Why do we have this funny controversy about baby names and who gives the names?
Last week I was party to a situation at an ‘Aqeeqa’ where a father had to involve some clerics into pacifying his son into agreeing to his decision to name his newborn.
“It is tradition that as the Grandfather of the baby I should give her a name” said the old man.
“Same way my father gave you your own name”.
The younger man argued that he wanted a modern Muslim name for his daughter and not the usual boring ones.
What’s your take on baby names?
Do we have to stick to the regular names that eventually easily get funny pronounciations like:-
[b]Rashidi
Ramoni
Faruku
Basiratu
Mulikatu
Rashidat
Ganiyat
Monsurat
Kafayatu [/b]etc?

this is very interesting. I have heard of a similar thing happening in my family.

There is no problem in allowing the grandfather give the child child his/her name. But THe parents  have the sole responsibility of giving it. this means, grandpa is only allowed with their consent.

Their is so much emphasis on giving your child a good name in Islam and it is important that  if the grandpa is allowed, the parents must make sure the names have good meanings. it is in d quest for beautiful names that we now term some names old fashioned which is wrong. U can always make people call your children d right way. In fact, pple wu say dey cant call it right are only after making jest of it and shld never be allowed. 

"The most beloved of your names to Allah - the Mighty and Magnificent - are 'Abdullah and 'Abdur-Rahman" (Reported by Muslim & Abu Dawud)

would u want to miss dat just bcause u'r afraid pple might call it Ramoni. .it is up to u to not allow dem call it badly.

read more http://www.zawaj.com/articles/names_praiseworthy.html

http://www.islamchannel.tv/MuslimNames/index.aspx

@deols: True talk.
But these days the Ummah have resorted to names like Aliyah, Aleesha, Nabila etc.
These names sound Arabic but in truth can hardly be traced to the companions of the Prophet SAW.
Theres a lot of controversy surrounding child naming and just settling for a pretty name isn't all there is to it.
Some names have taken center stage now and can only be traced to some tribes in Arabia or it's environs but not to the Glorious Quran.
Correct me if I'm wrong, it is UN-Islamic to give a 'Muslim child' a name outside the Quran and outside,one that cannot be traced back to the matyrs of Islam and outside companions of the Holy Prophet and their relations.

mybad:

Why do we have this funny controversy about baby names and who gives the names?
Last week I was party to a situation at an ‘Aqeeqa’ where a father had to involve some clerics into pacifying his son into agreeing to his decision to name his newborn.
“It is tradition that as the Grandfather of the baby I should give her a name” said the old man.
“Same way my father gave you your own name”.
The younger man argued that he wanted a modern Muslim name for his daughter and not the usual boring ones.
What’s your take on baby names?
Do we have to stick to the regular names that eventually easily get funny pronounciations like:-
Rashidi
Ramoni
Faruku
Basiratu
Mulikatu
Rashidat
Ganiyat
Monsurat
Kafayatu [/b]etc?

@Mybad: Why did you have to go and include my name and my baby's name?
Whats so special about the way a name is called.
If you're not comfortable with your baby's name why not choose another.
Whats in a name anyway.
Better still don't give your child a muslim name afterall it's all Arabic language.
[b]Numerous people who go by muslim names haven't exactly been good Ambassadors of Islam so why sweat over nothing?
I rest my case.

Not sure i understand the op's post but in traditional muslim yoruba culture, the imams usually give the baby one or more of its names.

I also noticed these days that a lot of names are outside the traditional ones which are closer to koran.

Some of them sound more like the modern arabic ones which cant be easily figured out or placed anywhere.

I could be wrong however.

