Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases Say It Loud's vlog (video blog) entitled "Black sounding" names and their surprising history" and provides a compilation of comments from (continental) African commenters about their names & naming traditions.
The content of this post is presented for onomastics and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Azie and Evelyn, the presenters of this "Say It Loud" video log series and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/07/why-arabic-names-have-been-relatively.html for the pancocojams post "Why Arabic Names Have Become Relatively Common Among African Americans Since The Late 1960s". I was prompted to write that post as a result of several statements found in that Say It Loud vlog that were critical of African Americans having Arabic names.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO: SHOWCASE VLOG: "Black sounding" names and their surprising history
Say It Loud, Published on Jun 27, 2019
[...]
What's in a name? Sometimes it's just our imagination, and other times it's an attempt at a political statement. Black names have been satirized and stereotyped for a long time, but they have a unique and downright surprising history. Azie and Evelyn discuss the history, culture, and influence on "black sounding names" for #SayItLoudPBS
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This is my attempt to compile all of the comments from Africans (i.e. people from continental Africa) who participated in the discussion thread of this embedded YouTube video from June 27, 2019 to July 5, 2019 at 10:30 PM EST. My apologies if I unintentionally omitted a comment from this specific sub-set of commenters or included comments from this vlog people from the African Diaspora (which is the focus of a subsequent pancocojams post.*)
I've read the entire discussion thread two times (on July 3, 2019 and on June 5, 2019). However, given the order that YouTube discussion thread comments are presented (which appears to have no rhyme or reason), I can't definitely state that I've quoted all the comments about names in that discussion that were posted by Africans (i.e. people from continental Africa). I don't plan to read that discussion thread again, so this post will regrettably fail to include other comments from this sub-set of commenters.
These comments are given in relative chronological order, with the oldest dated comments given first except for replies. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
*This compilation doesn't include comments from that discussion thread about Swahili and Arabic names because those comments may be included in subsequent pancocojams posts. If so, they can be found under the "Arabic names" link.
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM AFRICANS ABOUT TRADITIONAL AFRICAN NAMES FROM THE SAY IT LOUD'S VLOG ON "BLACK SOUNDING NAMES AND THEIR SURPRISING HISTORY":
(All of these comments are from June 27, 2019 to July 5, 2019)
1. ByLungi
"Great and informative video!
Being South African a lot of my peers have "English" names, under apartheid it was seen as advantageous for a black person to have an English name that white people could call you by. Because when you didn't have an English name they would give you one, lol. I wasn't given an English name and 6 year old me was very mad at my parents!"
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2. Ngasiirwe Katushabe
"My name is Ngasiirwe - ngah-see-rweh which means "I'm satisfied" in the Nyankole language of Uganda. My grandfather gave me this name after my family lost two people and I came as the second birth (first being my big brother) seen as life coming full circle in having those two replaced by a new two. He fell that the Lord blessed us and therefore in his soul, he was satisfied."
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3. Tlangelani Mokone
"This is so cool! I am South African from the Tsonga ethnic group (1 of the 11 official languages that is spoke here XiTsonga). My name is Tlangelani it is a unisex name that means Celebrate. My parents had 3 sons and 1 girl, so when I was born they were celebrating that they were blessed with another girl."
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4. Heavenboundson Liibaan
"My is Name is Liibaan (Liban)
It's Somali Language Meaning Blessing
MY Dad wanted to Named Me Ridwaan Which is in Holy Qur'an Ridwaan is Angel God doesn't precise say boy or girl Angel Just An Angel"
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5. Beverly Chemai
"So my first name aka my Christian name came out of a name book.
My family is from Kenya so naming works by choosing a root name then adding the gendered pre fix. So my middle name is Chepchumba and my cousin Jeremiah's middle name is Kipchumba. My aunt's middle name is Chebet and my brother's is Kibet"
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6. AJALAH GIDADO
"I love my name. Ajalah. It means a good seed. Literarily meaning someone who is capable of producing good things. My daughters are called Oyiwodu and Onyaleku. Good luck trying to pronounce them. Meanining the wealth of her parents and a gift from our forefather's. North central Nigerian names."
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7. shona smile
"Most people with Zimbabwean roots usually have names in shona / ndebele and Bible names but the majority has 2 names eg. Tinashe , Tanaka , Nyasha , Danai , Ropafadzo , Taropafadzwa they are Christian names like Ruth , Easter , Mordecai ,Joseph , shammar , Hannah , etc ,..... l have a Russian name and a shona name because my parents are Zimbabwean"
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8. Char Bunny
"I love it ! Being African we always get at least two names, an English and African one from your tribe. (This is from my experience as a Kenyan)."
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9. Ataa love
"I don’t like my name because my parents didn’t give it to me, l was born with it. In certain parts of Africa, some elements associated to your birth shall dictate your name
My parents are from Ghana and l was born a twin so my name is Ataa. I don’t like it because my twin passed away and each time people asked me the meaning of my name, they follow up by where is your twin and l have to explain everything and l really don’t like that.
