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helped me in various times in my life to
go out there and get things done.
My parents had a way of giving us heroic
names. I think they consciously wanted
to stir us up to believe that we could
achieve more. For instance, my elder
brother was called Che after Che Guevera
and another brother was called Kwame
after Kwame Nkrumah. Another one is
called Chaka, after Chaka the Zulu and
yet another is called Chikadibia. So, I
think they gave us strong names so that
we could be strong people. It‘s almost
like giving your children philosophical
foundations in their own names.
AU: So basically, in Igbo culture, the
naming of children is not taken lightly.
DC: No, it‘s not. I am not an expert on
Igbo culture by a long shot, but from my
own interaction and personal
observation, I can say that it‘s not taken
lightly at all. It‘s not just the Igbo culture;
I think it is an African thing. People fast
and pray, consult and ask [around] before
they name a child. People actually
believe that when you name a child, you
set his destiny, and it does have some
truth in it because there is a strong
tendency to become what you are called
even though in the long run, it is up to
your own free will – you can always
change your name and your personality –
but parents do believe that what they call
their children can set a course for them in
life and so they give it a lot of thought.
AU: As a father, how did you handle that
responsibility when it came to naming
your own children?
DC: My wife and I, we thought, prayed
and talked a lot about it. We wanted to
give them names that would say, ―We
thought about this name and your name
is special and there‘s a message in your
name. This is our heart towards you and
this is who we believe you are.‖
My first daughter is called Nonimemma,
which means ‗persevere in doing the
right thing‘. Because she was our first, we
wanted to give her a strong and unique
name, that we felt nobody else had. My
second daughter is called Malaika and in
Swahili, it means ‗angel‘. We gave her
that name for so many reasons. The literal
meaning, ‗messenger of God‘ suggests
someone who has a purpose. We also
called her Malaika because we wanted to
give her a sense of Pan-Africanism and
enlarge her worldview just as my dad
had done with the names he had given
us.
AU: You posit that foreign names can
expand a child‘s worldview but don‘t you
think we have an obsession with foreign
names that can sometimes be negative?
DC: Definitely – if you are doing it out of
a sense of inferiority or if you have the
belief that ‗theirs is better‘ then, it‘s
something to worry about. But if you are
doing it as a way of building bridges
across cultures, then I think it‘s
something to be encouraged. I truly and
honestly believe that all the differences
between human beings are just political,
there is really no difference. I don‘t have
any problem with you taking a name
from any culture; it‘s all about your
mindset.
That sense of Pan-Africanism is
important. The walls between Lagos and
Cotonou are higher than the ones
between Lagos and London and it‘s not
just a theoretical problem; one of the
reasons why we are such a poor and
undeveloped continent is because we
simply do not try to build bridges.
Saraba | Issue 13 | Africa 44