Among the Bwa, as in other African societies, an individual’s name often convey a message addressed to a third person. These messages, conveyed by the names that grandparents have given to children, provide a way to state what may not be said outright, in particular about family relations or marriages. In a context where language is thought to have a strong performative value, uttering one’s opinion in veiled terms when a child is born provides proof of the person’s skills not just in using language but also in managing relations with kin. Even though a person’s common names seem anecdotal and circumstantial, their pragmatic function should not be over-looked, especially in relation to the facts of kinship. In this context, the act of naming in the form of a message-name apparently serves to adjust the normative aspects of kinship to actual practices.