Can name analysis be used to study elite persistence in African contexts? Taking
Sierra Leone as a case study, we use surnames to measure how two historical elites
(descendants of settlers that comprise Sierra Leone’s Krio community and members of Chiefly
Ruling Houses) have fared over the postcolonial period. We find strong and persistent
overrepresentation of these groups across a range of postcolonial elites, although
decolonisation is associated with a marked decline in political elite persistence. The results also
show strong elite compartmentalisation: Chiefly name-holders are more overrepresented in
politics and mining, and their overrepresentation falls the more educationally-selective the
profession. The Krio, conversely, are increasingly overrepresented the more educationally-
selective the sector, and their role in politics diminished rapidly after independence. This
speaks to the enduring legacy of the colony-protectorate divide in Sierra Leone, and to different
strategies of elite perpetuation, whether through educational investments or political capital. It
demonstrates that name-based methods can bring new perspectives to African elite studies.
