed some names and needed your contribution.

Apatani names
naming customs