Community and place names are cultural and linguistic artefacts which can be studied and
preserved.This study focuses on compounding in Igbo community names, using data from
Mbaise dialect of the Igbo language spoken in Imo State, Nigeria. The study highlights the
productivity of compounding as a morphological process in deriving Mabaise community names
and also sheds light on the etymology of the village names. The study uses a descriptive
approach in analyzing the data based on toponomastics and anthroponomastics which are two
aspects of onomastics. Data for the research were generated mainly through oral interview and
existing written sources. It is observed that two or more words are combined to form the
community names. The syntactic ordering of the place names is head-initial and right branching
with very few exceptions. Some of the community names are etymologically traceable to events,
professions, market days and names of deities which reflect the cultural identities of the people.
It is also observed that most of the names originated as male forenames. In this way, the names
of the forefathers are immortalized for posterity. It is noted however, that names of women were
not used in naming the communities. This reflects the patriarchal nature of the Igbo society. The
study further recommends a comprehensive and extensive documentation of the community
names in Mbaise for posterity.