Shift in Igbo Personal Naming Patterns

Abstract

Some African societies use personal names as a means of conveying their cultural values, traditions, and experiences. Personal names are therefore an important means of identifying their bearers. However, in recent times, it has been observed that the practice of identity construction does not seem to apply in the naming patterns of some African societies. Among the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria, there has been a shift in the contemporary naming of children as a result of greater media access, global communication, creativity, and the rising profile of Pentecostal Christianity. This study investigates the new trends in naming among the Igbo, as well as the motivations, semantic implications, and the general perception of these names by the Igbo people. Using the causal theory of names, this study adopts a qualitative design approach, and data were elicited from 100 participants who were mainly name-givers, bearers, and users. This study reveals a decline in the observance of the traditional naming patterns or practices of the Igbo, as it was noted that the new naming trend is related to favorableness toward Western culture, religion, and influence, which is seen as a form of style that connects name-bearers with prestige and modernity.

1. Introduction

Naming a child is one of the most important public decisions parents make; thus, names and naming are important elements of culture in all African societies. Whenever a child is born, there is a need to place a tag on the child, a means of identification with which they would be referred to, and this name accompanies the child throughout their lifetime, except if they decide to change it. This was noted by Omagu (2012), when he explained that naming a newborn baby is considered to be very much part of the personality of the person, because children are believed to grow into their name and live with it. Thus, naming a child is a universal practice all over the world that differs from culture to culture, and society to society, and often involves the parents making decisions and giving considerable thought to what they hold dear, that which is strong enough to influence their choice of name. Murray (2012, p. 1) opines that “although naming traditions vary from country to country, and culture to culture, we are all united in our quest to find the right names for our children. A baby’s name may have to last a lifetime, so it’s important to find a perfect fit”. The naming patterns of any society do not only reflect the language behavior of the society but also present the interaction of language and culture in that particular society, as the use of language to capture the societal values and beliefs is better preserved in names among other cultural resources.

Agyekum (2006) maintains that in every tradition, names have cultural and social content that identify the bearers. He argues that people are almost invariably named, and indeed, a human being without a name would be socially and psychologically less human. Some traditional and cultural presumptions are embedded in names, and names carry meanings, convey messages, and tell stories (Leslie and Skipper 1991; Rymes 1996). Ubahakwe (1981) posited that indigenous Nigerian names, like most African names, have high culture content. They are not simple labels used as baggage tags, for mere identification purposes. An indigenous name, on the whole, personifies the individuals, tells some story about the parents or the family of the bearer, and, in a more general sense, points to the values of the society into which an individual is born.

Among the different ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, there are indigenous names that pinpoint the exact linguistic group the name-bearer hails from. This also applies to the Igbo people. Names are means of identifying and individuating their bearers. In the past, among the Igbo people, there were names given to slaves or those perceived as outcasts. The social status of a person can also be predicted, as there were names reserved specifically for people from royal homes. This practice has also been recorded in some Nigerian communities. So, names have always played several roles in the lives of people, which is why the choice of a name has been regarded as sacred for many years.

Ansa and Okon (2004, p. 183) add that “the history of a people can therefore be elucidated through names, either as place names or personal names, in a predominantly oral culture, such as is recorded among the Ibibio people where place names and personal names act as undocumented historical records and landmarks to be passed from generation to generation”. In some communities, rituals are often carried out during naming ceremonies. This is because the naming ceremony is one of the most important events in a person’s life, as can be seen among the Yoruba in Nigeria. Traditionally, in African societies, naming is a patrilineal act. In traditional Igbo societies, for example, names are given after much consultation and a lot of things are considered: the pattern adopted by the parents’ immediate culture, the family’s belief and style, etc. In some clans and villages, the grandparents name the children after some rituals have been performed, while in other clans and villages, it is the father’s sole prerogative, and depending on the circumstances surrounding the child’s birth, the relative they resemble, the market day they were born on, the season they were born in, the number or sex of older children in the family, the ease or difficulty of the labor, or the conditions of previous pregnancies in the family, all these influence the general outcome of the naming process. Naming a child has significance in the parents’ life, as it is often seen that name bestowal reveals the situation surrounding a child’s birth. Achebe (1975, p. 12) states that “if you want to know how life has treated an Igbo man, a good place to go, is the names his children bear”. This coincides with the findings of a different ethnic group, as Akpabio (1980, p. 30) equally notes that “personal names amongst the Ibibio people sometimes reflect their struggles in life, their famine, sorrows and joys, and their hopes and aspirations”. But is this applicable today? How many people still give names based on these considerations? It has been observed that names respond to social change, and the continuous pursuit by Africans to anglicize all aspects of their life may also affect their choice of names. Onyi and Ukaegbu (2018) assert that naming as a form of communicative practice has gone beyond the ordinary, official, and traditional form of individualizing a person. There has been a unique transformation in the naming system, which has gained wide currency and caught the attention of scholars over the years. Previous works have been limited to the sociolinguistic, semantic, morphological, and anthropological analysis of personal names; however, there has been a noticeable shift in the naming patterns of some Igbo people who reside in Calabar, as names foreign to the Igbo culture and tradition are now being borne. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the types of names that Igbo parents’, who reside in Calabar, give to their children, the motivations behind them, perception toward those names, and the impact of these on the Igbo language and culture. We hope that this study will be beneficial to students, sociolinguists, onomasticians, and experts who are interested in studying how language and culture are intertwined in the naming process.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Naming as a Source of Identity Construction

