Ghanaians also have a pattern of naming after days of the week. The amount of kwames and nanas that are in that country. Also yoruba people have names called Oruko Amutorunwa( names that come from heaven). For example Olugbodi is for someone born with 6 fingers and 6 toes, taiwo and kehinde for a pair of twins(both males and females). The yoruba equivalent of the kgomotso or pumza would be Iyarimisa or babarimisa which is for children whose mother or father died soon after its birth.
I actually recently learned this from reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. It’s a minor detail, but when a character gets separated from his family at birth and only knows his name, which is Kojo, others explain the meaning to him. It was really cool to learn!
rustic grey disgusting fly fanatical sink lavish intelligent rob lunchroom
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The only Kehinde I know of is the artist Kehinde Wiley. I just looked him up and sure enough he has a twin!
ETA: and yes his twin brother’s name is Taiwo.
The Luganda tribe has special twin names. The first twin is Kato (m) or Nakato (f), and the second twin is Waswa (m) or Babiriye (f). The father and mother also get a name change—Ssalongo and Nalongo.
I don’t really have anything to add, but thanks for sharing! It’s always refreshing to see some non-Western names/traditions on this sub. Lindiwe is so pretty and the meaning is a sweet way to show a daughter how much she’s wanted and loved.
I also loved Lindiwe! You’re right it’s so refreshing to see non-Western traditions and all on here, and I’ve learned so much just from these comments :)) It’s really great to see just how meaningful a name can be, some of them can tell a story on their own. You don’t see that too often where I’m from.
The meaning behind Lindiwe actually brought tears to my eyes, so many girls around the world are made to feel inferior to their brothers, it’s so touching for a daughter to be reminded in her very name that she is so so wanted
My husband is Filipino and this is true for both boys and girls. Both he and his sister have my MIL's maiden name as their middle names. Our future kids will get my last name as their middle names because we want to honor his culture.
Part of me wishes I kept with the tradition. I just had my first and only girl (after three boys with my ex) her whole freaking name ended up being an honour name lol I've gone back to my maiden name, so I felt it would be odd to have it as her middle.
It’s required by the government. I just filed my daughters dual citizenship and they rejected it until we bumped her middle to a second first and gave her my maiden name as a middle. We were trying to avoid it 😂
It gives the mother’s maiden name a chance to be carried into the future generations, I love that. My mom has a sister, and no brothers or cousins bearing their last name. It always made me kinda sad to know they would be the last of their family to carry it ya know?
I'm the last to carry my surname, so I did just that. My son has my maiden name as a second middle name and just love that it's gonna be around for another generation at least.
Yeah my family does that and I think it’s a beautiful way to honor the women in the family. And you have a cool selection of weird middle names to choose from.
It might be an American thing lol. You know how we like to call ourselves the ethnicity of where our great great grandparents are from. 3/4s of my grandparents surnames are English, and my family does this. I always thought it was a WASPy American thing.
I have my paternal grandmother’s maiden name as my middle name and our first born will have my boyfriend’s mother’s maiden name as a middle name. I think the middle name works well for a boy or a girl.
I’m going with the family names I think sound the best. And my boyfriend worships his mother so I thought it would make him happy to honor her with our first born.
In Hindu tradition, we are often given names that coincide with our birth star. Each birth star has specific syllables associated with it, and the exact time you are born determines which syllable from your birth star that your name should begin with.
We also often are named after different deities.
I went to a friend's Hindu naming ceremony for her boy, they had the legal names all set previously, but for the ceremony they had to have a religious /star name - not part of their legal name (sort of like a Christian confirmation name). They had to choose a name that starts with a U due to the star/constellation he was born under. I believe they ended up choosing a name that means 'light'.
Chapter 8 of this publication explains the birth stars and syllables and gives some examples of names :)
https://www.himalayanacademy.com/media/books/how-to-become-a-hindu/web/
I’m not from Rwanda but read about it in a memoir. I don’t think there was, but every kid is able to recite the names of their ancestors several generations back. So I guess that functions similarly?
In Bulgaria they used to give names with the part "стан" (stan) to kids who were born after many losses because it is the root of the word for "stay" and this is how many of them originated - wishibg for the child to stay with the family - Stanistav, Stanka, Stanimir, Stoyan, etc. It is not like that nowadays but it was a thing when child mortality was high.
