@poster-go and tell it to the ghanians and kenyans l have never seen a kenyan in my life with a kenyan name if any one knows let them disprove my point they are worse than the ghanians

l even forgot the main culprits in nig are delta ppl-they have names like dagogo jack briggs maclayton tammie baker lol-God help us

kcjazz-asians that have english names are the vietnamese they are looked down on by other asians-chinese and even japanese ppl more answer their native names never seen a jap man by the name of paul
nigerians were naming their kids english names all in the cloak of baptismal name which is colonial mentality many of them started looking stupid in it my mom refused to give me the so called baptism name all my names are nigerian even though some of these minor tribes in nigeria are the main culprits-yorubas/lgbos don't do it hausa's were originally arab slaves so they always answer arab names!!!!l can equate them with the so called MINOR TRIBES,

whatawhat:

l even forgot the main culprits in nig are delta ppl-they have names like dagogo jack briggs maclayton tammie baker lol-God help us

Those pple were given those names even before they existed.We who are followers of Christ prefer Hebrew names, obviously,because of our faith.My maiden name was a name that glorified a fetish deity but I didn't change it till I got married,my siblings changed it to my father's Hebrew name because they want to glorify God and not the devil.I don't see anything wrong with glorifying God in "any" language,it's choice.Just as the poster has chosen to stick to nigerian names,My 3 kids have yoruba,ibo,ibani(bonny) and Hebrew names combined and I explain all their names to them as they grow up.

lol

Well my name is Adaobi Olisamaka Nnenna Onyali!!! Picked nnenna as my middle!!! The enviroment I live is predominately White so having English will be easier for them to pronounce instead of making your african name sound silly!!! but I love my names!!!!

Purist:

Not those names exactly, but quite many of them bear English names. Let's even start with the popular guys. Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Lucy Lui, Donny Yen, etc.  I even got one in my class.  Her name is Crystal.

What's your point?

Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE[2] (born Chan Kong-sang, 陳港生; 7 April 1954) is a Hong Kong[3] actor, action choreographer, filmmaker, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer.

Mbeki:

Just Imagine that Physics, Chemistry and other subject are taught in your native language, the level of what your can do will be unimaginable.

The whites has brainwashed us way back, destroyed our history and left us hanging, it's a pity that a lot of people don't understand this, they  still want to be a white man in black skin. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!

Oh! what a wonderful world that would be! Calculus in Yoruba nko? 

Bello is a hausa name, so is dalhatu, sarki, tafida, tukur, lamido, badamasi, gambo, tanko, mairo, dogara, dikko and many more.

Kai! so these are the great sounding names they tried to replace with yeye ones like Osama and Al arabiya?! 

May Sango and Amadioha continue to punish all those imperialist usurpers with Alzheimers!

See as I even dey type in English sef,  dem don almost wound us beyond repair.

Ndipe:

Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE[2] (born Chan Kong-sang, 陳港生; 7 April 1954) is a Hong Kong[3] actor, action choreographer, filmmaker, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer.

Okay, I've been expecting someone to quote me sooner or later.   Sure I know this already.  Even Jet Li's actual name is Li Lian Jie.   I simply pointed that out to disprove the false claim that Chinese people never answer to foreign names.   Everyone does, so no big deal here.

I think asking this question presents some ignorance on the part of the poster. You will have to understand that when it comes to naming your children, there is the complete freedom and autonomy in the process and therefore whatever others think about it is actually irrelevant.

Having said that, a Yoruba proverb says "Ile l'a n wo k'ato s'omo l'oruko". So, naming your child is a combination of so many factors which only you (the parents) can understand. Moreover, it is also a fact that majority of us are connected to one or more of the Abrahamic religions, and therefore reflect this in the naming of our children.

In response to one responder's post regarding the translation of these Biblical or Qur'anic names to indigenous languages, I will tell you that it doesn't really do justice to the name. It's like changing my Yoruba name from Ayodeji to Doublejoy. Strength is often lost in translation. So, just as you wouldn't want to diminish the strength of our indigenous names by translating them into other languages, I believe the same is applicable to translating names in other languages to ours. If I gave a Yoruba name to a non Yoruba person who requests for name suggestion, I would certainly expect them to use the name exactly as it is given and written rather than using a translated version. Again, it's the same principle with biblical names.