Names are used to identify and make reference to people. Agyekum (2006, p. 207) maintains that a name refers to a different entity of human experience and is therefore purely referential. Most African societies clearly settle for a patronymic form of naming in a family, where children are named after their grandparents or ancestors. (Ukpong 2007). In the Bende axis of Igboland, the people are often referred to as “Ndi Ogboo” meaning “people who continually have namesake”; this is because, among the people, first sons bear their grandfathers’ names, while first daughters bear their grandmothers’ names, and therefore, it is possible for all the first daughters in an extended family to bear the same name. This cultural practice explores the genealogical identification role of personal names. Names are therefore extremely important for social interactions; the purpose of naming is to provide a symbolic system of identification. Naming has also been a means of identification used in defining cultural boundaries, wherein one’s identity is captured by the native or indigenous name he or she bears. Gerhards and Tuppat (2020) explain how one’s name stands out as a symbol of identity in boundary-related issues; thus, immigrants choose names for their children that are common in their home country, whereas others opt for names used by natives in the host country to gain easy access to opportunities, and for solidarity (Mensah et al. 2024).

More so, most times, we rarely understand some acts behind naming, and how it sells out the intention of the name giver without him uttering a word. For example, Igbo parents who have four children, two males and two females, with the following names: Nneoma (good mother), Obinna (Father’s heart), Udo (peace), and Akumjika (the wealth that makes me better than you/the edge I have over you), have their reasons for choosing these names, as can be seen from the meaning. An Igbo person has a sense of fulfillment with a first son; therefore, the name ‘Obinna’ shows the joy in his heart upon the arrival of his first male child, and the second son, named ‘Udo’, shows that finally there can be peace, since they have gotten two inheritors. Thus, Dickson (1996, p. 11) says that “the name one choses reflects many things about his character and personality, that one is not aware of”. This underscores that naming is an identity marker.

2.2. Naming as a Source of Social History

Njanji and Muromo (2013) believe that a name is not just a tool used to tell stories; they are integral to our society, but few people ever pause to reflect on their cultural, social and political significance, and what they reveal about their way of life. This is supported by Adejumo and Oyekola (2005) who, having conducted various research on African names, submit that names are not merely given as ordinary marks of identity, but as self-testifying marks revealing the bearer’s total background.

Onyi and Ukaegbu (2018, p. 16) opines that “in the African society, there is a strong belief about naming, and this is never taken for granted, because majority of expressions, have been made via names, histories have been sustained in names, secrets of a family, culture or tradition have been hidden in names”. Naming in any society is sacrosanct, and constantly renewed to represent the cultural revival of the people. Ansa and Okon (2004), in their study on names in Ibibio from the sociolinguistic point of view, observe that Ibibio personal names have religious, political and socio-cultural significance in the Ibibio society. They opine that names are the covert constitution of every society, as all aspects of morality and moral judgements are clearly defined in some of the names. They also realized that the political structure of the Ibibio people also influences their names. Thus, some Ibibio people give their children names which reflect the administrative divisions of their political entity.

Odudoye (1997), in a study on the structure and meaning of Yoruba names, explained that Yoruba names, like other African names, provide insights into the language itself, and therefore can be a good tool through which to learn the language. However, Ansa and Okon (2014) looked at names from an anthropological point of view in their work on “Names as index of social history” and had a different view. They observe that, unlike some African languages where names provide insights into the language, Efik names provide insights into the culture and history of the Efik people. According to these scholars, names are particularly significant in the tracing of the family genealogy to which the bearer belongs. Przecha (2018) explains that in genealogy, we usually concentrate on surnames, since they are the most important way of identifying people who are related. A surname is usually inherited, and while it may be changed, some forms of it are usually retained. Given names are more important, in a way, because they represent a voluntary choice by the parents, or sometimes, by an individual. A name is usually not taken lightly; it represents thought and feelings and can be significant to the researcher. This explanation also recognizes the fact that naming may not be taken seriously only in Africa, as even in other cultures and continents, it is never a haphazard process. Anyachonkeya (2014) argues that “the study assumes a position that the Igbo do not give names to their children haphazardly, that the names they give their children have social, linguistic, historical, religious and philosophic coloring. It established that names of children of the Igbo people are a projection of not only the whims of the parents but also a window through which we mirror their experiences in life. At times, such names constitute an aphorism unto themselves as well as an example of their worldview, what we may in Igbo refer to as Uwa Ndi Igbo”. In her study of Omuma names, she rightly affirms that “we speculate that every generation sets its own values. This speculation cuts across human societies and social strata. For instance, the names unique to our ancestors are no longer attractive to the present generation of Omuma people, thus the preferences in names by modern day Omuma parents differ from what has been”.

2.3. Naming as a Form of Ritual

Mensah and Offong (2013) assert that the socio-cultural effect and the traditional importance of names can be likened to that of most African societies, because the names people bear are capable of having behavioral effects on them, negatively or positively. Thus, Fitzpatrick (2012) explains that there is a spirituality that binds African people together, and guides their physical existence; the essential ingredient and essence of everything, including humans, is spirit, and for Africans your name is your soul—your name has celestial powers and embodies spirits. Thus, he adds that according to the teachings of African spirituality, “when one bestows a name upon a child, that person is not simply naming the flesh of the child, but rather the name is for the person’s soul”. Among the Zulus and other Nguni-speaking people of South Africa, the word for name is igama, ‘your symbol’—its original meaning being a symbol engraved upon a flat stone. In some early South-African societies, when a child was given a name, the symbolic meaning of the child’s name was painted on a round pebble in red or black pigment, and this symbol was kept for as long as the child lived. Upon death, the “named-pebble” was broken into two pieces and returned to earth’s bed, with the implication that the child has transcended back into the spiritual realm. This shows how sacred a name is to the South Africans, and also other African societies. The sanctity in the Igbo naming process is properly captured in Wieschhoff (2018, p. 6), where he explained that the naming process in Igbo land is a spiritual and sacred process, which involves recognition and divination, followed by the name giving, which is presided over by the child’s paternal grandparents, and the planting of a live plant to represent life and survival. Next, a participant performs a wine libation to intimate the ancestors of the child’s name. After the usual breaking of kola nuts and prayers, the ceremony, which traditionally lasts an entire day, ends with a family procession, followed by traditional songs which are chosen depending on the child’s sex.

