Aluku Aluku Aluku is a Bushinengue ethnic group living mainly on the riverbank in Maripasoula in southwest French Guiana. The group is sometimes called Boni, referring to a notorious leader, Bokilifu Boni (described as a former mulatto slave). The Aluku is a legendary ethnic group in French Guiana whose people are descended in part from African slaves who escaped in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries from the Dutch plantations in what is now known as Suriname. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, they settled alongside the riverbanks of Lawa Maroni, which now forms the border between French Guiana
Dutch name "Jeanne"). (See also Sjors & Sjimmie.) Working-class names Jan, Piet and Klaas (the Dutch proverbial equivalent to "Tom, Dick and Harry") were often replaced by middle-class Hans, Peter and Nico. Also, the urge to name children after their grandparents lessened dramatically. The change in naming also led to a new law on naming in 1970, replacing the old one, which had been in force since 1803. Nowadays, traditional official names are found, but often only as an addition to the modern name. Boys are more often given a traditional Dutch name than girls. Boys are also more commonly named after