What is in a name?

Naming of children, our future adults, is an interesting cultural norm.

While some communities name their newborns depending on seasons or time of day in which the children are born, others particularly the Agikuyu name their children after their parents and siblings depending on the chronological birth positions.

At other times, the Agikuyu also assert that no name whatsoever could impede a newborn’s physical /mental growth or other forms of developments; (riitwa ni bukio/yo–or rather roughly translated to ‘any name can do’!): these claim is especially where formal and conventional naming requirements and procedures cannot be realized.

Recently, i listened to a brief, impromptu TV interview on names. A Kikuyu woman married to a Maasai man explained that the Maasai are well aware that their children represent their parents/siblings or relatives here on earth depending on the chronological position of birth but cannot give their parents or even siblings names actual names to the children.

“I can’t give my first son the name of my father-in-law because the community I’m married to believes that the bad things that my in-law did or what bad things followed and pestered him could also disturb my son. I can’t also name my second-born son after my father for the same reasons,” the woman explained.

Nevertheless, these norms are gradually changing as the dynamic culture also evolves.

Many young people are today searching online for names and the names meanings which they later give to their children with nil regard to past cultural practices or history.

Consequenctly, some children in today’s settings answer to names that are totally strange to African settings, norms and languages.

Moreover, some of the names are totally neutral or inert to any cultural attachments or inclination and can only leave strangers who meet such children with only guesswork as to the children cultural or homes origins.. . …