2.4. Naming as an Aesthetic Component

In contemporary times, some parents have gone beyond meaningfulness to choose fanciful names, which are perceived to be more modern than the meaningful ones which have stayed over the years, and are now perceived as dated.

They prefer names that have beautiful implications to their social class, wide exposure, personal taste or educational levels. Al-Sayyed (2021) explains that the parent’s educational level might also play a role in the names they choose for their children, as the more educated they are, the more selective they become in name-giving. Thus, Alzamil (2020) expressed that parents opt for elegant names that are attractive not only when spoken but have a corresponding aesthetic meaning. His assertion was supported by Kalkanova (1999), who stated that personal names are influenced by non-linguistic factors, such as the aesthetic value of the chosen tag. This upholds the fact that some parents tend towards modernization and prefer trends than whatever meaning anyone thinks should accrue to a name; they concern themselves more with the physical and social appellations of the tag rather than the semiotic import or contextual meanings derived.

The changes in naming patterns are similar across world cultures, according to the American Name Society, in a column in The Atlantic, writer Joe Pinsker explores a noticeable shift in the parents’ selection of baby names. He expressed that, since the 1960s, more American parents have opted for less popular names to help their children stand out. In the Indonesian perspective, Aribowo and Herawati (2016), who worked on “Trends in Naming System on Javanese Society: A Shift From Javanese to Arabic”, explained that traditionally the Javanese people named their children using the Javanese language. Later, this phenomenon showed that there was a new trend in naming. Arabic began to be extensively adopted as the elements in a personal name. The Arabic name was then compared with the Javanese to determine the differences in the naming system and its reference. The results showed that there was a huge number of Arab intergenerational names, and modern parents tended to name their children using Arabic words. These efforts are taken to maintain one’s identity as a Muslim. The Javanese people now prefer to highlight their identity as part of Moslems rather than the Javanese. West, S. L, explaining the shift in the names of Black children, says that “Black parents want their children to have unique names of glittering value, names that may very well be the only thing that glitters in their complicated lives”, she goes further to add that “In so far as they represent the creativity of a people who are willing to counter the culture of naming in Western society, they too remind us that one’s first name is given to you by one’s loved ones, unlike one’s last name, which is inherited from a legacy of indentured servitude and psychological abuse”. Scholars believe that most of these shifts in naming pattern are attributable to the parents just trying to create unique names for their children, and they note that this creativity is observed mostly in Afro-American parents, as seen in the work of Thompson (2019), where he stated that the highest level of creativity is in modern African American naming conventions, as several scholars and thinkers have documented. One 1995 analysis studied African American names between 1916 and 1989, looking for the incidence of “unique” names—one given to a single child in the country, reveals that “In 1920, 31% of African-American girls and 25% of African-American boys in Illinois had unique names, higher than the rates for White Americans, at around 24% and 22% respectively. The rates of unique names chosen by African-American parents remained fairly stable until the 1960s—when they began to climb, reaching as high as 60% for girls around 1980, Beneath all the cultural shifts in names, it appears that some popularity is driven by sheer prosody. Parents all suddenly glom onto a name simply because, at that moment in time, it just sounds interesting”.

3. Theoretical Model

This study hinges on the causal theory of names. In Naming and Necessity, Kripke proposes a causal theory of reference, according to which a name refers to an object by virtue of a causal connection with the object, mediated by the communities of speakers. He also states that the proper names, unlike most descriptions, are rigid designations (the proper name refers to the object named in any possible world in which the object exists). Al-Sayyed (2021, p. 153) explains that “personal names are deemed part and parcel of any language in the world. Whenever a new baby is born, an urgent need appears to find a suitable name that will accompany him/her all his/her life. Thus, naming a newborn baby is a worldwide phenomenon in which parents have to make decisions to name them”. Naming traditions vary from one society to another due to several factors, one of which is the cultural differences and the surrounding environments. Devitt and Sterenly (1987) highlight the idea of the causal theory of names in their work. They explain that names are socially inherited, and there is a kind of causal relationship that exists between the name and the use of the name itself. The essence of the study is to examine whether names are ignorantly given to people, or if there is a causal relationship, as stated by scholars. The causal theories of reference describe how terms acquire specific references (especially logical terms, proper names, and natural terms) based on evidence. In the case of names, a causal theory of reference assumes that the referent of the name is fixed by an original designation, after which the name becomes a rigid designator of that object, and the name is subsequently transmitted by communication through a causal chain.

The causal theory is applied to this work because the proponents insist that there is a reason for which a name-giver chooses a name. They assert that names are not given in a vacuum, and there must be a reason that necessitated the choice of a name; thus, the causal theory of names insists that there is a relationship between the name and its usage, and that names are not given haphazardly. The theory proves that even though the choice of names does not follow the traditional or cultural pattern it used to, there is certainly a reason why a name is chosen, thus making it suitable as a framework for this study. In the bid to investigate the reasons for the shift in the Igbo personal naming patterns, it became pertinent to use this theory.