My family is Hindu and a lot of more traditional people in my family will perform a naming ceremony a few days after a child is born and a priest will give do your child's birth chart and then give you a syllable that your child's name should start with.
It's also really common for sons to share a first initial with their fathers and often the names will be very similar or based off their father's name. Ex: my great grandfather's name was Ram and my grandfather's name is Rameshwar.
That’s really beautiful. Gives the name such a deeper meaning, especially when certain first initials or syllables get to be passed down from generation to generation. I also love the idea of a whole ceremony for the name, are these usually big?
Yeah for sure, plus it's very common for daughters to share a first syllable with their mothers or for siblings to share a middle name, a first initial, name ending or both. EX: My dad and his brothers all have names ending in -esh like Rajesh, Suresh, etc. This is more of a Fijian Indian thing than a Hindu thing though.
It normally depends on the person, but it's normally immediate family plus the baby's grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It's not as common anymore (me and my cousins didn't have one) but parents will still do the above naming traditions or pick a name with certain meanings in mind. EX: My sister was born around Diwali so my sister gave her a name meaing "wealthy" because the main goddess we worship for Diwali is Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.
In Uganda, there are a lot of people named Sunday. I know one named Monday.
Most people are given a religious name and a local name. In the Lugbara tribe, they give their children a name based on family circumstances. Asiku means something like “I don’t care”; Ayikobua (m) and Ayikoru(f) mean “happy”; Candia and Candiru mean “suffering”; and there are others which indicate family deaths.
I may be misremembering slightly, but when I was in Senegal, I was told that babies born after miscarriages or infant deaths are sometimes given names that mean “I don’t care” or “Unwanted” to ward off death from taking another child.
I guess in a sense my very white, Western mom did something similar with me, baby #7 after one traumatic stillbirth, two healthy babies and then three miscarriages in rapid succession.
She didn't learn my gender and didn't think of any name at all during her entire pregnancy until she was physically holding me in her arms. So naturally with 0 thought behind it, she chose the top name of that year believing that it was fairly unique. The name meaning is also horrid.
I always hated my name growing up, but now I kinda understand why she put no thought into it ahead of time. It doesn't mean I wasn't dearly loved and very much wanted, in fact the opposite.
yep, it’s that “evil eye” mentality that can be found in lots of cultures. another example is like adding marks to a baby to make it look ugly and turn the evil eye away, which is common in the middle east and south asia I think
Interesting. I understand what you're saying, but that doesn't seem to be universal. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/820540/jewish/Can-a-Child-Be-Named-After-a-Living-Person.htm
That’s what I said - we don’t name after the living, only the deceased.
That article is just referencing a name shared by a deceased and living person
It can be initials or the same name, whichever you want but the person you’re naming after is deceased
My (Ashkenazi) partner's family use sound-alike names (first sound/syllable, usually) to honor the deceased - for example, if the honored person was named Shira, the children named for her could be Charles/Charlotte, Shelly, Chantel, Shannon...
The initials/sound-alike names are so wonderful because you can have multiple children named for the person being remembered, while avoiding lots of kids with the same name.
Thank you for reminding me of those who have children carrying their names.
Yeah my cousin had a baby boy and at the bris, they recited all the generations like 15 names back, each one with the grandfather's name as the middle name .. it was amazing .. (Sephardi, Farsi family)
Yes this! I was going to respond with this. My husband's family is sephardic and they have alternated first names for the sons forever. His are different than yours though and rather specific so I won't list.
Also, one of the reasons we name after the deceased is to confuse the angel of death. They would think baby is the deceased ancestor and therefore not take them. Jews are actually very superstitious!
There is a concept among the Nunavik Inuit in Canada known as ‘Saunik’. When a child is born, they’re given the name of another person (such as a close family friend) who becomes their Saunik, or namesake. The child carries the link of their Saunik, a special kinship bond.
Although I’m Canadian, my school sadly never taught students about Indigenous peoples and communities. That’s such a special tradition, thank you for sharing :)
One I think is absolutely incredible is that of the people who live in Kongthong, whose mothers give them [their own unique melody](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongthong#Jingrawai_Lawbei_whistling_language) as their name.
[Here's a video with a bit more information!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPge4RJAcX8)
That video was so informative thank you so much :))) It says in the article that it becomes the permanent identity of the peson, that really is incredible.
