These names have also a social significance, as they always indicate the birth status of the person, for the name at once shows to which clan or kinship group the bearer belongs.

No one can exchange his clan or birth name, any more than he can change his sex.
The names that belong to the second class are those which are taken by an adult to mark an achievement.

This must be an act in which he has shown special ability or courage in successfully defending his people from danger.

Such a name, therefore, marks an epoch in a man's life and is strictly personal to the man, and, to a degree, indicative of his character or attainments.

It sometimes happens, although but rarely, that a man on such an occasion may decide to take the name of a noted ancestor rather than acquire an entirely new name, but the character of the act of taking a new name is not thereby changed.
These facts concerning the significance of Indian personal names throw light on the widespread custom observed among Indians of never addressing men or women by their personal names or of using those names in their presence.