4. Methodology

4.1. Research Design

This study is a qualitative research work which basically involved a six-month data collection process in the Calabar Municipality and Calabar south areas of Cross River state, which make up the Calabar metropolis. The study aimed at investigating new trends in naming among the Igbo people, and to understand the motivation for their choices in naming in the last ten years.

4.2. Population and Sampling

The population of the study was made up of one hundred men and women of an equal ratio who were between 25 and 50 years old, who had varying educational qualifications, as seen below. The purposive sampling and snowball sampling techniques were used for the study. The purposive sampling technique was used to select parents whose children were born and bred in Calabar, and who fell between the ages of 0–10 years, as the aim of the study was to investigate the trend in naming and the shift that has been taking place in the last ten years. The snowball sampling method is a type of population sampling which falls into the social networking framework, where one participant that has been purposefully chosen leads the researcher, or introduces him to the next participant based on the purpose or criteria for choosing the population; likewise, this next person leads to other antecedent. The socio-demographics of the participant, such as age, gender, and educational qualification, were noted and taken into consideration, as such variables could influence the shifts in the naming pattern and affect the overall outcome of the study.

Demographics of the participants; see

Table 1. The age variable of the participants.

Age	Population	Foreign Names Given	Indigenous Names Given
25–30	25	85	1
31–35	24	92	3
36–40	20	50	3
41–45	15	50	24
46–50	15	30	17
Total	100	307	48

,

Table 2. The educational variable of the participant.

Educational Qualification	Population
First School Leaving Certificate	1
O Level	11
OND/NCE	10
HND/B.Sc.	68
M.Sc/Ph.D.	10
Total	100

and

Table 3. The gender variable of the participants.

Sex	Population	No. of Names Given	Foreign Names	Clipped Indigenous Names
Male	50	102	65	37
Female	50	253	242	11
	100	355	307	48

below.

4.3. Instruments and Methods

The researchers met participants at home, in social gatherings such as birthday parties and school ceremonies, where they interacted. Participant observations, semi-structured interviews and metalinguistic conversations were used as the methods of data collection. The participants were engaged, interviewed on the names of their children, and were asked the reasons behind their choice of names. The researchers sought to investigate the perception of the chosen names by family members, friends and neighbors, and also understand how it has impacted both the name-givers and bearers. An audio recorder was used to record the interviews, and jottings and a transcription carried out manually on field notes. A corpus of 355 names were collected in the field, and were coded into thematic categories. A descriptive approach was employed in the analysis of the data, which aimed at identifying the shift and the motivations for the shift, as well as the perception. A major limitation to this work may be the exclusion of parents whose children were not between the ages of 0–10 years, because in that sense, the researcher might have missed the opportunity of knowing if this shift has been in existence before the last ten years, as the exclusion would restrict such knowledge.

5. Data Presentation and Analysis

5.1. Older Forms of Names

These names listed in this sub-section are a compiled list of the first names of the participants. Bearing in mind that the age bracket of participants used for this study is between 25 and 50, these are names borne or given 25 to 50 years ago.

Table 4. The names borne by the participants (names given 25–50 years ago).

Cynthia	Michael	Ugo	Jude	Nwadiuto	Roseline	Nneka	Grace	Nmesomachi	Nduka
Lilian	Ngozika	Mary	Amaka	Magdalene	Ekeoma	Ifeoma	Ikenna	Nwaeke	Ugoeze
Anulika	Victor	Ruth	May	Anasthesia	Nnedinma	Daniel	David	Christiana	Markson
Charity	Kingsley	Agnes	Mary	Ukamaka	Chikaodi	Godwin	Theresa	Amarachi	Ogonna
Bethel	Kelechi	Orji	Uloaku	Chinwendu	Chukwudi	Ekene	Akudo	Matthew	Onyekachi
Ogechi	Gladys	Kelvin	Jane	Uchechi	Chinyere	Sunday	Peter	Patience	Okoye
Ndidiamaka	Hannah	Ude	Uzoma	Ogbonna	Chinaedu	Uchenna	Uruchi	Chukwuemeka	Eke
Dike	Luke	Eleanya	Favour	Ahudiya	Matilda	Agnes	Ugochi	Chisom	Peace
Onwuka	Ikechi	Mercy	John	Okechukwu	Ndubuisi	Arisa	Eze	Stella	James
John	Austin	Elijah	Ihedi	Goddy	Onyinyechi	Ihechi	Jude	Ifeanyi	Joseph

below is a sample to have in mind, to compare with the contemporary names given in the last ten years.

In Table 4 above, the names of the 100 participants used for the study are listed. A look at the names reminds us of the kind of names that were given some 25 to 50 years ago, as this is the age bracket used for the study. Out of the 100 names documented, it was revealed that there were 47 foreign names, and 53 indigenous names. Even the foreign names were mostly virtue names (Victor, Grace, Favour, Patience, Peace, Mercy), biblical names (Michael, Jude, Mary, Ruth, Mercy, John, Matthew, David, Daniel, Joseph, Luke, Elijah, Bethel) and English names (Cynthia, Roseline, Christiana, Kelvin, Jane), unlike the various names one would find existing in contemporary times; see the list of the 355 names in Appendix A.

5.2. Types of Names Given

From the research, it was realized that of the three hundred and fifty-five names (355) collected that were borne by the selected Igbo children in Calabar metropolis, only forty-eight (48) names were of Igbo origin, as the remaining three hundred and six (306) children bore foreign names. The masculine names were 18 indigenous names compared to 113 foreign names, while the feminine names or names borne by the female children were 30 indigenous names compared to 194 foreign names; thus, the names given can be classified into the following thematic categories:

A. Clipped Indigenous names (

Table 5. Clipped forms of Igbo names.

