For Cultures with Oral Traditions, Words are sacred. They have power. Through words, we exist.
Just as the Kiowa Emergence Story celebrated the consciousness and naming of the Kiowa Tribe, the Kiowa Naming Ceremony honors the consciousness of an individual, a Kiowa finding their way, their identity.
That is Koy taw gee geah daw, the Kiowa Way.
Twenty years ago, I had the rare privilege to interview many tribe elders on videotape for a project to preserve Kiowa stories through the voices of Kiowa grandparents.
Each elder gave priceless stories.
From the youngest at seventy-two to the oldest at one hundred, each elder talked about the pride of receiving a Kiowa Name, the importance of having a Kiowa Name and the privilege of giving a Kiowa Name.
Sammy White – Tone Key I
Sammy White, at the time in his late eighties, still sported black braids down his back said,
“We actually have a Naming Ceremony. Kiowas get names at a significant time in life. Usually an elder gives it and you get presented to the tribe. It’s kinda a coming out, an official announcement to your people, who you are to the Kiowa tribe.
My Indian name is Tone Key I. I inherited it from an uncle.
My uncle got the name many, many years ago. When he was a baby, he was very ill. Deathly ill. His parents took him to a Medicine Man named One Ti Ka, Snapping Turtle. He was a powerful medicine man.
One Ti Ka got his Medicine from the Water
One Ti Ka took the baby under the lake water for a long, long time. They stayed submerged for hours.
Finally, he rose out of the middle of the lake carrying the baby who was no longer ill.
One Ti Ka gave the baby to its parents, and told them, ‘This is Tone Key I’ which means Coming From the Water. My uncle used that name forever.
Before he died, my uncle gave me his name. I’m very proud of my family name, Tone Key I.”
All Kiowas Need a Kiowa Name
Kiowa Elder, Atwater Onco
Atwater Onco, great grandson of the Calendar maker Onko told me,
“A Naming Ceremony is sacred, a great, great ceremony.”
Twenty years ago, Atwater worried,
“One thing we’re losing, young people need a Kiowa name. It’s a way to hold on to the Kiowa heritage, have a Kiowa name.
I think that’s important.
I’m thinking about my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren are a quarter Kiowa, and their next generation is going to be sixteenth Kiowa. We need to include them, the sixteenth, thirty-second, sixty-fourth, so forth.
We need to include them in our tribe because they are Kiowas.
They should have Kiowa Names.”
Carrie Sahmount at 100 Years Young
Carrie Sahmount, one hundred years old when interviewed, was born at the Kiowa Tribe’s last Sun Dance. She proudly stated,
“All my children have Kiowa names. And my grandchildren got Kiowa names. And they should know them.
You should give them Kiowa names and they should know them. Keep them Kiowa.”
Virginia McGilbray – Awto Maw
Virginia Sahmount McGilbray, Carrie’s daughter summed up the importance of a Kiowa Name. She shared,
“I have a Kiowa name, Awto Maw and it’s my grandmother Bayco’s name. They always called you by the name they gave you because that was so important.
Somehow, I understood, you didn’t become a person until you had a name.”