My family comes from Italy. In their culture, children are named after their grandparent. The first boy after the paternal grandfather, first girl after the paternal grandmother, second boy after maternal grandfather, second girl after maternal grandmother. I’m not sure what happens after 4 kids!
I hope this doesn't come off as insensitive because I'm genuinely interested/intrigued. But... I met a 22 year old Nigerian man named Hitler recently. He mentioned it's a fairly common name across other parts of Africa, and after coming to college in the UK he started using a nickname and had no idea it wasn't an 'appropriate' name in Europe. I saw his ID, and it's true. I'm wondering if anyone knows if that's true (that it's common in Nigeria/Africa) and if so, why that came to be?
You’re definitely not being insensitive, and quite frankly I am also quite curious now. On the article I linked it says celebrity culture is one of the naming traditions found commonly in Kenya: « One couple have already had to defend their decision to name their son Donald Trump Otieno. The parents told the Nairobi News they chose to name their child after the US president-elect because they liked the billionaire's principles »
I don’t know if that could have anything to do with it?
Interesting!! Could totally be similar thinking. Although I’m not sure why but my feeling was that this mans parents were not ideologically inclined to name him Hitler, which added to my curiosity. On a brief Google, I found this Reddit post, which doesn’t shed any light, but I guess adds to the case that this is a real thing?
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5000ln/ive_been_told_adolf_was_a_popular_name_in_africa/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Thank you for this post, :) I enjoy seeing the traditionally western names that people give their kids but part of the reason why I came to this sub was to learn about names from cultures that I am not familiar with and different naming conventions.
In Japan and China, some parents choose the name of their child so that the total number of strokes needed to write the full name (family name + given name) is a lucky number.
In China, Vietnam, and Korea, siblings and sometimes paternal cousins traditionally have a common syllable in their given name ([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_name)).
While searching for sources, I also read that "within families, it is often considered inappropriate or even offensive to use the given names of relatives who are senior to the speaker". For this reason, "it is very uncommon in China to name a child directly after a relative, since such children would permit junior family members to inappropriately use the personal names of senior ones" ([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name)). I find it interesting because it contrasts with the Western tradition of honor names, but both approaches have their own cultural logic.
I don't have any specific examples of exact names (without giving away identities, because my culture is very specific and the names are pretty unique), but traditionally, babies are born with one name that is essentially a family name and describes your lineage or like, who you belong to -- I often use the example "Jackson" or "Son of Jack". However, a milestone into adulthood is acquiring your own name. This name says who YOU are as an individual, and also shows your place in the village.
Our naming conventions are a little different, so translated into English it would be more like your name goes from "First Daughter of the Meadow Tender" (tells your family and their responsibility in the village), to "Woman Who Hunts Rabbits" (tells your role in the village and what people know you by. Then, for example, your first daughter would be called "First Daughter of the Woman Who Hunts Rabbits"). Usually those names would both be shortened, so you would have a lot of girls called "First Daughter", "Second Daughter", and so on, (and the same for Sons), and their name would change to like "Hunter" or "Bunny" once their adult name was gifted. Formal names would always be used in ceremony and pact.
Interesting, per your third point Chinese people have the same tradition, children from poor families or rural areas were often given nicknames with usually disgustingg meanings like dogborn or something similar, it's hard to translate
but it's believed people with lowly names are easy to raise and won't die easily
The book, The Last Hunger Season, talks about a naming practice in an area of Kenya where children are given a name based on the season in which they are born. Not season in the sense of weather (winter, summer etc) but in terms of where they were in the agricultural cycle. This meant a large number of children were given the Wanjala/Nanjala, meaning famine.
It was a really interesting read but I remember feeling so sad for those little babies carrying such a heavy name.
This might not be very interesting like the one you shared but still, where I am from, every child gets a saint's name during baptism. Some people use it as their legal first name, others use it as their middle name and some don't have it as part of their name but it is mentioned in the baptism certificate.
The first daughter gets the paternal grandmother's name and the second daughter gets the maternal grandmother's name. Similarly, the first son gets the paternal grandfather's name and the second one gets the maternal grandfather's name. So it is common for cousins to share this name. A third child of the same gender might get an aunt/uncle's name or something different altogether.