S/N	Igbo Names	Gloss	Clipped Form	Gloss
1	Chisimdindu	The lord says I shall live	Simdi	Said I should live
2	Nwamaka	Child is beautiful	Amaka	Is beautiful
3	Munachimso	My God and I follow	Muna	Me and ….
4	Kamharida	Let me not fall	Harida	Will not fall
5	Chimamanda	My God will never fail	Amanda	Will never fail
6	Kosisochukwu	As it pleases God	Kosi/Kosy	As it….
7	Ikechukwu	God’s power	Ike	Power
8	Somtochukwu	Join me to praise God	Somto	Join me to praise
9	Chukwuemeka	God has done much	Emeka	Done too much
10	Osinachi	It is from God	Sinachi	From God
11	Chiziterem	God sent me	Chizzy	No meaning
12	Chizaramekpere	God answered my prayers	Zara	Answered
13	Chimarisa	The God that knows how to answer	Marisa	Knows how to answer

): Clipping is the shortening of a name to an easier form. The names elicited from interviews which are indigenous names are native names that have been clipped following the trends present today; we have such Igbo names as:

This pattern distorts the semantic imports of the names; thus, they do not convey the intended meaning. In the first example in Table 5, it becomes necessary to ask the bearer “Who said you shall live?” in order to obtain the full meaning of the name, because the person who had ordered her to live had not been mentioned; likewise, in the second example, where a child is called “Amaka”—is beautiful, is it not clear who is beautiful. The meaning is diminished, but that does not matter as long as it makes it easier and shorter for both Igbos and Non-Igbos to use. These clipped names are still preferred, as they are seen as trendy compared to other Igbo names such as Chinedum (God leads me), Ujunwa (a child who came in abundance), Ugwumba (the pride of a tribe), Obinna (Father’s heart), which are referred to as being archaic and outdated despite their meanings and the importance in the context in which they are normally given. The scenarios discussed are not cases of clipped forms used as pet names by parents, but children actually bearing them as their official names. This happens because the parents feel the longer version makes it more local or too long, whereas the semantic content of the name is lost, rendering it meaningless. A participant explained that:

“the essence of shortening these names is for relative ease in pronunciation as they are often too long and difficult for non-Igbo speakers. My daughter’s name is chisimdindu (God said I should live), this name is difficult for our neighbors to pronounce, as a majority of them are not Igbo hence the clipped form to make it easier”.

—Jude

These clipped forms are naturally expected to serve as a pet name, andbut in this instance, are used officially both in school and in birth certificates. Another participant said that:

“my child suffered enormously in the hands of teachers as none of the teachers in her school was able to properly spell her name, thus I reduced the name to a shorter form, which can be easily spelt and memorized”.

—Nneka

However, traditionally, it is a teacher’s responsibility to know and correctly spell the names of her pupils, or consult their books if any difficulty arises. Now, the participant asserted that when she is asked the meaning of the name, she had to introduce the full form; nobody understands the meaning of the name until it is pronounced fully, as it is often viewed as meaningless in the clipped form.

B. Foreign Names: Foreign names have become the new normal for some participants who were name-givers. These given foreign names cut across cultures and continents, as parents prefer names even from languages they know nothing about. An example would be a child named Angelo, yet the parents do not know which country or language the name originated from. The personal gratification obtained from such names is yet to be understood. Examples of such names collected include: Finberg, Leroy, Arianna, April, Reanna, Jovani, and Aviela. One of the participants explained thus:

“I had always heard the name, Leroy, in movies and was borne by my Irish neighbor’s nephew, even without knowing the meaning, my husband and I decided to name our child that, peradventure I have a baby boy, as all the children bearing the name were so cute”.

—Amara

Another parent who expressed her love for foreign names had said:

“April is one name I fell in love with during my internship days in South Africa, so I had proposed to name my Baby girl April, even though I never had her in the month of April. Whenever people asked for the meaning, I tell them it’s the name of a month, and they ask if she was born in April, I reply that I just love the name”.

—Chinwendu

These sample opinions explained how personal taste or attraction towards foreign names can propel parents in naming their children. Another participant expressed thus:

“I did not want my children’s ethnic identity to be traced through the names they bear, so I agreed with my husband that they should be given foreign names, and they even bear their father’s English name as their surname. Thus, even as Igbo children living in Calabar, one cannot know their ethnicity simply through their names, except they reveal it to you”.

—Ekene

5.3. Motivation for Choice of Names

It is very interesting to understand the motivations behind the names participants give to their children. From the interviews conducted, the following reasons were noted:

Greater access to media has subconsciously exposed parents to the latest trends and contemporary naming practices; thus, some participants named their children after celebrities and notable figures in their society. They owned up to having given names to their children to express their love for their favorite celebrities, or to edify the good virtues of some notable figures, which include actors, musical legends, models, and other TV personalities. Such female names like Kimberly, Khloe, and Kendra, derived from the Kardashians in the TV show “keeping up with the Kardashians”, have featured among the most popular female names in the last ten years. A participant opined:

“My husband and I were so crazy for the show “keeping up with the Kardashians, that we decided to name our first child-Kimberly, and when we later had two other girls, we named them after the other two Kardashian girls-Kendra and Khloe, as we wanted rhyming names.”

—Anulika

This points to the fact that what propels some of these choices has nothing to do with the semiotic imports, as someone with this mindset would not have considered another name, even if the names had a negative meaning. Another participant recounted how she was so much in love with Eva Longoria’s role in “Desperate housewife” as “Gabrielle Solis” that she imagined if she could have lived like her; thus, the admiration propelled her to name her baby girl Gabrielle, after her favorite actress of all time. Another participant disclosed his love for Brookes Davis in the series “one tree hill”; in his words:

“I was so fascinated by the character of Brookes in One Tree Hill, a TV series, her popularity, small curvy body, eloquence and her acting skill, that I just craved to have a baby girl, to watch her grow under my guidance and avoid most of the mistakes Brooke made. I realized that every woman needed a father figure, thus when I got married, and had my first child, a girl, I named her Brooke”.

