A rose by any other name...

We've all been wondering about the derivation of Tommy's name.  We're not supposed to share it here; at least not until after ET court.  But, we took note of the fact that his surname was different from both his mother's and his father's.  So we hunted around for Ethiopian naming conventions.  Here's what we found:

When an Ethiopian is born, the child receives a given name from his/her parents or grandparents. The child’s second name is her/his father’s name and a third name—the child’s paternal grandfather’s given name – is tacked on to the end.

There are no ―last names‖ or ―surname‖ as is the practice in many cultures throughout the world. Most Ethiopians use just their given name and father’s name for everyday use but will use all three names when more formality is appropriate.

When a woman marries she does not change her ―last‖ name to that of her husband but rather keeps her fathers name.

People are universally addressed by first name rather than by last name. In formal address, the name is always preceded by title. For a man, the common title (comparable to ―Mister) is ―Ato. For a woman the common title is ―Woizero (Mrs.) if married and ―Woizerit (Miss) if single.