What Is In A Name?

                                                     Names are very important in every society. From the days of creation, names have been used as a means of identifying  an object, a place, animal or a thing.Names have deep meanings across different cultures. In Africa, specifically West Africa (Ghana) where I come from, names have deep significance and meaning to the  parents or families. Due to this, families are very conscious of the names they give to their children. There are many reasons why this is so, one of such is the belief that the name given to a child can have an either a positive or negative impact  on the child. So in the Ashanti tribe for example, children are given names like "Adom" which means Grace, "Akyedie"- Gift, "Nyamekye"-God’s gift,"Nhyira"-Blessings and so many others to project a family's gratitude to God for the child or to demonstrate how special the child is to the family.

In my culture , some names project the socio-cultural status of the individual. In the past, people by the names “Nana”, “Ohemaa” were easily identified as belonging to a royal family. There are also names given to people to demonstrate their number, in terms of the number of children. An example is the third born being called "mensa" which is three. It is easy to tell someone is a twin just from their names. Twins are referred to as “Ataa” and “Ata” thus, anytime someone hears of such a name they can easily tell the individual is a twin. Even with kids who are born after twins, there are unique names given to them to show that they are related to wins.

Apart from these names, in the Ashanti tribe, every girl and boy must have a day name. This name is given to the child based on the day that they are born. It is therefore not surprising to see names like Kojo and Adwoa for a boy and girl born on monday, Kwabena and Abena (Tuesday), Kwaku and Akua (Wednesday), Yaw and Yaa (Thursday), Kofi and Afia(Friday), Kwame and Ama (Saturday) and Kwesi and Akosua for Sunday. Hence, the moment someone mentions their name, you can easily identify the day he/she was born.

Names hold a lot of significance in my culture, names are not given to children just by chance. My name for example is Nana Asantewaa. The name “Nana” is a title conferred to people from a royal family. The name Asantewaa though in recent times used by all was in the past a name associated with royalty. The name was from the queen Yaa Asantewaa who led the Asantes in a war against the British. The name therefore demonstrates a strong or courageous character. I was born on a Saturday thus, Ama. My name is therefore Nana Ama Asantewaa. There are terms of endearment or pet names used in my family. For example, I am called "Naana" at home by my family, my sisters are called "Mamaa" and "Mefia" respectively. These are all short forms of our names and used mostly by family or close relatives.

Names are very significant and it is important for people to be able to learn the right pronunciation of names. For example; choosing to call me “Asa”, or “Asant” holds no significance to me. That will not be my name as shortening my name or choosing to pronounce it differently takes away from my name. Thus, to avoid a situation like  Covarrubias, a teacher can ask for the right pronunciation to a name and use it accordingly so as not to offend the individual.

My perspective is very similar to that of Covarrubias father. It is one thing to be ignorant but in this modern world, there is so much access to knowledge that one cannot just dwell in ignorance and mediocrity and use it as an excuse to act in a certain way. People are constantly learning and it is therefore essential to understand the importance people attach to their identity. One can always make a conscious effort to learn and correct mistakes. In this day and age, ignorance is not really an excuse especially as the world we know it now is a global village and we are all connected and knowledge is most often than not just a click away.

References:

1. Agyekum, K. (2006). The socio-linguistic of Akan personal names. Nordic Journal of African Studies 15(2): 206–235 (2006). Retrieved from http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol15num2/agyekum.pdf

2. Lustig, M. W. & Koester, J. (Eds.). (2006). Among Us: Essays on identity, belonging, and intercultural competence (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon.

3. https://pichastock.com/downloads/tag/akan-names/
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