—Ugo

It therefore became explicit in the example of the last participant, who loved the name “Brooke”, that the decision to give the name had no relation to meaning, but stemmed from an inward desire to represent or idolize a particular character or person. Drawing from fictional characters in books, wherein some characters’ description and perception can be so vivid in a reader’s mind that one cannot help but fall in love with the names of such people. Thus, one continuously yearns for his child to bear such names as Miranda, Hector, Ramon, Jerisha, Jovani, Bernadine, Brenidad, Meryl, Samantha, and Natasha, as the name givers had reported that the names were picked from their favorite characters in their favorite books. A participant reported that he desired to name his first son “Hector” after reading about ‘Hector’, the first son of the King of Priam:

“Hector’s strength and valor in war was matchless, heralded as Troy’s greatest warrior, who led the invasion of the Greek in the Trojan war; his carriage and persona were what I craved for my first son, so I named him Hector”.

—Victor

The book was probably fiction, but it motivated someone and influenced his choice of name regardless of whatever the name meant. Some other participants claimed that the quest for creativity and uniqueness influenced the names they chose for their children, as they did not want common names, and craved some unique and distinct identity for their children; thus, morphological processes were profitably maximized to create innovative names. We have seen some examples of clippings previously, in which cases participants stated their reason to be ease of pronunciation; some, however, shortened the names for creativity, and this happens in both foreign names and indigenous. A participant expressed her feelings towards common names:

“I have always liked rare names, as they distinguish an individual from the crowd, so I always wanted unique names, and I just realized it wouldn’t be so easy unless I got creative, so after having two boys, we decided to try for a girl, I made up my mind that if I have a girl, I would combine the two female name I loved most, which was ‘Mary’ and ‘Peace’, thus when she came forth, I named her “MaryPeace”,. as that was my last chance of getting to name a baby girl”.

—Mary

This coincides with the findings of Korkmazer et al. (2018), who said that “parents spend more time choosing names when they have only one child, than they do when they have two or three children”.

The influence of global communication can alter parents’ taste and preference over time, as it was also a reason that influenced some of the given names, with aesthetics coming to play. It was notable that some parents had high sensitivity towards the aesthetic value of names, and had become very selective in choosing names that have beautiful implications and decorative tendencies. These are decorative and trendy names, which some name-givers assume would attract a class level to the bearers. Sometimes, due to personal preference for some kinds of names, parents may not go with the cultural naming patterns, but prefer modern names and perceive some as old fashioned. Wide exposure and an international relationship can influence the names parents give, as their choice often goes beyond their ethnicity or nationality to some names from foreign cultures; examples can be seen from the participants who named their children Reanna, Kendra, Natalie, Melissa, Eden, and Wimberly.

A change in Identity has proven to be a strong motivator for the shift in naming patterns, as participants adopt foreign (first) names to challenge their stereotyped ethnic identity and to contest existing traditional norms about naming. This is targeted from a need to change one’s identity. This phenomenon tends to be propelled by style, personal taste, community of residence, and other socio-economic factors. Immigrants with an ethnic first name are automatically identified as “others” in social encounters, and may decide to change their names to minimize labeling and discrimination, to preserve affinity to the culture and to better integrate socially, economically and culturally in the host society. However, some participants also ensure that their children bear English surnames, claiming to be running away from the pangs of ethnicity in the country, as no one would know where the name-bearer hails from. For example, Igbo children bear names like Samantha Marcus, Beverly Hills, and Eva Samuel, and such names make it difficult to determine their bearers’ ethnic affiliation. Studies found that a greater exposure of immigrants to U.S. culture increased the chances of giving an English name to a child, and that parents were more inclined to give English names to their daughters than to their sons (Sue and Telles 2007); also, in Germany, it was found that immigrants’ parents’ first-name choices have a clear link to their children’s integration into German society (Gerhards and Hans 2009). This proves that it is not only about the Igbo-speaking population who wants to integrate into non-Igbo speaking communities, but a trend found socially, that people intentionally give their children names that stem from the linguistic communities to which they have migrated. This aligned with the findings of Gerhards and Tuppat (2020, p. 2), who explain that “owing to the signal function of first names and the reaction of the majority of the society to these signals, parents’ decision has consequences for the child”. Several experimental studies have shown that immigrants with foreign names are often discriminated against, for instance, in the labor or housing market, regardless of their skills or resources. This is the reason why most Igbo people prefer English names that would not betray their ethnic identity.

The rising influence of Pentecostal Christianity is another reason that motivated this shift in the naming practices of the Igbo, as the majority of the Igbo people are Christians, and given that Christianity has annulled certain traditional religious practices, traditional names bestowed in recognition of those practices, especially deities, are no longer acceptable. Many Igbo Christians in the cities no longer partake in the traditional naming occasions as they used to; instead, they prefer to invite their religious leaders for christening, in which some pastors even give names to the newborn based on the belief that God would have spoken to them with the name that befits the destiny of the child. This counters both the ‘how” manner in which the name is given, and the “what”—the actual name the child is given, as religion has argued that a child should not be named by whatever negative situation that had propelled his birth, or has been associated with his/her birth; thus, parents disassociate their children from the traditional patterns that had bedeviled the naming process, and religion has provided the succor onto which parents cling to give faith-based names to their children, such as Blessed, Joshua Gideon, David, and Jonah, among others. A participant had explained thus:

“having read in the holy bible, how God used Joshua and Caleb mightily in the journey of the Israelites to the promised land, we decided to name our first son, Joshua, believing that as the first fruit of our loins, God will use him mightily in favour of our entire generation, because as Christians we believe that whatever name you call your child has spiritual influences on him”.

