This is a revived topic,it's been discussed here on nairaland but like every other fundamental issue,has been swept under d carpet.Issues like this will cnntinue to hunt us until we mentally and intuitively address them.

Honestly, if we want to go down this road of who and who have been colonized, its a slippery slope argument. You can say Japanese people have their own religion and their own names but then you have to ask why they dress like Europeans. Thats also part of colonization, the adoption in a wholesale fashion of someone else's culture or aspects of their culture because it implies that at some point in time, you felt what you had was not good enough so you either willingly adopted someone else's or you were sort of forced to by colonialism, everybody is a victim of colonization one way or the other.
Why do Iranians who are Persians wear western/European clothes? Why do Nigerians wear arab clothes? coz the agabda, babban riga and Kaftan are all arab. Those red hats that Igbo chiefs wear are Turkish passed through Arabs and Hausa people to the Igbos! Goodluck Jonathan whole attire is foreign, his hat English, his clothes, if you trace the origins (the trousers and knee length gown) are attires that came from south west Asia. But its obviously been modified.

The Arab to the North African Arab/berber to the Hausa to the Yoruba.

Why do we preach Christianity? Why don't we preach our own traditional religions instead? Why is it most parents prefer to speak english to thier children & forget thier native language. Is it coz we feel inferior to white man

Then

So you can see that everyone has mingled and taken an aspect of someone else's culture even if its unknowingly, some yorubas will stop wearing agbadas if they know its origin is Arab, lol
Language, religion, dress, food, other aspects of culture.

The British took just about half of their words from Latin. The British aren't Latin, the were enslaved by Latin speaking Romans. English and Latin aren't even in the same language group technically speaking. Try not being too hard on yourself. We have to mingle to survive, not everything has to be of your making. We always borrow. Its not as black and white as "mental slavery" as some are alluding to.

Osama10:

Have you seen a typical British or American name his child something like Ada or Efe?y"

Emphatic, and Resounding: YES!!!!

doesnt matter with all the native names from N-S-W-E, nigeria is still backward.

what's in a name? i don't really care. native names are just fancy to me.

support our troops!

KnowAll:


There is noting wrong in having christain names if you are a christain. All my kids have christain names and their surname is african. my son for instance is Christopher, Joel, Oluseyi, and a Yoruba surname, I don't see anything wrong with that. The surname points and shows their heritage.

na waoo. According to you only English and hebrew names can be christain names abi? What happened to Chukwuemeka, Ayo etc.

i believe you guys got your priorities mixed up.  just don't give your child ridiculous names like heineken or sylvanus.

gadogado:

Honestly, if we want to go down this road of who and who have been colonized, its a slippery slope argument. You can say Japanese people have their own religion and their own names but then you have to ask why they dress like Europeans. Thats also part of colonization, the adoption in a wholesale fashion of someone else's culture or aspects of their culture because it implies that at some point in time, you felt what you had was not good enough so you either willingly adopted someone else's or you were sort of forced to by colonialism, everybody is a victim of colonization one way or the other.
Why do Iranians who are Persians wear western/European clothes? Why do Nigerians wear arab clothes? coz the agabda, babban riga and Kaftan are all arab. Those red hats that Igbo chiefs wear are Turkish passed through Arabs and Hausa people to the Igbos! Goodluck Jonathan whole attire is foreign, his hat English, his clothes, if you trace the origins (the trousers and knee length gown) are attires that came from south west Asia. But its obviously been modified.

The above post is brain crippling. Sometimes I wonder why people write rubbish about Igbo culture which they do not know anything about it. anyway, the red hat titled men wear in Igboland signifies struggle (blood). It is not borrowed from HAUSAS or any other culture. What Hausas wear is not even red hats but oxblood hats.

^^^ thanks Andre for correcting that malicious misinformation on the Igbo red caps.

Please, i'll like to ask, What are untitled Igbo men supposed to hear with their native outfits, as opposed to the red caps?(Explanation with pix if any will be appreciated). Thanks.

@ GadoGado - you make so much sense. Culture is very fluid and usually gets watered down over the years.

The typical "MAZI" Igbo wooly hats are a borrowed culture from the europeans. The hats were what the slave traders of old used to cover their heads as they go to sleep.

This same culture also lent itself to the "resource control" south south bowler hats.

while the South east and south south were more influenced by european cultures, the Hausa and yoruba had were more influenced by the arab/muslim culture and this is evident in the traditional wears of the male yorubas

excanny:

^^^ thanks Andre for correcting that malicious misinformation on the Igbo red caps.

