Bad Wigins wrote:
HardLoper wrote:what's with the ones with two "Kip" names then, like Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich.
They can evolve into surnames, just like Europeans ended up with surnames like Svenson or Karlovich that were originally patronymics, not surnames.
Or what about Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, where Cheruiyot sounds like a family name, but then there's Edwin Cheruiyot Soi, where both of them sound like a family name.
Think "Chep"-ruiyot. Mercy "Chep"-rono. Dennis "Kip"-metto. Linguistic effects can add or subtract a consonant to the prefix depending on what follows it and the accent or dialect of the speaker.
Maybe a Kenyan can tell me about Kamau for Ngugi, it looks like a birth name to me.
I'm vaguely curious now, thinking of David Lekuta Rudisha, does him name work the same way? or is it different because he is masai rather than kalenjin?