Kipsigis Naming System
The Kipsigis are a Nilotic people living in Kenya. They make up the Kalenjin ethnic group and speak Kipsigiis language which falls under the Nandi-Marakweta languages cluster. The Kipsigis observe a naming system which is similar or the same to the other Kalenjin. The system observes that every name of a person, object or place has a meaning. The system has been subject to westernization and attrition to linguistics due to the Kenyan adoption of Swahili language as a lingua-franca and the dynamic view that indigenous languages are provincial or backward. Naming is referred to  as Kogoochinet-aab Kainaiik. Names are referred to as Kainaiik. Names of People. Masculine Names. Firstname (Kip/Kib Name). The first name of the Kipsigis males is prefixed by the term Kip and then added a cervix descriptive of the prenatal, natal or post natal places or time or weather and situations. It was to be widely used before initiation and rarely after, only as the mother mourns a dead soldier son or during divorce. Patronymic 'Araap' Surname. After males were initiated at about their late teenage and early adulthood, they would come out as having achieved citizenship of the  Kipsigis jurisdiction and would be accorded a patronymic surname derived from the first name of the father. For instance, if the father is named Kiptoo, his son after being initiated is accorded the name Araap Too. Feminine Names. Matronymic 'Tab' Maiden Name. Other female names A barren woman however could marry another woman under marriage custom called "Kitunji Toloj" in order to ensure that she had children to pass on her property. She is thus taken for a "man" i.e. had to pay for dowry. She is then referred to as Chemenjo or Chepotipiik. Names of Places. Naming of places  followed acquisition of territory of another 'foreigners' or establishment of new village settlements. Places were usually named after trees, wildlife, prominent personalities and/or peculiarity of the locality. Place names could also have been borrowed after successful expeditions of territory expansion thus names of such earlier inhabitants may be retained.