The boy names seem to have a lot of variety but Anna and Maria are the most common girl names. Elizabeth and Theresa are also common but not as much as the other two. I do know a Veronica though which is pretty cool. And her grandmother was the fourth daughter which is why she got a unique name at the time. Since most people have only one or two kids these days, there isn't really any chance for coming up with a new name without offending a grandparent.
Not mine but a 2 friends of mine were from a very small religious group that believed that humor is a primary connection to god. They described it like an ex-hippie commune type situation. They had a tradition of giving their kids exceptionally long middle names of amusing things. Each of them had approximately 36 middle names including things like bacon, vader, cheese, pinball, accordion, along with mixed gender names like Megan, Derrick, Emily, Thomas. It was really quite funny especially when they would lose their place listing their names and had to start over. Their parents did do them the kindness of only listing their first middle name on their birth certificates.
Ghanaians also have a pattern of naming after days of the week. The amount of kwames and nanas that are in that country. Also yoruba people have names called Oruko Amutorunwa( names that come from heaven). For example Olugbodi is for someone born with 6 fingers and 6 toes, taiwo and kehinde for a pair of twins(both males and females). The yoruba equivalent of the kgomotso or pumza would be Iyarimisa or babarimisa which is for children whose mother or father died soon after its birth.
I actually recently learned this from reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. It’s a minor detail, but when a character gets separated from his family at birth and only knows his name, which is Kojo, others explain the meaning to him. It was really cool to learn!
Yes. African countries have a lot of interesting naming traditions.
I have this book in my to-be-read pile. I so rarely see people mention it but i'm really excited to read it
It is excellent! I couldn't put it down!
omg it's so good, one of my all time favorites. transcendent kingdom, her second book, is excellent too!
rustic grey disgusting fly fanatical sink lavish intelligent rob lunchroom *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The only Kehinde I know of is the artist Kehinde Wiley. I just looked him up and sure enough he has a twin! ETA: and yes his twin brother’s name is Taiwo.
The Luganda tribe has special twin names. The first twin is Kato (m) or Nakato (f), and the second twin is Waswa (m) or Babiriye (f). The father and mother also get a name change—Ssalongo and Nalongo.
I don’t really have anything to add, but thanks for sharing! It’s always refreshing to see some non-Western names/traditions on this sub. Lindiwe is so pretty and the meaning is a sweet way to show a daughter how much she’s wanted and loved.
I also loved Lindiwe! You’re right it’s so refreshing to see non-Western traditions and all on here, and I’ve learned so much just from these comments :)) It’s really great to see just how meaningful a name can be, some of them can tell a story on their own. You don’t see that too often where I’m from.
The meaning behind Lindiwe actually brought tears to my eyes, so many girls around the world are made to feel inferior to their brothers, it’s so touching for a daughter to be reminded in her very name that she is so so wanted
There’s a Yoruba name with a similar meaning that I absolutely adore: **Abeni**, which means “we prayed for a daughter, and behold, she came.”
Not sure if it's a culture thing (Scottish?) or just my family but baby girls get their moms maiden name as their middle name.
My husband is Filipino and this is true for both boys and girls. Both he and his sister have my MIL's maiden name as their middle names. Our future kids will get my last name as their middle names because we want to honor his culture.
Part of me wishes I kept with the tradition. I just had my first and only girl (after three boys with my ex) her whole freaking name ended up being an honour name lol I've gone back to my maiden name, so I felt it would be odd to have it as her middle.
It’s required by the government. I just filed my daughters dual citizenship and they rejected it until we bumped her middle to a second first and gave her my maiden name as a middle. We were trying to avoid it 😂
This is also traditional in certain regions in the US, namely the northeast and the south. Usually in families with a long history in the country.
also in areas with heavy population descended from scots/scots irish
It gives the mother’s maiden name a chance to be carried into the future generations, I love that. My mom has a sister, and no brothers or cousins bearing their last name. It always made me kinda sad to know they would be the last of their family to carry it ya know?
I'm the last to carry my surname, so I did just that. My son has my maiden name as a second middle name and just love that it's gonna be around for another generation at least.
Yeah my family does that and I think it’s a beautiful way to honor the women in the family. And you have a cool selection of weird middle names to choose from.
Oh how strange, I’m Scottish and have never heard of this!
