How to name a child

It is believed that there is something in a name. That is to say our name influence the way we behave and how we live our lives generally.

In typical African family especially in the Western part of the continent, take Nigeria for example, several factors determine how a child is been named.

In the Western region of Nigeria, mainly among the Yoruba, factors surrounding the Child’s birth will determine the Child’s name. Example twins born in this region are automatically named Taye or sometimes Taiwo for the first twin to come out and Kehinde for the second.  That means any family expecting twins does not need to go in search of names for their children. Sometimes in families with sets of twins, you will be hearing Taye kekere meaning Taye Junior and Kehinde kekere meaning Kehinde junior, this is because the first set of twins are the senior twins. The twins names here are not gender sensitive. So anytime you hear Taiye or Taiwo and kehinde, just know you’re seeing twin or twins. Ibeji means twins in Yoruba by the way

Also in this region, a child whose birth occurs after the birth of the twins is called Idowu. Idowu can be a girl or boy’s name as long as the birth occurs after that of a twins.

Name like Iyarimisa, once you hear it, you just know the mother to the child died while giving birth to the said child. Iyarimisa means “mother left when she saw me”. Though few families will call their children such because it is a name that brings sorrowful memory.

Talking of Tokunbo,Babatunde and Iyatunde, Babatunde literally means “father is back” and Iyatunde means ” mother is back” The name is used among families that believe so much in reincarnation. Once a child is born, some families do so forms of consultation to determine some unclear facts to them about the child. Example that of reincarnation. A child who is reincarnate of his father or grandfather will be called Babatunde and that of mother or grandmother will be called Iyatunde. Funny enough, sometimes you will see those family according that child the respect due to the late person on whom the believe the child came to represent.

In the Eastern part of Nigeria,among the Igbo’s

Children are sometimes named based on the market days, they have four market names, Eke, Orie, Afor, Nkwo. In the olden days, you will be hearing names like, Nwaorie meaning child of Orie, Nwaafor, Nwankwo and Nwaeke .. They were named like that because their parents gave birth to them on such market day.

Again some parents here named there children based on their gods, names like Njoku, Ikenga, Nwagwu  and their God “Chi”

The first Son in Igbo land is called Opara, some call it as Okpara. First daughter is Ada, second daughter is some parts Ulu. These names by default are there names, it might not be their official names, some parents can give them another names, but it won’t prevent people from calling them with those inherited names .

But in the modern time in these regions , with the coming of Christianity, Christians among them now attach God and sometimes other factors to it and name their children. Such as Chisom meaning God is with me, Chibueze meaning God is king, Chukwuka meaning God is greater, Oluwapelumi meaning God is with me.

Recently, a lot of people realized that there is something in a name. That a child tends to behave just exactly like his or her name. It seems that the law of  usability is the cause or the law of attraction is taking effect, that is, the more you call a child by that name the more the child tends to behave towards that name.  Whatever might be the cause,  try to name your child a name with positive meaning because it will return back to the child. The arrival of a child is a huge blessing to families,  look for a beautiful name and call that child of yours.

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