NAM IN G

African religion is expressedin the names of
pe oplean d places.MostAfricanna mesof pe ople
andpl aceshavesymbolicmeaningsthatarereli -
giousin nature.Namesarechosenfortheirspecial
meaning,po wer,andsource.Names ar e oftencir -
cumstantial,andhistoricalnar rativesarewoven
aroundthem.Newbornsar e namedon thebasis
of specificsituationssurroundingtheir birth,and
thenames may be rel atedto thefeelingof thepar-
ents,time of birth,descriptionof th e child, or his
or herbackground.Naminga chi ld is takenseri-
ou slybecauseit is believedthata namecanmake
or mar a person.Forex ample,a childbornout -
side Yorubaland, particularl y abroad,is often
namedTo kunbo, whic h li terally means“coming
fromacrosstheseas.”A childbornduringfesti-
valsor holidaysis calledAbiodun. A nameis per-
ceived as meaninglessif it conveysnoconcrete
meaning,hasnolin ks to a spiritualsource,does
no t evokea narrative,an d is notlinkedtoany
his toricaleventsor landmarks.
In severalAfricansocieties,lif e cyclesareesse n-
tially dottedwithelaboraterit ua ls. One of themost
conspicuous transitional rites that lubricate th is
passagethroughlifeis thenamingritual.Anindi-
vidual’snamerepresents an ess ential componen t of
humanspiritualanatomyandcanserveas anindi-
cator ofdes tin y. Withouta name,an in dividual
would notex is t. A nameis anedifyingem blem
given to a ch ildat birthby theparents.The Yoruba
phraseoruk o lo nr o niliterallytr anslates as “n ames

affectbehavior”andsymbolizesthebelief that

th e namegiventoa chi ld canin fl uence his or

herbehavior. TheAkanphilosophicalex pression

On ipa be gyeedin na wammeyehweear a, which

means“manwasbornto makea goodnameabove

allthings,”indicatesthata namebecomesa reli-

giousmarkof identificationanda signof honor

andrespect.Althoughtheformof theritevaries

fro m onesetting to another,thesymbolismbears

remarkablesemblanceas a significantconstant.

Afri cansocietiesfollowa similarnamingritual

patternthr ou gh time,althoughtherearevariations

in procedureand emphasisdependingon ethnic

and cul turalbackground. Generally, a child is

named within7 to 9 days ofbirth.Among the

Yorubaan d Akanpeople,a childis usuallynamed

onth e eighth day.Atthenamingritual,thech ild

receivesbetween2 and 30 namesdependingon the

occasion an d birthcir cumstances. In the Akan

in digenouscontext,thefirstnamereceived,thekra

den (“soulname”),is determinedby thedayof the

weekthech ild wasborn,as wellas thedivinitythat

governstheday.Basically,mostGhanaianpersonal

namescomprisetwomainparts:thekra den, indi-

catingtheparticularbirthdate,andthe agyadin ,

whichmeans“the namechosenby thechild’sfather

or parents.”It is believedthatNyame(theSupreme

Being) ascribed different spiritual qualities and

functions toseven ofHis children translated as

divinities.Eachdivinityis assignedto a dayof the

week. This spiritual quality of the divinities is

bel ievedto be transmittedto andcarriedby th e soul

of thechildalong a genderdivide.A childbornon

Akwesida(Sunday)is associatedwiththedivinity

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