—Ifeoma (39)

This is not far from the truth, as even in traditional African societies, many spiritual connections are attached to given names. Another participant explained that:

“my daughter was named by my Pastor, as is the belief in my church, the man of God and God reveals a name to him for every child before his 7th day of birth if it’s a male child, and before the 8th day if it is a female, thus my child was named, Blossom”.

—Daniel

This notable situation is part of the shift, as names used to be given by a child’s parents or family members; however, currently, in some sects of Christianity, it is the prerogative of the pastor to name the child.

From the interviews, it is noted that the demographic characteristics of participants who were name-givers influence their choice of names for their children. The age, gender and educational level of parents seemed to play a role in the kind of names their children are given. From the interviews, it was noted that younger participants identified more with this shift in naming than the older participants; as is seen from Table 1, the participants who were between 25 and 40 bestowed 227 foreign names compared to 7 indigenous names, while the older participants aged 40 and above bestowed 80 foreign names and 41 indigenous names, which proved that these shifts are more noticeable among the younger generation. It was also seen that women tended to bestow more fanciful and trendy names than men, as men were more conservative and were less likely to have flair for aesthetics. Women strive more for the class and attraction perceived in a name; this is made obvious from Table 3, wherein the male participants bestowed 65 foreign names, and 37 indigenous names, while the female participants bestowed 242 names compared to 11 indigenous names. The disparity between their naming patterns showed that the women bestowed more foreign names, while the male bestowed more indigenous names. Likewise, the shift was felt more dominantly, as the female participants bestowed a higher number of names than the males, which is an apparent shift, as traditionally, men are the name-givers in Igbo society. Educated people tended to give foreign names to their children more than the uneducated, as they believe that their children “who will go places and attain international recognition” need to bear names that do not restrain them culturally, and as such foreign names become preferable. Even when non-educated participants bestow foreign names, it does not exceed such names like Grace, Sandra, Favour, Victory, Abigail, Joyce, Mirabel, simple English names and indigenous-language names, but there are cases where it looks as though the widely traveled, educated Igbo man sees naming as an avenue to show off the names borne in the different countries he has been to, as you see in names such as Almira, Luianna, Cheryl, Meryl, Lenina, Aviella, Purple, Samantha, Finberg, Chelsea, Finbars, Natasha, Hills, Wales, Posha, Jayden, and Beverly, with no regard to the culture amidst neglect for his roots. This view was supported by the findings of Korkmazer et al. (2018, p. 1) “as the level of education increases, people are influenced by the books they read, movies they watch or popular characters, and are directed to call their babies that way, and move away from traditional family names”. A participant revealed that:

“you do not expect me to give archaic names to my children in this decade, even my mother from the last generation was graceful enough to give me Lilian, rather than Sarah, or Stella, so why should I give my children such names, when there are trending names to choose.”

—Lilian

5.4. Perception of the Names

Our findings reveal the perception and reaction of friends, relatives and neighbors to the names participants give to their children. Some of the participants opine that their neighbors think their kids names are quite common; a good number expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that people thought these names were strange (such as Finberg, Leroy, Arianna, April, Reanna, Jovani, Lamina, Lenina, Ledel-light, Purple, and Aviela), as people wondered why a parent would give those names to their children. The majority of the participants claimed that living in Calabar makes it easy, as these names are trendy names everyone likes and it makes their children belong to a self-acclaimed social class which does not betray ethnic sentiments. One of the participants explained that:

“my nightmare often begins whenever we want to travel to the east, I remember my mother’s friends who would make mockery of the names, distorting the word as they try to pronounce them. Most of them giggle and ask me where I got these names from, but hardly do young people ever have issues with the names”.

—Amaka

Contrary to the first reaction, another participant observes that her parents love her children’s name, and even try to show it off whenever they visit home, deriving joy in the fact that people are hardly familiar with the names, and even keep repeating the names, and asking of the children long after they had gone back to Calabar. A participant, Joy, aged 38, shared the story of how her pastor who came for christening rejected the male name she and her husband had chosen for the son; she explained that “the pastor refused to pronounce the name “Finbars” nor christen the child, as he insisted the boy must be called “John”,

“I explained that my husband and I had long had this arrangement, still, the man insisted that I had chosen a worldly and meaningless name, instead of ‘John’ which was a religious and biblical name, belonging to one of the disciples of Jesus Christ”, but I let him understand that meaning is personal, that the choice of that name was not drawn from a vacuum, and we had our personal reasons for our choice of a name for our new born”.

—Grace

From these explanations, one could understand that naming has shifted from a traditional event, i.e., an event that normally follows a cultural pattern, to an individualistic ensemble, and no matter the bias one expresses over the names given to children by their parents, the research has shown that all names are borne out of some reasoning in Igbo land, just as is seen in other cultures. Though naming may not follow the traditional patterns it used to, naming has not and never will be a haphazard process, as there is a cause for every choice made, and an explanation is offered by the causal relationship of the names and the uses. An African saying holds that “however a name arrives, one thing is for sure: Most often, the kid is stuck with it for life. It must be remembered that, from infancy onwards, our first names dog us even more faithfully than our shadows”.

