Youngwee(m):


..........I have always been fascinated by Yoruba people’s creative morphological domestication of Arabic names. There are scores of Yoruba names that are derived from Arabic but which are barely recognizable to Arabs or other African Muslims because they have taken on the structural features of the Yoruba language.

This is not unique to Yoruba, of course. As scholars of onomastics or onomatology know only too well, when proper names leave their primordial shores to other climes they, in time, are often liable to local adaptation.

(Onomastics or onomatology is the scientific study of the origins, forms, conventions, history and uses of proper names. Anthroponomastics specifically studies personal names, so this article is an anthroponamastic analysis of Yoruba Muslim names).

That’s why, for instance, there are many Arabic-derived personal names in Hausa, the most Arabized ethnic group in Nigeria, that would be unrecognizable to Arabs. Names like Mamman (Muhammad), Lawan (Auwal), Shehu (Sheikh), etc. would hardly make much sense to an Arab.
I am drawn to the onomatology of Arabic-derived Yoruba names because their morphological adaptation to Yoruba’s structural attributes seems to follow an admirably predictable, rule-governed pattern. I have four preliminary observations on this pattern

1. Bakare. This is the Yoruba rendition of Abubakar (or Abu Bake), the nickname of the first Caliph of Islam. As you can see, the “Abu” in the name is dispensed with, and the “Bakar” part of it is fitted with a terminal vowel.

Perhaps the most prominent bearer of this name in contemporary Nigeria is Pastor Tunde Bakare, former vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari. Pastor Bakare was born a Muslim but converted to Christianity in his teens.

2. Buraimo I doubt that many non-Yoruba Muslims will recognize this name as Ibrahim, but it is. It follows the second morphological principle I identified in my introductory remarks. The “I” in Ibrahim is dispensed with, and intermediate and terminal vowels are added to produce Buraimo, which is sometimes spelled as Buraimoh. People who follow Lagos politics are probably familiar with the “Baale Buraimo Edu of Epe.”

3. [b]DisuThis is the Yoruba rendition of the Arabic name Idris. The initial vowel in Idris (that is “I”) is eliminated and a terminal vowel (that is, “u”) is added to it.

4. LamidiWhich Muslim name is Lamidi?” he asked.
“Abdulhamid,” I said.
He was unconvinced. I told him because of Yoruba people’s fondness for the short forms of names, they often dispense with “Abdul” in Muslim names that begin with that prefix. So that leaves us with Hamid. Now, there is something some people call the “h-factor” in Yoruba, which is the tendency for Yoruba speakers to unconsciously eliminate the “h” sound in words in which it is normally pronounced and to add it to words that don’t have it. So “eat” is often pronounced as “heat” and “heat” is pronounced as “it.” Given this phonological characteristic,“Hamid” becomes “Amid,” but the interference of the “l” sound in “Abdul” can also cause it to be rendered as “Lamid.”

5. Muroino or MurainoAs I explained in my introductory remarks, this is the Yoruba domestication of Imran, the father of Maryam (Mary) in the Qur’an. The initial vowel is eliminated and intermediate and terminal vowels are added.

6. Lasisi[/b] This is Abdulaziz. The “Abdul” in the original name is dispensed with, the “z” sound in the other half of the name is replaced with an “s” sound since there is no “z” in Yoruba phonology and orthography, and a terminal vowel (“i”) is added.

7. Romonu or Ramonu (Raymond) This is the shortened form of Abdulrahman.

8. Sulu (and Sulufilu) Most Nigerians are familiar with the name Sulu-Gambari courtesy of the traditional ruling family in Ilorin. Well, the “Sulu” in the name is the Yorubaization of Zulkarnain (which is more correctly transliterated as Dhul-Qarnayn). Since Yoruba has no “z” sound, the “z” in Zulkarnain is replaced with an “s,” and the rest of the name is lopped off. Sulufilu, another Arabic name that is popular with Yoruba Muslims, is the domestication of Zulkifil.

9. SumonuThat is Usman.

10. SunmolaThat is Ismaeel.

Obiagelli: quite interesting. I have always wondered what bakare meant. Is gbadamosi also Arabic?

BABAKABIRU301: PLS ALL THE NAMES YOU ARE MENTION ARE NOT BELONG TO YORUBAS, THEY ARE RELIGION NAME ISLAM, YORUBAS NAME THEIR CHILDREN ACCORDING TO THEIR RELIGION AND NAME OF THEIR gods and godess, E.G SANGO, OGUN, OYA, IFA, ORO ETC.

aljharem:

Nope Gbadamosi is an Ijebu name

daryoor: all this a muslim namea translated in yoruba.

its kinda funny yoruba Christians dont name their kids in the yoruba translation.

david- dafidi

peter- peteru

john- johanu

Moses - mosisi

maestroferddi: At least I know one: Peter = Pitan (pronounced kwitor). Former Lagos state commissioner of health Dr Leke Pitan comes to mind.

daryoor:

u funny die. pitan = yourba for narrate

aljharem:

Nope Gbadamosi is an Ijebu name

abes: Except those are not Yoruba names but adapted names. So are Kafayatu, shakiratu, Alimo, Peteru, Jakobu etc.

NB: Sunmola is from Mosunmola and not Ishmael.

MRWHINNIG: Raymond?? You can lie o

tpia1: ramon, not raymond.

check the university website.

i've never heard of anyone changing their muslim name to raymond.

most nigerian muslims keep their names and do not change them to english ones. I think you used your imagination here.

Obiagelli: quite interesting. I have always wondered what bakare meant. Is gbadamosi also Arabic?

maestroferddi: OP try breakdown "Olohunwa" which I learnt comes from Allahu or Alah. Let's have more examples...

idumuose:

https://www.nairaland.com/1810802/top-10-yoruba-names-never

Konmight:

The street named after him at Mayfair bears Raymond Adedoyin Street Mayfair, Ile-Ife. The street leads to his private polytechnic. I grew up in Ife, I know his house at Mbabi Mbayo.

Cheers.

aljharem:

Nope Gbadamosi is an Ijebu name

aljharem:

Nope Gbadamosi is an Ijebu name