₦airaland Forum

It depends though, some cultures and traditions in the north adopt names of village/towns they hail from.

Rapmoney:
This terrible act of children bearing their biological father's name as surname in Nigeria started with Millennials, and it is a very shameful thing culturally. Most of us do not understand the importance or significance of surnames. Surnames are not just names for the sake of it.

A surname is a way or medium of honouring your ancestor. Africans, over the years have been brainwashed by the western culture that our ancestors evil spirits. Due to this, many Africans attach evil to the name 'ancestor'.

Culturally in Africa, surnames are adopted in turns. You adopt your grandfather's name as your surname, and when you give birth, your child adopts your father's name as surname. When your own child gives birth, the child adopts your own name as surname. That is how it goes and that is how lineage are honoured and preserved.

Millennials and Gen Z Nigerians now give their children their names as surnames without any atom of respect for their fathers, thereby cutting off their fathers from the lineage. If you so much cherish your name, you can give it to one of your child and has Jnr attached to it. People do it. But not cutting off your own father from the lineage by making your kids adopt your own name as their surname. It is bad and alien to the African culture.

Do not be fooled by the white culture which wants you to believe that African ancestors connote evil. To be ancestor na turn by turn. One day, you too go be ancestor.

Haven't you seen children using same surname with parents... my question is, how is it possible to keep honoring names without losing any..
Like my name order - my father's name is my middle name and someone said it's not right

Nwaikpe:
No, you don’t even know what you are saying.
Africans never had “surnames.” They had clans.

Go and educate yourself. Crying about Europe always will not help you. Europe helped you better than your African culture did.

I'm responsible for what I write, not what you understand (which is zero from what you have written here). The only individual needing education here is you.

Check the meaning of the word name.

It's not attached to any ancestor or anybody for that matter. Name is an identity. What you know someone for. There are people whose surnames doesn't align with their vision and they changed it.
In Igbo, there are names like Onwuka, Osuagwu, Onwubiko, Nlewedim etc, looking at their meaning, I'm not sure anyone wants any of that to follow them assuming names carries this level of importance you're attaching to it.

It's whatever you call yourself that others would address you and it doesn't matter whether it's the name of your last 10th generation ancestor. Sometimes people want their kids to answer their own name prolly because their own name has prominence than his own surname and would want his kids to share in that.

PlasmaTV:
Much ado about someone else's life.

It's the human way.

On the topic, I'll say it depends. There be people whose experiences with their fathers are terrible, you still expect such a son to carry the name associated with that terribleness? I have seen it happen in my short close to 5 decades existing as a human....

Some change their names to escape certain situations. Abi you want make as people hear ya name dem come remember say werey or thief dey that family lineage? The immediate write off ehn.... Hahahaha 🤣🤣🤣

Rapmoney:
This terrible act of children bearing their biological father's name as surname in Nigeria started with Millennials, and it is a very shameful thing culturally. Most of us do not understand the importance or significance of surnames. Surnames are not just names for the sake of it.

A surname is a way or medium of honouring your ancestor. Africans, over the years have been brainwashed by the western culture that our ancestors evil spirits. Due to this, many Africans attach evil to the name 'ancestor'.

Culturally in Africa, surnames are adopted in turns. You adopt your grandfather's name as your surname, and when you give birth, your child adopts your father's name as surname. When your own child gives birth, the child adopts your own name as surname. That is how it goes and that is how lineage are honoured and preserved.

Millennials and Gen Z Nigerians now give their children their names as surnames without any atom of respect for their fathers, thereby cutting off their fathers from the lineage. If you so much cherish your name, you can give it to one of your child and has Jnr attached to it. People do it. But not cutting off your own father from the lineage by making your kids adopt your own name as their surname. It is bad and alien to the African culture.

Do not be fooled by the white culture which wants you to believe that African ancestors connote evil. To be ancestor na turn by turn. One day, you too go be ancestor.

It is your choice. However remember your children will bear their own names too for their children.Gradually the family general name for lineage identity will "die"
In our family,we bear our family name .It is easy to trace our general family name from one generation to another.