6. Discussion of Findings

From the analysis of the data as collected from the study through semi-structured interviews and participant observation, it is shown that in recent times, naming practices among the Igbo residing in Calabar have taken on a new dimension. Some of the innovative ways identified in the study through which names are given include: drawing names from famous celebrities (Kimberly, Khloe from the Kardashians, Leroy, Jovani), novels, books, movies (Meryl, Arianna, Queendom, Bernadine, Brenidad, from popular characters in seasonal movies), or a combination of existing names and neo-formations (Mary-Peace, Joan-Almira, Ledel-light). The reasons for these have been numerous, including loyalty to popular celebrities, creativity, maintaining rhyming names and popular culture, naming after a parent’s religious inclination, a change in identity, and personal preferences. It was also noticed that there was complete absence of names that portray traditional and cultural beliefs, circumstantial names, death-prevention names, proverbial names, and deity names, as names which could be regarded as meaningless are preferred if they are viewed as modern, trendy, and acceptable.

Among several ethnic groups, picking out names can be influenced by the positive or negative circumstances the family finds themselves in around the time a child is born. Often, such names are complete sentences. According to Arthur (2016), the majority of Nigerian names come as sentences, as they always want to reveal the true meaning of the names, and do not exhibit clipped forms, as is observed in recent times. However, the Yoruba, who bear even longer names, write them out fully, and you find some of them bearing three native core indigenous names, e.g., Oluwadara Adebukola Omotade, even when the child is called Bukky or Ola by family and friends; in writing, the full names are written, ensuring one understands the actual meaning of the names, as “Bukky” has no meaning.

Indigenous names help the Igbo to identify themselves wherever they reside, and not to abandon their language and culture. If these children bear these foreign names, and still cannot communicate in Igbo language, their mark of identity would have been lost. How would they claim to be Igbo in origin, when they lack the communicative competence to appropriately portray their semantic notations in naming? Why would Igbo, one of the major languages in Nigeria, not be said to be threatened by extinction, when the speakers are impassionate about their language? Ukaegbu and Onyi (2018, p. 1) advise that “when languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memories, unique modes of thinking and expression—valuable resources for ensuring a better future—are also lost”, this is why every community should try to protect their linguistic heritage, and this is more conserved in names. Ohiri-Aniche (2013) opines that younger people tend to carry out these characteristic naming practices more than the elderly. It can also be seen from the data collected that the younger participants were the most affected by these contemporary naming patterns.

From the study, it is seen that there is a possibility that the shift would be more prominent for the Igbo who reside outside the east and start a family there, rather than the Igbo residing therein, leaving one to wonder if these shifts would be obvious when this study is replicated in the east, or if they would be subtle. Adomi and Ukaegbu (2019, p. 11) argue that “Language loss is a trademark of immigration, this is because in the quest for integration with the people, there has to be a common ground for communication”; thus, migration from one’s indigenous location can lead to a shift in linguistic identity, allegiance and naming. The study also showed how imperialism has taken over our naming system, as some Nigerians crave for their children to bear foreign names rather than their indigenous names, as can be seen in the population of children bearing such names compared to native names, which is 306 foreign names versus 49 Igbo indigenous names.

From the study, it is realized that almost 75% of all Igbo children have Igbo names, but these names are borne at home, and their foreign names are used officially, in school and outside the home; even in documents, where this child must write their name in full, they exist as middle names or as initials, proving the fact that parents prefer foreign names, as they think they are superior or more fanciful than our indigenous names. Worth noting is the fact that even the biblical names that Christian participants used to name their children before are no longer in use now, as they are also seen as obsolete. Talking about Christianity, it was also observed that the advent of Christianity in Igbo land adversely affected the naming system too, as core traditional names that revered the glories of the deities or ancestral worship have been abandoned. Where such names still exist, they serve as surnames. The names which reflect the supremacy of the Almighty God in the Christian circles are best promoted in contemporary Igbo naming practice.

One would also wonder if this kind of outcome would be realized if this research was carried out in a rural setting in south-eastern Nigeria, so the researchers can compare if it was education, civilization and contact with other people, exposure through travels, or movies or books that brought about this disparity. Likewise, if this study was conducted in the same Calabar metropolis on Yoruba names or Hausa names, could this shift be seen, in that Yoruba or Hausa parents have followed the trend in preferring foreign names to their indigenous names, or if this study is conducted in a core northern state, or core western state, would the result be any different?

7. Conclusions

Names bear hidden meanings that are only embedded in the culture and traditions of the people that have existed for generations gone. In those times, the reasons behind the choice of names were basically circumstantial (based on the circumstances surrounding the birth of the child), and wishfulness (beautiful wishes and blessings the parents have bestowed on the child to accompany them through life), among others. These meanings that convey or transport the culture and traditions of these people are transmitted from one generation to another as long as those names are continually borne; whenever these names go out of usage, the ideas hidden behind them are lost. In contemporary times, naming in Nigeria has taken a new dimension, as parents tend to care more about the fanciness of a name rather than the meaning it actually conveys; the pattern has changed, as the reasons for choice of names vary according to the following: greater access to media, the influence of global communication, a change in identity, the rising influence of Pentecostal Christianity and the demographic characteristics of the name givers. Irrespective of the fact that naming does not follow the traditional pattern it used to, such as who gives the name, when the name is given and how the name is given, it is necessary to point out that naming still remains a thought-provoking venture. This research has proven that names are not given in a vacuum, and no matter how common and meaningless one may think a name is, one thing is sure: there is always a reason for any name given, and naming is still not a haphazard process. However, the pitfall remains that the cultural values attached to some indigenous names would certainly be lost if this preference for foreign names were to continue, and the cultural heritage becomes lost ahead of time, even before the language itself becomes extinct, or even before the last speaker of the language dies.