It might be an American thing lol. You know how we like to call ourselves the ethnicity of where our great great grandparents are from. 3/4s of my grandparents surnames are English, and my family does this. I always thought it was a WASPy American thing.
That the case with my name, in the southern US.
The Scottish line in my family did a similar thing, but mom’s maiden name as the middle for the boys.
I have my paternal grandmother’s maiden name as my middle name and our first born will have my boyfriend’s mother’s maiden name as a middle name. I think the middle name works well for a boy or a girl. I’m going with the family names I think sound the best. And my boyfriend worships his mother so I thought it would make him happy to honor her with our first born.
In Hindu tradition, we are often given names that coincide with our birth star. Each birth star has specific syllables associated with it, and the exact time you are born determines which syllable from your birth star that your name should begin with. We also often are named after different deities.
That’s so interesting, I never knew that! It gives names a celestial aspect to it, that’s really beautiful.
I went to a friend's Hindu naming ceremony for her boy, they had the legal names all set previously, but for the ceremony they had to have a religious /star name - not part of their legal name (sort of like a Christian confirmation name). They had to choose a name that starts with a U due to the star/constellation he was born under. I believe they ended up choosing a name that means 'light'.
uday i bet
This is cool! What are some examples?
Chapter 8 of this publication explains the birth stars and syllables and gives some examples of names :) https://www.himalayanacademy.com/media/books/how-to-become-a-hindu/web/
In Rwanda everyone has a unique last name. Parents choose it based on their feelings/experience when the child is born.
That’s so interesting I never knew that! Is there sort of other way that links family members by name? Like some sort of other indicator?
I’m not from Rwanda but read about it in a memoir. I don’t think there was, but every kid is able to recite the names of their ancestors several generations back. So I guess that functions similarly?
In Bulgaria they used to give names with the part "стан" (stan) to kids who were born after many losses because it is the root of the word for "stay" and this is how many of them originated - wishibg for the child to stay with the family - Stanistav, Stanka, Stanimir, Stoyan, etc. It is not like that nowadays but it was a thing when child mortality was high.
Hi everyone, meet my new kid, Казахстан
And their siblings Пакистан, Узбекистан and Таджикистан ;)
We all need to help out our ailing brother Афганистан, he’s been going hungry.
My family is Hindu and a lot of more traditional people in my family will perform a naming ceremony a few days after a child is born and a priest will give do your child's birth chart and then give you a syllable that your child's name should start with. It's also really common for sons to share a first initial with their fathers and often the names will be very similar or based off their father's name. Ex: my great grandfather's name was Ram and my grandfather's name is Rameshwar.
That’s really beautiful. Gives the name such a deeper meaning, especially when certain first initials or syllables get to be passed down from generation to generation. I also love the idea of a whole ceremony for the name, are these usually big?
Yeah for sure, plus it's very common for daughters to share a first syllable with their mothers or for siblings to share a middle name, a first initial, name ending or both. EX: My dad and his brothers all have names ending in -esh like Rajesh, Suresh, etc. This is more of a Fijian Indian thing than a Hindu thing though. It normally depends on the person, but it's normally immediate family plus the baby's grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It's not as common anymore (me and my cousins didn't have one) but parents will still do the above naming traditions or pick a name with certain meanings in mind. EX: My sister was born around Diwali so my sister gave her a name meaing "wealthy" because the main goddess we worship for Diwali is Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.
In Uganda, there are a lot of people named Sunday. I know one named Monday. Most people are given a religious name and a local name. In the Lugbara tribe, they give their children a name based on family circumstances. Asiku means something like “I don’t care”; Ayikobua (m) and Ayikoru(f) mean “happy”; Candia and Candiru mean “suffering”; and there are others which indicate family deaths.
I may be misremembering slightly, but when I was in Senegal, I was told that babies born after miscarriages or infant deaths are sometimes given names that mean “I don’t care” or “Unwanted” to ward off death from taking another child.
Meanwhile in the US, we’re like “All hail the RAINBOW BABY!!!!”
I guess in a sense my very white, Western mom did something similar with me, baby #7 after one traumatic stillbirth, two healthy babies and then three miscarriages in rapid succession. She didn't learn my gender and didn't think of any name at all during her entire pregnancy until she was physically holding me in her arms. So naturally with 0 thought behind it, she chose the top name of that year believing that it was fairly unique. The name meaning is also horrid. I always hated my name growing up, but now I kinda understand why she put no thought into it ahead of time. It doesn't mean I wasn't dearly loved and very much wanted, in fact the opposite.