VaginaAcademic:
gen z spotted. It's not wrong though.

If an enhanced due diligence is carried, that lady might have a son of your age.

All this talk will not matter if individuals contribute meaningfully to the society. Their names will be remembered for eternity.

Long time ago I asked my father, what is the story of the man that we all carry his name as our surname and from what generation before you?

My father was very surprised as the question caught him unaware. He said, "sincerely I don't know and it has never occurred to him to ask such question from the generation before him and they are all gone"

I pressed futher by saying; " that means that everyone existed in our lineage after the original carrier of the name has no records in our family or in the history of life and the same thing is likely to happen to you when you are gone" Like you'd never graced the surface of this earth for once.....

That discussion made him to make some adjustments.

@op is absolutely correct and we should all think about it.

Whoever takes Gen Z's thought seriously is not serious

Nwaikpe:
Before the whites, you never had people referring to children by their father’s name.

A family name is not a father’s name according to the African culture. It is the clans name. Or more locally, it is the “compounds name.”

This is the fact

People no longer have any attachment to their ancestral names because many do not even go home to their villages. Some have japa'd and have zero plans of retiring in Nigeria. Some found out the meaning of the name and didn't like it for religious reasons. Some want to build a reputation for themselves and watch their kids benefit directly from it.


Mine wanted us to do same, but I objected.
Reason being I bear my own name. One parent must answer the same name with the kids and it should be him whose father owns the name.

Rapmoney:
This terrible act of children bearing their biological father's name as surname in Nigeria started with Millennials, and it is a very shameful thing culturally. Most of us do not understand the importance or significance of surnames. Surnames are not just names for the sake of it.

A surname is a way or medium of honouring your ancestor. Africans, over the years have been brainwashed by the western culture that our ancestors evil spirits. Due to this, many Africans attach evil to the name 'ancestor'.

Culturally in Africa, surnames are adopted in turns. You adopt your grandfather's name as your surname, and when you give birth, your child adopts your father's name as surname. When your own child gives birth, the child adopts your own name as surname. That is how it goes and that is how lineage are honoured and preserved.

Millennials and Gen Z Nigerians now give their children their names as surnames without any atom of respect for their fathers, thereby cutting off their fathers from the lineage. If you so much cherish your name, you can give it to one of your child and has Jnr attached to it. People do it. But not cutting off your own father from the lineage by making your kids adopt your own name as their surname. It is bad and alien to the African culture.

Do not be fooled by the white culture which wants you to believe that African ancestors connote evil. To be ancestor na turn by turn. One day, you too go be ancestor.

Lame thinking patterns. Most of the so called ancestors name are the first name of one man who carved out his own identity for himself from the family so if you are man of yourself you won't be afraid to name your children after you. Denying your tribe is the way to cut off yourself not by them using their father's first name. The ancestors is not just one person so if we follow your logic every one of us should have up to 10 names by now to preserve ancestry lineage.

Here comes another beautiful nonsense..
You can name your kids table chair or fork if you're not satisfied..
We're proud to wear our Fathers surname
This Generation sef .

Nwaikpe:
Before the whites, you never had people referring to children by their father’s name.

A family name is not a father’s name according to the African culture. It is the clans name. Or more locally, it is the “compounds name.”

I’m bringing it down to Yoruba history. Children were addressed by their own father’s name and not compound names. Even wives don’t drop their father’s names neither do they take the husbands compound names.

It’s Europeans that introduced surname to us.

Pure nonsense,
So, to honour your ancestors, you must push yourself out of existence? Do you answer the name of your great great great grandfather to 20 generations today? You pick one from your immediate past and want to glue all your descendants to it?
You answer your father's name just like your father answers his father's name, and your children answer your name. What's abnormal in that? If you want to make your ancestors your forever gods, don't compel your children to follow that nonsense. Let them make their choice as they see fit.
And if in one or two generations, you want to stick to a name because of socioeconomic and political advantages, you can't be stopped but when it's time to move on, please move on.
The problem is we don't keep family histories and we don't have governments that value genealogies unlike the Western world. There you get on a website, you type in some details, and your family tree is produced to you.

