Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 21, 2008

NUNAVUT - While Project Surname forever changed the way of naming in the North, the practice of it remains strong with many Nunavummiut.

"My job as a parent today is to teach my children the true and honest characteristics of these people they are named for," said Millie Kuliktana of Kugluktuk.

Millie Kuliktana of Kugluktuk believes an important part of her job as a parent is to educate her children on the characteristics of those for whom they are named. - photo courtesy of Millie Kuliktana

Kuliktana's maiden Inuinnaqtun name, Pigalak, was her father's, but she took her husband's when she married.

While the origins of Pigalak aren't known to her, the characteristics of the man who passed it on are.

"He might have been named after someone from many years ago, but some families also took nicknames, for example, my father, who was known as Pigalak, was also known as Aqpaaq - the one who runs ahead," she said. "That was my father's characteristic as he was growing up - he may have been the first one to run to the meat cache, the one to run ahead of the dog teams, the one to run to the next village to share the news."

The practice of naming your children for respected family and community members is still strong, according to Kuliktana.

Because her father had no sons, she named her eldest son Mafa Pigalak, in order to carry on the name.

Her oldest daughter, Kimnik, "is named after my great-grandmother, who was a very strong, independent woman, and that is what my expectations are for my daughter," she said.

Koigolok, her youngest son, was named for a cousin, while her youngest daughter Idjukak carries the name of Millie's late mother-in-law, "who never allowed her household to run out of rice, always had a supply on hand that she knew would go a long way to feeding lots of children."

Likewise, Idjukak "loves to feed kids, and to make food stretch," Kuliktana said with a laugh.

James Arreak of Iqaluit said it was his father who chose the family's surname back when Abe Okpik was travelling the territory, recording the choices.

"That one has two meanings. One, that it's part of the inner inlet, and also part of the human anatomy, in the back," he said.

Like Kuliktana, he believes it's important to share those meanings with his children as they grow up.

"If it's such an important part of who we are, then it's an important part of our identity, and if we're struggling with our identity, then we need to know our roots. And this is part of the roots that we need to know," he said.

Keeping the meanings clear helps keeps traditions alive, he added.

One thing that has been blurred right from the beginning, however, is the way the names look when written down.

"Project Surname was 10 years too early. If we would have had this Project Surname say in 1980, we would have had a lot more time for people to think about what they wanted to be called and a lot more time to write accurately our own names," said Peter Irniq, former Nunavut commissioner and MLA. "The Government of Nunavut should re-take a look at Project Surname and come up with Operation Spell Right Surname ... We should aim for (this) to take back our culture and to make sure that our names continue to have their meanings."

Kuliktana agreed, and blames much of the problem on a lack of standardized roman orthography for Inuktitut at the time.

If it were up to her, her married name would be spelled differently, as Quliiktaana rather than Kuliktana.

"Inuit relied not on written history, they had none, so when Project Surname came around there were no expert writers," she said. "A man like Abe Okpik took phonetic sounds and matched them with the characters of the western world. On the other hand, I received the name from a very respected man, and I have made this agreement with my husband that I will not do anything to change it. Until we and my children come to an agreement I won't change."