Have you checked the bible to see how Hebrew names have been translated to our local languages? In Yoruba, Moses=Mose, David=Dafidi, Adam=Adamu, Jeremiah=Jeremaya (I guess I've made my point). A good example is the name of my son, Micaiah (an Hebrew name which translates "Who is like Jehovah), would you imagine me naming the poor child "T'alodabiolorun" or "Obabiolorun O si". Can you just imagine how that sounds more like "inagije or orukoapeja" (nick name) rather than a real name.

There is the need to continue to remember that parents have very special and good reasons for naming their children what they name them and no one, absolutely no one can be the judge of that as it is a very personal (and if only you can take time to find out), and justifiable reason.

Ask President JONATHAN.

This is what colonization and religion have done to us. I think Africa may even be better. Most South Americans don't even speak their native languages because of Spanish influence and their names are also Spanish. Every other Mexican man is named Jesus and every other woman is named Maria. I'm sure they had their own names, religion and languages before the Spanish came along.

I agree with the above poster, but I think it's moreso for religious reasons and the environment where these kids live. But I don't think having one foreign name is a crime, because usually there will be a "normal nigerian name" as a middle (or in some cases first) name.

MaMoyo:

This is what colonization and religion have done to us. I think Africa may even be better. Most South Americans don't even speak their native languages because of Spanish influence and their names are also Spanish. Every other Mexican man is named Jesus and every other woman is named Maria. I'm sure they had their own names, religion and languages before the Spanish came along.

Maybe they should also continue the human sacrifices to the sun god.

suprted:

Maybe they should also continue the human sacrifices to the sun god. 

Maybe they should.

MaMoyo:

This is what colonization and religion have done to us. I think Africa may even be better. Most South Americans don't even speak their native languages because of Spanish influence and their names are also Spanish. Every other Mexican man is named Jesus and every other woman is named Maria. I'm sure they had their own names, religion and languages before the Spanish came along.

do you mean native south americans cos last time i checked, many south americans are of varying ancestry and others are mixed.


also, mexico isnt in south america.

i guess you intended to say central america.

.

tpia@:

do you mean native south americans cos last time i checked, many south americans are of varying ancestry and others are mixed.


also, mexico isnt in south america.

i guess you intended to say central america.

Sorry, I guess I should have said the influence of the Spanish and Portuguese on North, Central and South America since Mexico is  part of North America. I never implied that the culture of the native Americans was homogenious.

caribchic:

I'm black and my brothers and i have African names cuz my dad thought it was necessary to hold on to that part of ourselves. I did not like my name when i was younger but i have grown to love it and would not want any other, i have an African first name and a portuguese last name,lol. I learned that my mom wanted to name me Constancia (yuck) so I was really lucky that i got Adanna.where i live a lot of people in there late teens early20s have African names cuz our parents are from the black power era.

awww beautiful name

@ poster,
u re making a point there,
let's say our parents have made d mistake,
let's not follow their footsteps,
let's correct d mistake.

kabukabu50:

Incredibly silly

Maybe you can build an Igbo made or yoruba made spaceship,

@kabukabu

The way u see urself inside is what is reflected in your outside. to you it's impossible, but it has been possible way back in time. people like you are ever grateful to the white man for even the air you breathe out of ignorance and lack of belief in yourself.

The spaceship you see today is built based on geometry and physics developed long ago in ancient Egypt, but was destroyed by the white guys. Have you ever wondered what makes the white study Egyptology? It's because what they kept discovering is used for modern technology, a fact they won't openly admit, and which people like you won't care to digg into.
Try to know your root man!