Rapmoney, even with this your analysis eh. Ancestors name can vanish forever. Cus by the time your child bears your father's name as his or her surname, your own grandfather's name has been erased. Same with when that your child give birth and the child adopt your own name as his surname. Your own father's name has been erased too.
Me think the best way is to have the original lineage maker/ancestor's name always at the extreme end of our respective names as surname. Then you can have your child's name and yours attached to it.
That way, your name and ancestor's name has been preserve.
That ancestor's name helps links you, your father, grandfather, great grandfather and so on together.
.
I hope you and everybody understand my analysis.

Why you guys behaved like this? Everything about our culture you term it wrong.

Pls stop all these nonsense..

Majority of this Gen z are divorce oriented , they plan ahead hidden under another Agenda..
Men ..man up

/
This is mostly Igbo problem especially among the ladies. It is not bad if they choose their fathers' names but they opt for their fathers' baptismal names. Nnenna Okafor becomes Jennifer Emmanuel.

Despicable!
/

Rapmoney:
This terrible act of children bearing their biological father's name as surname in Nigeria started with Millennials, and it is a very shameful thing culturally. Most of us do not understand the importance or significance of surnames. Surnames are not just names for the sake of it.

A surname is a way or medium of honouring your ancestor. Africans, over the years have been brainwashed by the western culture that our ancestors evil spirits. Due to this, many Africans attach evil to the name 'ancestor'.

Culturally in Africa, surnames are adopted in turns. You adopt your grandfather's name as your surname, and when you give birth, your child adopts your father's name as surname. When your own child gives birth, the child adopts your own name as surname. That is how it goes and that is how lineage are honoured and preserved.

Millennials and Gen Z Nigerians now give their children their names as surnames without any atom of respect for their fathers, thereby cutting off their fathers from the lineage. If you so much cherish your name, you can give it to one of your child and has Jnr attached to it. People do it. But not cutting off your own father from the lineage by making your kids adopt your own name as their surname. It is bad and alien to the African culture.

Do not be fooled by the white culture which wants you to believe that African ancestors connote evil. To be ancestor na turn by turn. One day, you too go be ancestor.

You don’t tell people how to live their lives, na u born their pikin for them?

Do what u like, let them do as they deem fit. It doesn’t have to make sense to you. We come to this world alone, we leave alone.

Sheuns:
I’m bringing it down to Yoruba history. Children were addressed by their own father’s name and not compound names. Even wives don’t drop their father’s names neither do they take the husbands compound names.

It’s Europeans that introduced surname to us.

Yoruba history?

🤣🤣🤣

MrHighSea:
grandfather's name: Z
Father's Name: Y
Child's name: X

Child's full name: X Y Z

Another variant;
Ancentral Name or Strong Extended family Name like Awolowo, Dangote, Akpabio

In that case, Child's name: X Y Awolowo

Abi, how una dey do am that pikin bear your name as surname?

Akpabio name self dey open door

Ishilove:
I'm responsible for what I write, not what you understand (which is zero from what you have written here). The only individual needing education here is you.

I thought Europe was responsible for what you write.

😅😅

You got apoint. The truth is that we live through our ancestors hence the importance of preserving them through these names. You can never isolate yourself from your lineage. Son of a lion is always a lion whether he renames himself giraffe

Rapmoney:
This terrible act of children bearing their biological father's name as surname in Nigeria started with Millennials, and it is a very shameful thing culturally. Most of us do not understand the importance or significance of surnames. Surnames are not just names for the sake of it.

A surname is a way or medium of honouring your ancestor. Africans, over the years have been brainwashed by the western culture that our ancestors evil spirits. Due to this, many Africans attach evil to the name 'ancestor'.

Culturally in Africa, surnames are adopted in turns. You adopt your grandfather's name as your surname, and when you give birth, your child adopts your father's name as surname. When your own child gives birth, the child adopts your own name as surname. That is how it goes and that is how lineage are honoured and preserved.

