Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 14, 2008

NUNAVUT - When the commissioner of the Northwest Territories sent Abe Okpik out on his whirlwind trip to record surnames across the territory in 1970, the Inuit system of naming was changed forever.

Tom Kabloona of Baker Lake was named for his grandfather, Jacob Kabloona, who was known as a good and fearless hunter. - photo courtesy of Joyce Kabloona

"We got this instruction as we did with many of the things with colonialism. For Inuit we had no choice but to adapt to the new way of naming our children, of having new names for each one of our families," said Peter Irniq, former Nunavut commissioner and MLA.

Prior to this, Inuit were known by their given names only, by who their parents were, or by the disc numbers given to them as identification by the government.

In 1970 - the territory's centennial year - Commissioner Stuart Hodgson hired Okpik to visit each community where there were Inuit or Inuvialuit in the NWT, and ask every family to choose a surname.

During Project Surname, many were encouraged to take their father's name, while others chose other family or community members as their namesakes.

Tom Kabloona chose his grandfather's name as his surname.

"I was named after my grandfather, Jacob Qablunaaq. From what I understand he was a great hunter and a fearless one, and I never really got to know the man, but his late wife was Jesse Oonark, the artist," said Kabloona from his home in Baker Lake.

"There's a story behind that name, because when my grandfather was quite small, just a baby, he was a very sick baby. (His) grandmother had a dream one night that she was dreaming about white people - qablunaaq - and when she woke up the next morning she said, 'We have to change his name from the name he had before to Qablunaaq,' because she had a dream about white people. And after they changed his name he would get sick but would not stay sick for as long."

Jacob's biological mother died when he was very small and his father remarried. While his father went out hunting, his stepmother would not let him near the tent or the iglu. But when his father was home, Qablunaaq would be treated like a regular family member, according to Kabloona.

"So when he was growing up, he said to himself that, 'When I grow up I'm going to be a good hunter,' and before he died he asked his daughters that if they had a boy they should name him after him, because he wanted to know which daughter was the good mother that he never had," Kabloona said.

Tom Kabloona's mother was not the only one of the daughters to name her child for her father, and there are quite a few Qablunaaqs in the family, he said.

So when Project Surname came about, he decided to choose the name Qablunaaq, out of respect for his grandfather. It was recorded as Kabloona.

"I often tell my daughters not to name their boy after me because the pressure to be like the person who had the name can be (difficult)," he said. "From what I heard from my stories about my grandfather Qablunaaq, he was a great hunter. When you were a boy in those days there was the pressure to become a hunter at a very young age. To become a provider, it's essential. Just before you called I was out checking the weather so I could go out hunting. And if you ask any one of my daughters if they go out hunting and if they ever shot a gun before, they'll all tell you the same thing, they're all crack shots. I didn't have any sons but I teach them the basics."

Kugaaruk's John Ningark chose his surname a bit differently.

"Mine's kind of unique," said Ningark. "Ningark means angry, and my relatives tell me (that) when I was a kid, I don't know how old I was, anytime someone said 'hi,' I'd get angry.

"Every time someone wanted to shake my hand or touch me, I'd get angry, so people started calling me angry, 'ningark.'"

Having been known by this nickname into his adulthood, Ningark said it was an easy choice to make when Abe Okpik came knocking on his door during Project Surname.

But his choice of a surname wasn't totally without a downside, Ningark remembered.

"There was a drawback. I remember my first two or three kids used to come back home from school kind of feeling down. They said, 'people call me ningark, they call me angry, ningark.' Kids were being teased, but that's over and gone a long time ago," he said.