Democratic Republic of the Congo naming customs

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is common for individuals to possess three separate names: a first name (prénom) and surname (nom) as well as a post-surname (postnom). Each form may comprise one or more elements. For example: Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo has the first names Félix Antoine, the surname Tshisekedi, and the post-surname Tshilombo; Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba has the first name Sylvestre, the surname Ilunga and the post-surname Ilunkamba. Marie-Thérèse Nlandu Mpolo Nene has the first name Marie-Thérèse, the surname Nlandu, and the post-surnames Mpolo Nene. Clémentine Faïk-Nzuji Madiya has the first name Clémentine, the surname Faïk-Nzuji, and the post-surname Madiya. This practice is distinctive to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is not found in other neighbouring countries. As well as ethnic, regional, or familial identity, modern-day naming customs reflect significant historical changes under Belgian colonial rule and the Mobutu regime as well as the post-Mobutu restoration. Before the colonial era, people living in the Congo basin tended to have one or more names of personal, local, or ethnic significance rather than following Western-style naming conventions. This allowed considerable flexibility around the names which could be given to an infant, as the historian Isidore Ndaywel è Nziem described: This system made available to parents, at the birth of the child, a multiplicity of word registers to name it. In this way, the name to be attributed could be a name of reincarnation (homonymy with an ancestor), of pre-destination (specific according to the position of birth) or of circumstance (in relation to the circumstances that accompanied his birth) when it was not simple snobbery (adopting an exotic word). There were also names of joke, sublimation, social position (from the old aristocratic register) or even accomplishment (acquired a posteriori as a result of the child's peculiarities). Each ethnic culture has its own registers of anthroponyms.