Names are an important aspect in African culture given that the African does not name his or her children for naming sake. In most cases, names are given based on certain historical events or facts which can be peculiar to an individual, a family or the community as a whole. This is the case with the Papiackum community, a speech community situated in the Ngoketunjia Division, North West region of the Republic of Cameroon. This paper aims at analysing some of the proverbial names of this community to show that they are speech acts grounded on individual, family or collective history. From the theoretical paradigm of Social Semiotics, this study is based on the prism that Papiackum proverbial names are semiotic resources whose meanings are linked to their historical context. In this light, these names help to safeguard the history of the people for posterity while fostering social progress.