Millennials and Gen Z Nigerians now give their children their names as surnames without any atom of respect for their fathers, thereby cutting off their fathers from the lineage. If you so much cherish your name, you can give it to one of your child and has Jnr attached to it. People do it. But not cutting off your own father from the lineage by making your kids adopt your own name as their surname. It is bad and alien to the African culture.

Do not be fooled by the white culture which wants you to believe that African ancestors connote evil. To be ancestor na turn by turn. One day, you too go be ancestor.

Rapmoney:
This terrible act of children bearing their biological father's name as surname in Nigeria started with Millennials, and it is a very shameful thing culturally. Most of us do not understand the importance or significance of surnames. Surnames are not just names for the sake of it.

A surname is a way or medium of honouring your ancestor. Africans, over the years have been brainwashed by the western culture that our ancestors evil spirits. Due to this, many Africans attach evil to the name 'ancestor'.

Culturally in Africa, surnames are adopted in turns. You adopt your grandfather's name as your surname, and when you give birth, your child adopts your father's name as surname. When your own child gives birth, the child adopts your own name as surname. That is how it goes and that is how lineage are honoured and preserved.

Millennials and Gen Z Nigerians now give their children their names as surnames without any atom of respect for their fathers, thereby cutting off their fathers from the lineage. If you so much cherish your name, you can give it to one of your child and has Jnr attached to it. People do it. But not cutting off your own father from the lineage by making your kids adopt your own name as their surname. It is bad and alien to the African culture.

Do not be fooled by the white culture which wants you to believe that African ancestors connote evil. To be ancestor na turn by turn. One day, you too go be ancestor.

Keep quiet there

We had no concept of surnames in Africa until the white man brought it, everyone bore their own unique names and it lived and died with them

Their is nothing like surname in the African tradition

Nwaikpe:
No, you don’t even know what you are saying.
Africans never had “surnames.” They had clans.

Go and educate yourself. Crying about Europe always will not help you. Europe helped you better than your African culture did.

Your response is unnecessary generalisation and over exergeration and also misleading at the same time.

Yoruba people of precolonial age has a perfect surname system... They will always ask "Omo ta ni ọ" ? (whose son are you? ) Or the same question in another way "who is your father in this land"? (Taani baba re nile yii?)

They are not necessarily asking about your biological father alone in that context but the history of your ancestors and your lineage before your father and the answer is always profound.

To every generalisations, there're some specifics that doesn't fit perfectly into it.

Ereolamide:
I think you have much time on your hands.

You talk too much, must you create topics from every thought that stream through your mind.

I really don’t blame him. It’s the fault of the mods who keeps pushing everything to FP

Never seen it before

Sheuns:
I’m bringing it down to Yoruba history. Children were addressed by their own father’s name and not compound names. Even wives don’t drop their father’s names neither do they take the husbands compound names.

It’s Europeans that introduced surname to us.

Yorùbá will always say: Ilé là ńwò ká tó sọ ọmọ l’orúkọ. This means that before giving a newborn a name, one must first look to the family’s ancestral heritage and traditions.

The child is not seen merely as an individual, but as an extension—and a branch—of the family tree. Therefore, the name given to the child is expected to reflect, preserve, and continue the family’s ancestral identity and traditions..

Lastly, this is the second time I am mentioning you because your thoughts about Africans, especially the Yoruba ways of life is flawed and misrepresents is. Again, all Yorubas tribes most times shares different ideologies in handling different cultural beliefs..... No generalisation captures every details.

kelvin21887:
I don't even know the meaning of my surname and still wrote it for my children in their birth certificate.
My surname is a generational name, even my grandfather inherited the name.

Same here.

Upon say Africans dey form roots run deep and all that sh*t, forming wisdom and smartness, they still can't basically develop their society and countries, they still get out maneuvered by the very west and Europeans they purportly are not wise or don't know how to raise kids etc. What's the big deal with surnames? Or how a surname is supposed to be taken? Oyibo dey bear Bush and Stone and still dey benefit from this earth pass pesin wey dey bear Chukwuemeka, so what's the fuss about?