the Humanist view

Both legends highly plausible.

Legend One – Awaragat

In Ateso, the word for story is “awaragat”.

De facto, Owaraga is derived from “awaragat” to denote a male story teller.

Legend Two – Walaga

My late father’s father, my late grandfather, Yosia Engatunyun, was a chief who served under the Kabaka, King of Buganda, the largest first nation of Uganda.

He did so during proxy colonization of the Greater Eastern Region, the Eastern Provinces of Uganda, our ancestral homeland, by Buganda for the British.

The story goes that there was a chief of Buganda or a person of high standing within the circles of my late grandfather, whose name was Walaga.

My late father, Owaraga, was named after that person, Walaga, and the name was domesticated into nomenclature of Ateso (our language of Iteso).

In Ateso, an “O” was added to the name and the “L” was converted to an “R” to fit the culture-normal of Ateso, it is said.

Happy times with papa

As for me, I proudly carry his name, Owaraga, on his insistence that I, his daughter, should bare his name as my primary legal surname.

In Luganda, the language of Buganda, “Walaga means “he showed” or “you showed” depending on the contextual pronoun prefix (online sources).” And there is more from Buganda. “In traditional Buganda history and custom, Walaga is the specific name of a sacred hill in the Kyaggwe region historically associated with a revered guardian lion-spirit, musambwa (online sources via AI Summary) .”

The meaning of Walaga as described by Kabalarian Philosophy is the icing on the cake! It you are named Walaga, “you will do your utmost to help others in need, despite inconvenience or even hardship to yourself.” CLICK HERE to read more …

I absolutely love the Buganda origins of my name, Owaraga and its Kabalarian meaning. In my eyes, my late father was the embodiment of both meanings – of Buganda origins and the Kabalarian.

I would like to think that I too am walking a similar journey and living up to our name.

By the way, my younger brother, Emmanuel George Owaraga II, who is named after papa, is fascinatingly similarly endowed with the best of our late father.

What does Google say?

For the fun of it, I Google searched the meaning of the name “Walaga”, and I was surprised by the results. According to Forebears, for example:

• Approximately 478 people in the world bear the name Walaga.
• The name Walaga is most prevalent in Tanzania
• Papua New Guinea has the highest density of persons name Walaga

Amazing!