@ Kabukabu again and those that have read the wrong records of history, check this records out:

Flora Shaw's (alias Lady Flora Lugard) book is an extraordinary look at the history of Africa, which she gathered from countless sources, and one would imagine a great deal of it came from the British Library and from the archives of The Times of London, for whom she had for many years been the Foreign Political Correspondent. She had always been known to be an intensive researcher into her subject matter, and one wonders at the months and probably years she put into this undertaking, which became the reference work for so many future books on Africa. This book was first published 100 years ago showing the detail and descriptive power, and the greatness that Africa once was. Lady Lugard argues that:


"When the history of Negroland comes to be written in detail, it may be found that the kingdoms lying towards the eastern end of Sudan (classical home of Ancient Ethiopians) were the home of races who inspired, rather than of races who received, the tradition of civilization associated for us with the name of ancient Egypt. For they cover on either side of the Upper Nile between the latitudes of ten degrees and seventeen degrees, territories in which are found monuments more ancient than the oldest Egyptian monuments. If this should prove to be the case and civilized world be forced to recognize in a black people the fount of its original enlightenment, it may happen that we shall have to revise entirely our view of the black races, and regard those who now exist as the decadent representatives of an almost forgotten era, rather than as the embryonic possibility of an era yet to come."


"The fame of the ancient Ethiopians (ancient Kushites) was widespread in ancient history. Herodotus described them as the tallest, most beautiful and long-lived of the human races, and before Herodotus, Homer, in even more flattering language, described them as the most just of men, the favorites of the gods. The annals of all the great early nations of Asia Minor are full of them. The Mosaic records allude to them frequently; but while they are described as the most powerful, the most just, and the most beautiful of the human race, they are constantly spoken of as Black, and there seems to be no other conclusion to be drawn than at that remote period of history, the leading race of the Western World was a Black race."

Lady Lugard/Flora Shaw Lugard, Asa G. Hilliard, III, A Tropical Dependency: An Outline of the Ancient History of the Western Sudan With an Account of the Modern Settlement of Northern Nigeria, Black Classic Press (1996)

Much ado about nothing,really.

All of my names are African. I want to give me children an Igbo, Ancient Egyptian, King or Queen's name. Maybe like Adaeze Nzinga, Hatshepstut or Chinedu Mansa Imhotep

Interesting topic although it's pretty old.

Why Do Africans Have Foreign Names?

I think some people were given “Foreign”/English names for ease of pronunciation - even my African friends with native names may shorten their names to accommodate those who find the pronunciation difficult. For others . . .it’s most likely a religious thing and then there are those who have been given names of prominent figures i.e. Obama.

I don’t think it’s necessarily bad though depending on the motive (even though I understand the OP's point) because one may be attracted to names from other “foreign” cultures.

Anyway I detest my “Christian” name. I confronted my parents about this and told them if they wanted me to carry the meaning of that name . . .they could have used an equivalent name in our native language which held the same meaning. I believe l was slightly peeved off because I felt they were stamping me with a religion not of my choosing but I suppose I really didn't like the commonality of the name.

Above all I carry my native name proudly. I love my native name and admonish those who dare use my “foreign” name – in fact I’ve discarded that name altogether I just need to make it legal.

Poster as for me I have both African and "Western" name but the thing is this is not because you'll have an African name that you'll be more african than another one, I think this is just a detail, some people have African names and behave like they've never herad about the Continent, and the contrary also exists

Nayah:

Poster as for me I have both African and "Western" name but the thing is this is not because you'll have an African name that you'll be more african than another one, I think this is just a detail, some people have African names and behave like they've never herad about the Continent, and the contrary also exists

Lol

Nayah . . .you're back at last

ça va?

Emooooo!!!
Yeah I'm fine sweety how are you, missed you

Nayah:

Emooooo!!!
Yeah I'm fine sweety how are you

I'm fine Nayah

missed you 

I missed you too Good to see you back.

Many thanks Emo, so what do you think about this topic?

Nayah:

Many thanks Emo, so what do you think about this topic?

I think it depends really. People have their own reasons and like you said having an African name doesn't make one more Arican or vice versa.

I don't think names should necessarily be exclusive to a particular culture but we should be proud to represent our culture