The Efik people have a system of naming categorized into four. These include proper names which trace children genealogically to the founding ancestor of the Efik tribe; names that indicate what day or time of day that a child is born, the pet name kind traceable through time to the parent after whom the child is properly named and a system of names used only by peers and contemporaries oftentimes indicating valor or some other exceptional attribute of note. It is imperative to add that the early contact made by the Efik people with the Europeans also impacted on their names which the people refer to as Anglicization. Most of these names have been proudly adopted as surnames by some families who still view them as consequential.

A. Efik proper names

Most Efik proper names are historical, many of which depict their oriental origin. Only some oriental proper names that came with the people in the 13th century into Nigeria which could be found in the Holy Bible could be said to have meanings. The Efik, as a tribe, do not use the sentence format of names as observed among their neighbours and all other tribes in the country. This is one unique feature of the Efik people. Once the names are given, descendants of the bearer naturally continue these names in a fashion demonstrable by this example.
A man named Eyo whose father was Akabom named his first son after his father and the child’s genealogical name reads Akabom Eyo Akabom, meaning Akabom the son of Eyo and grandson of Akabom. The same man named his second son after himself Eyo thus the second son’s genealogical name becomes Eyo Eyo Akabom (Eeyo for short). The first son could also have a first son named after his own father Eyo whose genealogical name now reads Eyo Akabom Eyo Akabom (Eeyo also for short) while the second son will have his first son’s genealogical name as Eyo Eyo Eyo Akabom (Eyo-Ita or Eyita for short).
The Efik tribe is made of twelve clans traceable, either patrillineally or matrillinearly, to the founding ancestor, Iboku. The system of naming is the same in all the clans but the names are so different that, in time past when there was a lot of control over name usages, children could easily be traced to their ancestral clans by the very nature of their names. Names like Akabom, Itam, Okpo, Mkpang and Ene are immediately linked to Otung sub-clan of Iboku whereas names like Oku and Esien are linked to Mbarakom sub-clan of the same Iboku. Names like Ekpo, Efiom, Edem are for the Efiom Ekpo group while Efaña, Ewa and Ekeñ have stuck to Nsiduñ of the Efiom Ekpo group of Iboku clan. Quite apart from the Iboku clan and its sub-groups, other clans also have their identifiable names like Mbọ, Otu, Efa, Adoka, Anyin and Asa in Adiabọ; Ankot, Eniañ, Ani, Ọfiọñ, Etọn in Mbiabọ clan. Distinguishable names like Atiñ, Antigha, Esemin, Esu, Ebieme, Etifit, Ọkpọ and Ọrọk are common in Eñwañ while Ukorebi and Ndem are remembered among the Abayens. Obutong has names like Oso, Eso, Adim, Asiya and Amata while Usukakpa people have kept theirs as Osukpọñ, Ntekim, Ọdiọñ, Uyi and Mba. The Abatim descendants of Eniọñ pride themselves in names like Erete, Esañ, Ekpiken, Amaku, Obiom, Ikpeme, Onoyom and Okure.
Most Efik names for men can also be adapted for women by a simple introduction of the suffix-añwan, but strictly female names cannot be so adapted. Examples of such male names shared by females include Ekpenyong (Ekpenyonganwan for female). All these are what the Efik people refer to as proper names which appear in official documents and are used in genealogical tracings. A list of most proper names is given below;

B. Efik birth names

The Efik people of old had eight days in a week just like the Hebrews; one of the major Hebrew practices which the Scottish missionaries met in the mid-19th century Old Calabar. The days include

1. Akwa Ederi
2. Akwa Eyibio
3. Ekpri Ikwọ
4. Ekpri Ọfiọñ
5. Ekpri Ederi
6. Ekpri Eyibio
7. Akwa Ikwọ
8. Akwa Ọfiọñ

It has become increasingly difficult, if not out-rightly impossible, to run the eight-day-week intercalations of the Efik people in the Christian world of today from where the birth names were derived. The eight days in a week were intercalated such that what is Saturday this week becomes Sunday the next week as given for May, 1965. The corresponding names of children born on those days are also given but children born at night are compulsorily named Okon and Ñko for male and female respectively, without regard to the particular day.