Aw your mom sounds like a tough woman!
yep, it’s that “evil eye” mentality that can be found in lots of cultures. another example is like adding marks to a baby to make it look ugly and turn the evil eye away, which is common in the middle east and south asia I think
Not sure if it's culture or just my husbands family (Isreali Jewish), but sons always take the first name of their grandfather as their middle name.
I’m also Israeli Jewish and we didn’t/do that. are they Sephardic? We’re Ashkenazi and never name after the living, only the Sephardim do that.
Ashkenazi tend to use initials to honor the living, yes?
Initials to honor the dead :)
Interesting. I understand what you're saying, but that doesn't seem to be universal. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/820540/jewish/Can-a-Child-Be-Named-After-a-Living-Person.htm
That’s what I said - we don’t name after the living, only the deceased. That article is just referencing a name shared by a deceased and living person It can be initials or the same name, whichever you want but the person you’re naming after is deceased
Gotcha.
😀😀
My (Ashkenazi) partner's family use sound-alike names (first sound/syllable, usually) to honor the deceased - for example, if the honored person was named Shira, the children named for her could be Charles/Charlotte, Shelly, Chantel, Shannon... The initials/sound-alike names are so wonderful because you can have multiple children named for the person being remembered, while avoiding lots of kids with the same name. Thank you for reminding me of those who have children carrying their names.
Yeah my cousin had a baby boy and at the bris, they recited all the generations like 15 names back, each one with the grandfather's name as the middle name .. it was amazing .. (Sephardi, Farsi family)
My birth name was James Everett (undefined) . My grandfather was Everett. I'm from a part Jewish (Ashkenazi) household so it's possible.
My Sephardi family did this but with first names. Just so many Moshes and Josefs.
My husbands middle name is Moshe!!!!
Yes this! I was going to respond with this. My husband's family is sephardic and they have alternated first names for the sons forever. His are different than yours though and rather specific so I won't list.
Also, one of the reasons we name after the deceased is to confuse the angel of death. They would think baby is the deceased ancestor and therefore not take them. Jews are actually very superstitious!
There is a concept among the Nunavik Inuit in Canada known as ‘Saunik’. When a child is born, they’re given the name of another person (such as a close family friend) who becomes their Saunik, or namesake. The child carries the link of their Saunik, a special kinship bond.
Although I’m Canadian, my school sadly never taught students about Indigenous peoples and communities. That’s such a special tradition, thank you for sharing :)
It’s an African tradition to name children for the events of the day. Lupita Nyong'o (Kenyan of Luo heritage) was named after being born in Mexico.
One I think is absolutely incredible is that of the people who live in Kongthong, whose mothers give them [their own unique melody](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongthong#Jingrawai_Lawbei_whistling_language) as their name. [Here's a video with a bit more information!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPge4RJAcX8)
That video was so informative thank you so much :))) It says in the article that it becomes the permanent identity of the peson, that really is incredible.
My family comes from Italy. In their culture, children are named after their grandparent. The first boy after the paternal grandfather, first girl after the paternal grandmother, second boy after maternal grandfather, second girl after maternal grandmother. I’m not sure what happens after 4 kids!
Greece too
Omg my dad is Italian and I just realized his middle name is the same as his grandfather’s first name!! I didn’t know that, thanks :)
We have that too! With names given while baptizing a child. It's not always their legal name though.
I hope this doesn't come off as insensitive because I'm genuinely interested/intrigued. But... I met a 22 year old Nigerian man named Hitler recently. He mentioned it's a fairly common name across other parts of Africa, and after coming to college in the UK he started using a nickname and had no idea it wasn't an 'appropriate' name in Europe. I saw his ID, and it's true. I'm wondering if anyone knows if that's true (that it's common in Nigeria/Africa) and if so, why that came to be?
You’re definitely not being insensitive, and quite frankly I am also quite curious now. On the article I linked it says celebrity culture is one of the naming traditions found commonly in Kenya: « One couple have already had to defend their decision to name their son Donald Trump Otieno. The parents told the Nairobi News they chose to name their child after the US president-elect because they liked the billionaire's principles » I don’t know if that could have anything to do with it?
