What is in a name?
“..That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet!” These are the words of Shakespeare in the play Romeo and Juliet. Implying that a name has an artificial meaning.
Gideon Lasuba Nyomorosu
Do you realise what you are saying about your child’s future by the name you give them?
“What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet!” These are the words of Shakespeare in the play Romeo and Juliet. Implying that a name has an artificial meaning.
A name identifies a class or category of things within a context. That is the reason we can easily call, remember, associate and sometimes adore people and things. A personal name like John, Sarah, and Ibrahim identifies such persons as specific unique and identifiable individuals.
In the ancient world, particularly the Middle East, names were thought to be extremely powerful, and to act in some ways as a separate manifestation of a person or deity. No wonder common names like Allah, Mohammed, Sayid, Khalifan, Mubarak, Amina are mentioned all over the world.
In the Old Testament, the names of individuals are meaningful. For example, Adam is named after the earth (Genesis 2). Eve, Adam’s wife is the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20). Moses means drawn out of water (Exodus 2:10). Jesus means wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting father and the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6).
A change of name indicated a change of status. For example, the patriarch Abram and Sarai were renamed Abraham and Sarah after God promised them to be the father and mother of many nations (Genesis 17:4, 17:15). Simon was renamed Peter after Jesus Christ grants him the responsibility of overseeing the early church (Matthew 16).
Through the Bible, characters are given names at birth to reflect something of significance or describe the course of their lives. Solomon means peace and he was the first and only king of Israel who never went to battle. Joseph named his first born Manasseh (Hebrew: causing to forget) as a gesture of forgiveness to his brethren for selling him into slavery. Jabez means born with sorrow.
Biblical Jewish people did not have surnames which were passed from generation to generation. They were typically known as the child of their father, for example, David ben Yishay to mean David son of Jesse. In essence they used their father’s first names as their own last names, a practice also done by most Muslims today.
In the African context, a name bestowed upon a child traditionally depends on the birth order in the family, and the occupation the family is associated with. Think about names such as Mangeni, Ngobi, Rwothomio to mention but a few. The names also reflect deities. Names also reflect praise or expectations of the child from the parent. Some children are named to appease ancestral spirits who protect their descendants, others to mediate between ancestral spirits and societies.
Among the Baganda, despite extensive conversions to Christianity and Islam from the 19th Century, the names of the native deities are still honoured and serve as personal names. Names of the goddesses include Nakayaga, Nalwoga, Nagaddya, Nanziri and Namirembe. The gods include Sserwanga, Mukasa, Kyobe, Kibuuka, Kiwanuka, Musoke among others.
Proverbs 18:21 says death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Parents ought to realise that their children have no part in naming themselves. It is the sole duty of the parent. Is it important to spend as much time going for antenatal care as it is to look up a name that will define true meaning to the life of your unborn child?
An African saying goes: what an old man can see while seated, a young man, in this case, children, cannot see even when they climb the highest coconut tree.
What do you see in your child, feeble as they seem, just after they are born? Do you celebrate your joys, affirm your failures and fears, or better yet, see a ray of hope? Do you realise what you are saying about your child’s future by the names you give them? Is it your frustration, your happiness, your gratefulness to God that you are manifesting in the names you give your children?
If you are keen enough, even in our own country, some parents and generations after them especially those who embraced the ‘tukutendereza’ movement gave their children uncommon/ untraditional names. Names such as Kamukama meaning protected by God, Balondemu meaning chosen one, Gonza meaning love, Katungi meaning rich and Adroa meaning up there, emerged. Do you know of such names that are a true description of people?
The name you give your child to some extent has an impact on the way your child will lead their lives. As a Christian, remember you were bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and thereafter, God made you a joint-heir with his son. You are a child of God. Everything God owns is your inheritance.
What do you hope for your son or daughter and how are you leaving an inheritance for them?
The Christian perspective to child naming
By Carol Natukunda and Mathias Mazinga
Through baptism, both the Anglican and Pentecostal churches give high importance to child naming. In both churches, parents give children a Christian/ biblical name and a family name for identification in society.
Apostle Isaac Byenkya of Life Deliverance Pentecostal Church in Kyadondo says: “Recently, I had to baptize a baby Tracy Naluge but we asked the parents to add a third name like Rebecca, Maria, Edith, or Ruth. 1 Samuel 25:25 says a person’s name can illustrate his or her character. Like his name, so is he.”
A Namirembe Cathedral cleric who prefers anonymity concurs with Byenkya but points out: “We encourage bible names but we do not force people to take them on if they do not want to. There are Christian names which might not be in the bible but are great names.”
He explains that originally, the sources of names were limited. But overtime, they realize that names have evolved. “A boy or girl of today might be given many biblical names with little regard to the originality in terms of gender. There are names such as Daniel, biblically masculine, that have been adapted into female versions such as Danielle. Ecclesiastes 7:1 says a good name is better than precious ointment.”
Both sects admit though that selecting a name drawn from the bible or Christianity affects the child’s perception of himself and also reflect both the beliefs and the culture of the parents.
According to the Most Rev. Dr. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kampala, to understand the significance of our Christian names, you need to first grasp the implication of our cultural names. In the African traditional families, the children are normally given names of their parents, grandparents, or even great grandparents, who possessed admirable qualities, or extra-ordinary attributes. “When our parents choose for us the respective cultural names, they do it with the positive desire that we be like them,” he says.
Likewise, there is a reason why we are given the Christian names, when we become members of the Church, our second family. “In the Catholic Church, people are given names of particular saints with the aim that they become like their respective patrons. That is why we advise the parents to always peruse through the Catholic Calendar, to find the saint with the most appropriate qualities that they would desire for their child,” Lwanga explains.
Parents also have the responsibility to help their children have thorough knowledge about their patron saints and to encourage them to seek their intercession.
It is unfortunate that many parents, these days, are not keen when choosing Christian names for their children. “During the first years of my priesthood, I met a parent, who had chosen the name ‘Tadpole’ as the baptismal name for her child. There was also another couple, who had decided to name theirs ‘Landrover.’ Of course I helped them out of this problem,” he recalls.
He adds that: “As religious leaders, we need to do more, to help Christians be mindful of the importance of our Christian names, but even more importantly, the meaning of the Sacrament of Baptism.”