English                                    Efik                             Male                            Female

1. Sunday                              Akwa Ederi                 Eret                             Aret
2. Monday                             Akwa Eyibio               Etim                            Atim
3. Tuesday                             Ekpri Ikwọ                  Asukwọ                       Ikwọ
4. Wednesday                       Ekpri Ọfiọñ                 Efiọñ                           Afiọñ
5. Thursday                           Ekpri Ederi                  Eret                             Aret
6. Friday                                Ekpri Eyibio                Etim                            Atim
7. Saturday                            Akwa Ikwọ                 Asukwọ                       Ikwọ
8. Sunday                              Akwa Ọfiọñ                Efiọñ                           Afiọñ
9. Monday                             Akwa Ederi                 Eret                             Aret
10. Tuesday                             Akwa Eyibio               Etim                            Atim
11. Wednesday                       Ekpri Ikwọ                  Asukwo                       Ikwo   
12. Thursday                           Ekpri Ọfiọñ                 Efiong                         Afiong
13. Friday                                Ekpri Ederi                  Eret                             Aret
14. Saturday                            Ekpri Eyibio                Etim                            Atim

An Efik son therefore, whose name is Okon Okon Etim Okon Edet Etim Efiong will be known immediately as being born at night, his father Okon at night, his grandfather Etim, on Eyibio, his great grandfather Okon, at night, his great great grandfather Edet, on Ederi and his great great great grandfather Efiong, on Ofiong. This is an ancestry traceable to about 250 years ago. Okon Edet Atim, for instance, will refer to a son born at night whose father Edet was born on Ederi by a woman Atim who herself was born on Eyibio.
It is imperative that Efik people do not lose this unique naming system in the face of challenges posed by Pentecostalism which has decided to channel all its efforts to the destruction of the Efik society, by picking on our names. The kingdom should also resist undue cultural alterations by writers of history who desire to invent meanings for Efik proper names so as to fit the Iboku people into the general pattern of naming in the country. Iboku people will accept meanings for Efik names when such would be incontrovertibly found for Uyi, Uyu, Eniang, Ekei, Orok, Eke, Adim, Minika, Uta, Asandia and Adoka.

C. Efik petnames
Efik pet names are reference names used to identify the parent, grand or great grand parent, the proper name of which the child in question bears. In Efik naming system, a first son is named after his grandfather who, in Efik parlance, is referred to as Ete-ete meaning father’s father. In the example in section A, a child by name Eyo Akabom Eyo Akabom, if he is the first son, indicates that he was named after his grandfather Eyo and so his Efik parents, as a mark of courtesy, call him Ete-ete as a petname (paternal grandfather). A first daughter in Efik land is named after her paternal great grandmother. The girl’s father thus calls her Ekaete at home meaning his own father’s mother. A second son is named after his father as seen in the example earlier referred to. The father therefore calls him Kokoete as petname meaning namesake which in the western world is referred to as “Junior”. A second daughter is named after the father’s mother and so the father addresses his second daughter informally as his mother’s namesake which in Efik parlance is Kokoeka. Third sons and daughters are named after their great grandparents, paternal or maternal and the corresponding pet names Eteakamba and Mmakamba respectively adopted for home or informal use.
It is not the practice of Efik people to name children after their mothers’ family, but exceptional situations arise where the father, as a mark of courtesy, names one or more of the children after his father in-law. Another situation where children could be named after their mothers’ families is when the number of children is large and the man no longer have names in his own family to use. In such cases where the number of children exceeds six (6), pet names like Ete-Obong, Mma-Obong or Eka-Obong, Ekamma, Eteka and Obong-Ete could be used. Another kind of pet naming system relies on the combination of the child’s position of birth with those of their parents. Examples of such pet names include Akpan-adiaha, Adiaha-akpan, Akpan-udo, Adiaha-udo, Adiaha-adiaha, Adiaha-ita. It is not the custom of Efik people to use pet names as official or formal names and such practice should be strongly discouraged if Efik are to continue as a unique race.
Sometimes specific reference names are used for specific proper names by contemporaries and/or as endearments by loved ones. Examples of such names include Ebak (for Otu), Odusu (for Ekpenyong), Atiata (for Abasi), Eka Ekpo (for Nkese), Nneneng (for Ekanem), Ayip (for Efiom), Akpama for Asukwo etc.

1. Contemporary names for valour

These are varied depending on the individual’s area of excellence and are used among peers and contemporaries. Examples of these kinds of names include Eto akan eto, Uko, Itiaba, Eto nkukim, Ofum oson, Isim ayara Ekpe, Ekikak, Otia etiti, Ikpamfum etc.

1. Anglicization of names

The early contacts made with the western world brought some developments in Efik names in the form of anglicization. Pronunciations of some names were modeled on foreign tongues. Examples of such names include Hogan for Okon, Archibong for Asibong, Henshaw for Nsa and Ansa, Bassey or Basil for Abasi, Cobham for Akabom, Okor for Okoho, Ephraim for Efiom, Sinkanwar for Ating Anwa, Offary for Ofiong, Effar for Efa, Sindam for Esemin and Esien Ndem, Egbo for Ekpe and Ekpo, Otto for Otu, Eshen or Eshan for Esien, Eny for Ene, Antika for Antigha, Antera for Ntiero, Ebrero for Ukorebi, Nonaw for Nneneng, Opon for Ukpong, Coffee for Kofi, George for Eyo and Egboyoung for Ekpenyong. In recent times, some of these names have been proudly adopted by descendants of these great Efik ancestors as family surnames.