Please, i'll like to ask, What are untitled Igbo men supposed to hear with their native outfits, as opposed to the red caps?(Explanation with pix if any will be appreciated). Thanks.

They can wear this and many others but not the red hat.

Guys Guys Guys, lets not push this issue too far. The problem with MOST african names are the following
1. The do not have any meaning
2. is to despise somebody,may be the second wife who may be childless
3. coined from fettish origin
4. a play of sounds
5. Non-sense meanings e.g Birom names like Botmang means a frog
Are these the names you want to be identified with?

i am not saying we do not have good and meaningful african names but the fact that technology has made the world a global village where the stronger economies dictate the culture, we can only pray to God to help us. We need to fortify our culture by building and rebranding ourselves such that other cultures can desire ours.

Lets start with nairaland for example. Why would seun a bonafide yoruba guy not create nairaland in yoruba? rather he chose the language as english.

Guys there are so many issues. We need to work on ourselves in totality.
we have a problem. Leaders who told us years ago that we children are the future of nigeria. But they have refused to leave the stage, how then can someone somewhere desire to be called chukwumerije or babangida or obasanjo tell me oh!

hillsate:

Guys Guys Guys, lets not push this issue too far. The problem with MOST african names are the following
1. The do not have any meaning
2. is to despise somebody,may be the second wife who may be childless
3. coined from fettish origin
4. a play of sounds
5. Non-sense meanings e.g Birom names like Botmang means a frog
Are these the names you want to be identified with?

i am not saying we do not have good and meaningful african names but the fact that technology has made the world a global village where the stronger economies dictate the culture, we can only pray to God to help us. We need to fortify our culture by building and rebranding ourselves such that other cultures can desire ours.

Lets start with nairaland for example. Why would seun a bonafide yoruba guy not create nairaland in yoruba? rather he chose the language as english.

Guys there are so many issues. We need to work on ourselves in totality.
we have a problem. Leaders who told us years ago that we children are the future of nigeria. But they have refused to leave the stage, how then can someone somewhere desire to be called chukwumerije or babangida or obasanjo tell me oh!

Your argument is daft and filled with ignorance and contradiction. Working on ourselves in totality includes embracing our culture,language, and who we are;hence, "Totality". You really it the dirty when you said African names have no meaning. Ask the average or even un-averaged Igbo or Yoruba man/woman the meaning of their native name and then tell me it has no meaning. And as far as you mentioning Seun, ask him what Oluwaseun means in Yoruba and you will be put to shame. You may attribute what you wrote to european names such as betty or bob,ect. which have no meaning but do not dare utter that about African names.

chyz1:

Your argument is daft and filled with ignorance and contradiction. Working on ourselves in totality includes embracing our culture,language, and who we are;hence, "Totality". You really it the dirty when you said African names have no meaning. Ask the average or even un-averaged Igbo or Yoruba man/woman the meaning of their native name and then tell me it has no meaning. And as far as you mentioning Seun, ask him what Oluwaseun means in Yoruba and you will be put to shame. You may attribute what you wrote to european names such as betty or bob,ect. which have no meaning but do not dare utter that about African names.

You see, you are one of africa's numerous problems. If you dont agree with a line of reasoning, you simply say so and say why? Do you have to be insultive about it?
Africans like you hardly read and it was for this reason i use the word "MOST" in capital letters.( Check the first line of my previous post). i know humans like you exist. Why then would i want to name anyone CHYZ (Chizoba) when as per your case it will be an ever present reminder of carelessness. WAKE UP MY GUY!

Hillsate
It is an outright stupidity to suggest that Chizoba could mean ones own carelessness and hence the name. Yoruba and Igbo names have meanings attached to it. Likewise other African names. If African names are meaningless, then European/American names are worse off.

hillsate:

You see, you are one of africa's numerous problems. If you dont agree with a line of reasoning, you simply say so and say why? Do you have to be insultive about it?
Africans like you hardly read and it was for this reason i use the word "MOST" in capital letters.( Check the first line of my previous post). i know humans like you exist. Why then would i want to name anyone CHYZ (Chizoba) when as per your case it will be an ever present reminder of carelessness. WAKE UP MY GUY!