Who is trying to give the baby a strange name here- is it the grandfather or the cleric.

the grandfather should butt out. just because his effort contributed to the father, it is not his right, islamically to name the grandchild; same way the raising, educating, etc of the grandchild. 'this role', of it falls on the father. after all, it is the father who the daughter will be a bint to, while the father is an ibn to the grandfather.

tradition of islam rest strictly on Muhammad [as], not on local tradition; which may be bidah.

as the brother rightfully said; a good name in any language as long as it does not go against islam is good. but any name of people of islam is what we want, if you must choose an arab sounding name.

i will not name a child tijani for example. no child deserve to be abu shams because of abujahal, or abu lahab.
i will give my daughter yemisi and my son segun instead.

whats in a name? everything. many people have followed the footsteps of who they are named after. Umar are usually tough. abu bakr generally generous, wealthy. ali strong and intense in intelligence. bilal, everyone imagine you to be the mu'adhin.

abbass; financial/banker/excellent trader.

in yoruba culture, the grandfather also names the child, not only the parents.

tpia@:

Not sure i understand the op's post but in traditional muslim yoruba culture, the imams usually give the baby one or more of its names.

Some of them sound more like the modern arabic ones which cant be easily figured out or placed anywhere.

Who is trying to give the baby a strange name here- is it the grandfather or the cleric.

@tpia: Grand father was trying to name the newborn and he brought in the clerics to support his campaign.
What is obtainable these days is for the father to give a name while the Imams only pronounce the name at the 'Aqeeqa'.
It is the father's responsibility to give his child an acceptable Islamic name.
Islamic name here should be alienated from Arabic name.

Sweetnecta:

the grandfather should butt out. just because his effort contributed to the father, it is not his right, islamically to name the grandchild; same way the raising, educating, etc of the grandchild. 'this role', of it falls on the father. after all, it is the father who the daughter will be a bint to, while the father is an ibn to the grandfather.

tradition of islam rest strictly on Muhammad [as], not on local tradition; which may be bidah.

@sweetnecta: Shows we are not really free from the Jailiyah days.
If we must practice Islam let it be total and thorough and if we are traditional people lets stick to tradition.
We can't be halfway here and halfway there.
Like they say in politics; a little to the right and a little to the left.
It's only in our daily strive for knowledge that we can be free of ignorance.

Grand father was trying to name the newborn and he brought in the clerics to support his campaign.
What is obtainable these days is for the father to give a name while the Imams only pronounce the name at the 'Aqeeqa'.
It is the father's responsibility to give his child an acceptable Islamic name.
Islamic name here should be alienated from Arabic name.

in my understanding, clerics also give the child its muslim name.

however, you could be right since i'm not sure.

traditionally, the grandfather also gives the child a name.

then the parents themselves give the child one.

Islamic name here should be alienated from Arabic name

can you explain further- dont quite get it.

anyway, i think the baby's father should have relaxed a bit and let the grandfather give the child a name.

it doesnt necessarily mean that's the name the child will go by.

even if it's something like sulikat or abibatu- the intention matters more.

as it is, most times the names chosen by grandparents are well thought out and actually quite beautiful.

the son was being unnecessarily stubborn.

This thread is interesting,I attended a naming some years back, The imam have to change the name of the child at the point of naming the child, because the name provided by the parent is not okay.This days people erroneously name their children Indian name taking it to be islamic name.

mybad:

@deols: True talk.
But these days the Ummah have resorted to names like Aliyah, Aleesha, Nabila etc.
These names sound Arabic but in truth can hardly be traced to the companions of the Prophet SAW.
Theres a lot of controversy surrounding child naming and just settling for a pretty name isn't all there is to it.
Some names have taken center stage now and can only be traced to some tribes in Arabia or it's environs but not to the Glorious Quran.
Correct me if I'm wrong[b], it is UN-Islamic to give a 'Muslim child' a name outside the Quran and outside,one that cannot be traced back to the matyrs of Islam and outside companions of the Holy Prophet and their relations. [/b]

it is advisable to give Islamic names but not compulsory to do so. U should also differentiate between Islamic and Arabic. Names like Umar av bn in existence before Islam. But, because the prophet encouraged us to name after his companions,or people of good virtue, we can give such names.

It is ok to give ur children Yoruba names or names according to your language provided they have good meanings.It should be noted that the prophet asked some companions to change their names due to their meanings. We go more for the arabic ones more because of the identity they confer. They are encouraged but are not compulsory.

And as Olawalebab said, many Muslims dont know the meanings of some names. Once they sound arabic, and they think them as sounding beautiful, they give it to their childre.