And as simple as it is no one can pronounce or write it properly
I am considering legally changing my name"
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10. Teniola Disu
"My name is Oluwateniolafunmi (Can be shortened to —> Oluwateniola —>Teniola —> Teni). It’s Yoruba for “God has laid a mat (or path) to wealth ”. 😊"
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11. Sonya Bush
"All my kids were born on a Tuesday, in Ghana u are given a name in which day of the week u were born my daughters name Abena, and my sons name Kwabena. But first names are English and French names Patrice, Patience, Patrick, Jason.. in Ghana the Fathers side of the family names the baby."
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12. Paballo Molingoane
"Azania is my niece's name. It's become quite popular here in South Africa.
My name is Paballo (A name from the BaSotho tribe meaning to "deeply care" for something or someone) I'm usually called Pabi (apparently it's a tongue twister to say my full name).
I was born in the late 80s where most babies were either given "struggle" names or names deriving from a prayer (for me it would be something like, may you lay the in the deeply caring hands of the ancestors or God)... and if you had lazy parents like mine, you were just named after some late aunty or your great grandmother. So, yeah, there's about 10 other Paballos in my clan."
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Note that the video presenters shared that at least since the end of apartheid, some people in South Africa want that nation's name to be changed to "Azania".
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13. Salma Mohamed
"I’m somali so we have cultural somali
Names, we have Arabic names also from the Arab influence in Somalia! Our cultural names have deep meanings for example we name our children with the season they were born or how the weather was during labor (if it was raining or if it was sunny) or other Attributes like physical looks or names of wild animals such as lions or even horses! crazy I know! My name is Salma and it means peace ❤️"
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14. Mwape Zulu
"I am from Southern Africa, specifically the country Zambia. My name is Mwape Zulu. My last name Ngoni but I am from the Nsenga tribe. All this because of migration. My first name ''Mwape" pronounced "Mwah-peh" is Bemba. Meaning warrior. Google told me that, I never knew what it means and neither did any other Mwape that I know. I was named after my mums older sister."
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15. Ohemaa Ama Asare
"My first name is Ohemaa Ama. My dad is from Ghana and in his language, Twi my name means Queen born on Saturday. I was taught by both my parents to write both my first names and be proud of my name because my father bestowed it upon me. To this day when people ask to make up a nickname for me I will refuse or ask them to not call me at all. 🤷🏾♀️"
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16. KpopLyrics
"My name is Glory. I’m Cameroonian and was given that name because my mother was in labor for 3 days giving birth to me. They believed I was dead before I was born plus I made no sound when i was delivered. After a moment of silence and a smack to my bottom, I finally cried. My family was overjoyed and thanked God by naming me Glory.
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17. Penehafo Vaeta
"I'm from Namibia and belong to a bantu tribe called "Aawambo", my name is "Penehafo" which means "there is happiness" or "there is joy". Many of us with these oshiwambo names are named according to the circumstance in which we are born, the time e.g "Nangula" which means "in the morning" would be a name for a girl born in the morning, some people are named after people their parents liked and many (after the introduction of christianity), biblical names. Some names are just sentimental to the parents, expressing what they've gone through."
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18. プリンセスユニコン
"My name’s Lueji. I am named after the foundational queen of the Lunda, Chokwe and other south-centeal African people."
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19. Kinja Precieuse Bagalwa
"Kinja ~~~in Mashi (an African tribal language) means extra good. Excellent"
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20. waityseg
"I'm Liberian, my name is Waity, pronounced "wih-tih" by Liberians but i usually go by the americanized pronunciation of "way-tee". I know its supposed to mean something but no one can give me a clear answer. Apparently the meaning differs by tribe"
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21. Rebecca Froehlich
"My family is from Nigeria, and my full name is Uzoamaka, which means 'The road is good.' Quick lesson: My tribe is Igbo, and you name your kid something that tells your history and hopefully predicts your future. So anyway, in grade school, because my last name started with an A, I was the first in roll call, and nobody ever knew how to pronounce it. So I went home and asked my mother if I could be called Zoe. I remember she was cooking, and in her Nigerian accent she said, 'Why?' I said, 'Nobody can pronounce it.' Without missing a beat, she said, 'If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky, they can learn to say Uzoamaka.'" - actress Uzo Adaba. The same principle should apply to "black sounding" names and frankly, all names that are different than white normative names. Being faced with an unfamiliar name is just an opportunity to learn."
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22.mini muka
"My name its quite unique, yes even in its origin country, some people like to say that it is an Arabic name others argue that it means the gift of God specifically in Eritrea (East Africa), at least in my family it is believed to mean the gift of God (even tho it just means gift loool)
Even more of a fun fact the original spelling of my name actually has a y in it being ' but it was a bit too late to change it on my birth certificate(long story lol) soooo yeah that's my story :)"
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