31/08/2025
Igbo Pseudo-tradition of Naming
There's a growing culture I have noticed among our people recently,about the names we give our children.
The new generation of Igbo families now drop their surnames and give their children their first name as surnames.
For instance,if a father's family name is Odo or Ogbodo and his first name is Godwin,he will give his children his first name Godwin as surname, dropping Odo or Ogbodo.
If the kid's name is Favour,she will become Favour Godwin.
I think this is a new normal that is not normal for me.Why are we gradually erasing our family histories and roots through naming and names?
Is it because of religion or what?
Does someone have the right to drop his family name (surname ) like that in Igbo culture?
This development goes to show how shallow our education system is,in building rounded and authentic African mindset and sensibility in the new generation that has emerged.
Poor attention to Igbo cosmology,values system and world view have started manifesting in our own time, through people who don't believe in themselves anymore.
They think there's something spiritually wrong with their family name.But someone answers Bush and was the President of America,the most powerful man on earth.
Why will you bear your family name but will not allow your kids after you to bear it?
Why will you speak the Igbo language but will not allow your kids after you to speak it?
In the future we may become a people who have lost the only thing that makes us unique and authentic -- our language, both in naming and speaking.
©James Onyebuchi Nnaji