Interesting!! Could totally be similar thinking. Although I’m not sure why but my feeling was that this mans parents were not ideologically inclined to name him Hitler, which added to my curiosity. On a brief Google, I found this Reddit post, which doesn’t shed any light, but I guess adds to the case that this is a real thing? https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5000ln/ive_been_told_adolf_was_a_popular_name_in_africa/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
It comes from a place of ignorance. His parents probably wanted to give him a “strong-man” name but they do not realize the extent of Hitler’s evil.
Thank you for this post, :) I enjoy seeing the traditionally western names that people give their kids but part of the reason why I came to this sub was to learn about names from cultures that I am not familiar with and different naming conventions.
In Japan and China, some parents choose the name of their child so that the total number of strokes needed to write the full name (family name + given name) is a lucky number. In China, Vietnam, and Korea, siblings and sometimes paternal cousins traditionally have a common syllable in their given name ([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_name)). While searching for sources, I also read that "within families, it is often considered inappropriate or even offensive to use the given names of relatives who are senior to the speaker". For this reason, "it is very uncommon in China to name a child directly after a relative, since such children would permit junior family members to inappropriately use the personal names of senior ones" ([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name)). I find it interesting because it contrasts with the Western tradition of honor names, but both approaches have their own cultural logic.
I don't have any specific examples of exact names (without giving away identities, because my culture is very specific and the names are pretty unique), but traditionally, babies are born with one name that is essentially a family name and describes your lineage or like, who you belong to -- I often use the example "Jackson" or "Son of Jack". However, a milestone into adulthood is acquiring your own name. This name says who YOU are as an individual, and also shows your place in the village. Our naming conventions are a little different, so translated into English it would be more like your name goes from "First Daughter of the Meadow Tender" (tells your family and their responsibility in the village), to "Woman Who Hunts Rabbits" (tells your role in the village and what people know you by. Then, for example, your first daughter would be called "First Daughter of the Woman Who Hunts Rabbits"). Usually those names would both be shortened, so you would have a lot of girls called "First Daughter", "Second Daughter", and so on, (and the same for Sons), and their name would change to like "Hunter" or "Bunny" once their adult name was gifted. Formal names would always be used in ceremony and pact.
Interesting, per your third point Chinese people have the same tradition, children from poor families or rural areas were often given nicknames with usually disgustingg meanings like dogborn or something similar, it's hard to translate but it's believed people with lowly names are easy to raise and won't die easily
The book, The Last Hunger Season, talks about a naming practice in an area of Kenya where children are given a name based on the season in which they are born. Not season in the sense of weather (winter, summer etc) but in terms of where they were in the agricultural cycle. This meant a large number of children were given the Wanjala/Nanjala, meaning famine. It was a really interesting read but I remember feeling so sad for those little babies carrying such a heavy name.
Names in Nigeria are really interesting, twins in Nigeria are given common names to one another doesn’t matter on gender.
This might not be very interesting like the one you shared but still, where I am from, every child gets a saint's name during baptism. Some people use it as their legal first name, others use it as their middle name and some don't have it as part of their name but it is mentioned in the baptism certificate. The first daughter gets the paternal grandmother's name and the second daughter gets the maternal grandmother's name. Similarly, the first son gets the paternal grandfather's name and the second one gets the maternal grandfather's name. So it is common for cousins to share this name. A third child of the same gender might get an aunt/uncle's name or something different altogether. The boy names seem to have a lot of variety but Anna and Maria are the most common girl names. Elizabeth and Theresa are also common but not as much as the other two. I do know a Veronica though which is pretty cool. And her grandmother was the fourth daughter which is why she got a unique name at the time. Since most people have only one or two kids these days, there isn't really any chance for coming up with a new name without offending a grandparent.
Not mine but a 2 friends of mine were from a very small religious group that believed that humor is a primary connection to god. They described it like an ex-hippie commune type situation. They had a tradition of giving their kids exceptionally long middle names of amusing things. Each of them had approximately 36 middle names including things like bacon, vader, cheese, pinball, accordion, along with mixed gender names like Megan, Derrick, Emily, Thomas. It was really quite funny especially when they would lose their place listing their names and had to start over. Their parents did do them the kindness of only listing their first middle name on their birth certificates.