I was not insultive you just took it the wrong way. And the "MOST" is wrong as well.I didn't overlook that. Even if my name was chizoba,which it is not, don't run to conclusions, it means "God saves", which is a beautiful meaning. We are talking about meaning not people who you don't even know who have that name.WAKE UP MY BROTHER! I guess you would prefer the name Fred, which has no meaning. You writings reflects you true regards to the African race in comparison to external races,i.e. european or arab, which from the looks of it, aint good.

hillsate:

You see, you are one of africa's numerous problems. If you dont agree with a line of reasoning, you simply say so and say why? Do you have to be insultive about it?
Africans like you hardly read and it was for this reason i use the word "MOST" in capital letters.( Check the first line of my previous post). i know humans like you exist. Why then would i want to name anyone CHYZ (Chizoba) when as per your case it will be an ever present reminder of carelessness. WAKE UP MY GUY!

You know nothing about beautiful Igbo names and stop talking through your bum hole. Dammmnnnn, I think some people are plucked from the tree

High_Chief:

You know nothing about beautiful Igbo names and stop talking through your bum hole. Dammmnnnn, I think some people are plucked from the tree

Common guys,
we need to understand contexts. i never said that was the meaning of chizoba.Ii said it will be a reminder. Haba, why una dey fall my hand.

Apart from most of their surnames, 95% of european first names have their meanings. Many English first names today are anglicized forms of hebraic, greek, arabic names, etc.

I can say much about African American names, but i think they have their meaning if not lost in the slave trade era.

Check this site for more meanings and sources of names.

www.behindthename.com/

@op

I've heard that some african parents give their children foreign names bcuz they feel that their children will be discriminated less, ie: when applying for job, going to a nice university, etc.

and for some, its has to do with inferiority.

My first and last name is african. my middle name is english. Growing up, some of my african classmates preferred being called by their english middle name instead of their african first name. I never did, but i did get tired of ppl messing up my name or if we had a substitute teacher and they had to call the roll for attendance, the min they started stumbling I knew it was my name they were trying to call lol.

The name i go by today is the same name i went by at birth; no changing, shortening, substituting, remixing my name. And if i do have kids in the future, i'm giving them straight african names.

I think Nigerians should give their kids nice Nigerian names, though a good English/Christian middle name is not amiss. However I am a full fan of having Nigerian Forename and Surname. The "trick" is to choose a nice-sounding, good-meaning name that the child will grow up happy with, won't be teased about, and will be easy for people from other tribes/nationalities to pronounce .

Andre Uweh:

The above post is brain crippling. Sometimes I wonder why people write rubbish about Igbo culture which they do not know anything about it. anyway, the red hat titled men wear in Igboland signifies struggle (blood). It is not borrowed from HAUSAS or any other culture. What Hausas wear is not even red hats but oxblood hats.

Just accept that fact that Igbos borrow certain things from other places. I know you're cultural supremacist but Its not everything that Igbos have that evolved only from them. Look at the pitures

Igbos got those red hats from Hausa people, its so obvious, even Libyans have the same thing both the black and red version.

gadogado:

Igbos got those red hats from Hausa people, its so obvious, even Libyans have the same thing both the black and red version.

You have confirmed what I earlier stated on. From your pics, there are two colours here. The red one is Igbo while the oxblood is not Igbo.
Igbo titled men wear the red hat which signifies struggle to keep family and Igbo traditions together.

gadogado:

Just accept that fact that Igbos borrow certain things from other places. I know you're cultural supremacist but Its not everything that Igbos have that evolved only from them. Look at the pitures

Those two guys laughing in the first pic are not Igbos, those are major Hollywood actors. I think they must have received Chieftaincy titles from Nigeria or what??

maedan:

Those two guys laughing in the first pic are not Igbos, those are major Hollywood actors. I think they must have received Chieftaincy titles from Nigeria or what??

The two Hollywood actors that you are talking about are Forest Whittaker and Danny Glover. They both traced their ancestry back to Igboland. They were given chieftaincy titles in Nkwerre, Imo State.

Or alternatively, some give their children two names. The English names is the "Official name" that they bear in school and in public, while the native name is the name is "Enyin ufok" used by family members and friends.

chyz1:

The two Hollywood actors that you are talking about are Forest Whittaker and Danny Glover. They both traced their ancestry back to Igboland. They were given chieftaincy titles in Nkwerre, Imo State.

Yep, you're right, their names escaped me for a second. Wish I knew when they went. They look really happy about the whole thing. I'm sure they got some Igbo names for themselves. So much for the pple saying that foreigners don't use Nigerian names .

maedan:

Yep, you're right, their names escaped me for a second. Wish I knew when they went. They look really happy about the whole thing. I'm sure they got some Igbo names for themselves. So much for the pple saying that foreigners don't use Nigerian names .

Seldom do they adopt Nigerian names, or those who do so are the ones interested in connecting with motherland.