Naming Disasters

The hype that surrounded the birth of Kate Middleton and Prince William’s son has now died down with the new born being named Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge. Finally the duke and duchess of Cambridge can rest easy without the media frenzy that characterized the birth of Prince George. Naming children as I have come to learn is never an easy thing. In the African setup it is even worse as everyone wants to get involved... and all sorts of events can determine names.

Stadium names

On Tuesday 9th July 2013 I was informed by a colleague that he had heard that finally the new Lusaka stadium which is in the evening of its construction had got a name. He didn't confirm to me the name given to the ultra-modern majestic piece of engineering the City of Lusaka has been given. Then the very next day, I saw a screaming headline in the daily papers, the stadium had been named Gabon Disaster Heroes National Stadium. Gabon what??? Disaster what???

If really the thinking behind was to honour the football players, coaches, journalists and flight crew that died of the coast of Gabon in 1993 as we were being told, why not name the stadium April 28 Arena? It’s shorter and does not have the negativity that comes with disaster! And another country’s name in the sentence! Yes the proposed name was a sentence. While I was still in shock, someone tells me the swimming pool at the Olympic Youth Development Center (OYDC) was named 90 day legacy swimming pool. Welcome to Zambia… the real Africa.

Naming that majestic arena a mouthful Gabon disaster didn't make any sense to me. If there wasn't a suitable name for it, then we could have gone a capitalist route of cashing in on a name. The famous Soccer city South African 2010 world cup final stadium was renamed as the FNB stadium, the City of Manchester stadium renamed Etihad stadium, St James Park renamed Sports direct arena and Arsenal naming their new stadium Emirates. Companies would have paid money to government in exchange for the naming rights of that spectacle of a sports facility. If the figures of around £10m  that were being sought by Newcastle owner Mike Ashley for the naming rights of St James park are anything to go by, I’d have gone this way than naming it Gabon disaster. I wouldn't mind naming it Barclays, Tradekings or Larfage arena if the money is coming in. By the way such an arena doesn't come easy in terms of maintenance costs.

With the way of naming we have become accustomed to in Zambia; it was just a matter of time before such happened. Ours is a society that thrives on giving names that describe our tragedies. Names as Nalumino (cursed one), Misozi (tears) and Cheelo (ghost) are all found across the spectrum of Zambian society. Even names like Supuni (spoon), Foloko(folk), Pensulo (pencil), Laughter, Clever, Grocery, Crisis and Jazz are all not a myth in Zambia. However, I am happy that the government eventually withdrew the disaster name after massive public outcry. 

Zambian Names

In Zambia, names are not merely convenient tags to help us distinguish one from another or carry an individual’s identity. Zambian names can be given based on one’s profession, describing an event at the time of birth etc. This is the common practice in Zambia – at least my experiences point to it.

In this part of the world, often, names refer to situations, to moments in time. The eastern province of Zambia gives you a classical platform to verify this. On June 21, 2001 when Zambia experienced a solar eclipse, it was such a big event that the government was at the fore front in trying to cash in on this rare event by encouraging tourists to come and view the solar eclipse in the southern African nation. This rare event left a big mark in Eastern province by way of names. Children born were given names like Eclipse Banda.  That is just one example, but it is common to find names like Basra Mwale, Baghdad Tembo - all given at the period when the US led army troops toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 when these Cities in Iraq constantly made news.

The idea of naming a child after what is going on at the time of the child’s birth is one that works on a lot of different levels. Names can be given from global news, but also from family events. Children born at a time there is suffering in the family are named Mabvuto (problems). In this part of the world babies are named Caesar because they were born from a caesarian section, children are named crankshaft because they were born a month after their father learned that a vehicle needs this part in order to move, and others are named Phone because their mother was so happy the first time she owned a mobile phone.

The Tonga people of southern province also have a fair share of the naming disasters. Names like Suppose, Obvious, Because, Clever, Immaculate, Marvelous to name but a few, are quite popular among my friends that hail from Zambia’s southern province. Furthermore, the Tonga people are not left behind on names that are more descriptive of events than anything. For instance a child may be named Nchimunya, which means late, because they were born late or beyond the ninth month of pregnancy. On the other hand Mutinta is a unisex name given to a baby born of a different sex from the siblings before, and usually the only one in the family of that sex.

While the eastern province is notorious for all sorts of names, this trend is not synonymous to eastern province only. In western province Manyado (problems) is the exact for Mabvuto, but other names like Maswabi (funeral), Masiye (orphan), Mukatimui (bad woman) and Lubinda (stubborn) are all common names.

Beyond Repair Ngongo shown on this ID card was born 12th March 1985.

My experiences

I had intended to name my son Schmidt in remembrance of a friend I met over a very short time but remains indelible in my memories. Then my mother had wanted me to name him, in memory of my late father Mr. Godwin Aongola Nambayo, a man I knew for very few years before the terrible hand of death took him away. On the other hand, the little man was born barely three months after Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the first black president of the USA and at the time was a very popular figure hence I had people whispering to me to pick either Barack or Husein in honour of this ‘milestone achievement’ in the history of black America. Personally I just wanted to really name him after my dad, so I was just going to pick on Aongola and choose from either Gareth or Wayne – for an additional foreign name.  Gareth or Wayne! Why? -I was a big fun of former Middlesbrough player and coach Gareth Southgate and Manchester United player Wayne Rooney. Then his grandfather, upon looking at him just went like Joshua.

It then dawned on me that Joshua would be the best name. If you have read the bible, Joshua is the central character in the Hebrew bible book of Joshua. He became the leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses; his name was Hoshe'a the son of nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, but Moses called him Yehoshu'a (Joshua) (Numbers 13:16) the name by which he is commonly known; according to the Bible he was born in Egypt prior to the exodus.

Well, the little man was named Aongola after my late father and Joshua.

My view… my thoughts

Ours is a society that doesn't even mind the concept of branding when choosing business names. How would you explain a business named Fyaku filwa fye (we have already failed)? Excuse my translation if it is not on point.

In some cases people have been given names initially as nick names but with the passing of time and generations accepted as family names. How else would you explain common names like Simbotwe (Frog)? I went to primary School with a bloke named Simbotwe Simbotwe. We laughed at him all through the second grade. Coming to think of it, it could be the reason he was the most truant pupil in my class. Consequently, it meant brother Simbotwe was never the academic type and I wonder if he went past the 6^th grade as I changed schools in the 3^rd grade. Did Simbotwe get discouraged to attend school because of the name he never chose for himself?

This scenario of naming children after disasters, funerals problems and all that is negative may have led to a proliferation of foreign names that characterized the 80’s and 90’s. A lot of children of the 90’s were born John, Peter, Joseph, Gerald etc. However the 21^st century  Zambian parent seems to have embraced native names albeit with positive connotations.  A quick look at a pregrade class register today will come across names like Natasha (thankful), Suwilanji (believe), Chipo (Gift), Mapalo/Mbuyoti (blessing) and so on. Those without any native tongue names still have foreign language names with positive connotations like Blessing, Shekinah, Destiny, Favour or Praise. This kind of naming has been made popular by the growing Pentecostal Christian faith movement in Zambia ( maybe an issue for another blog).

The latest generation of parents even though still following a naming pattern descriptive of events is less likely to name Munalula (the cruel one) or Nalumino (the cursed one). Unless, of course, those that don’t know the meaning of those names. It is no hidden fact that many don’t know what their names mean. I have just recently learned what my name Nambayo means; – A royal small axe, also known as Kapalo. I only learned the meaning of my family name a month ago. It is all thanks to the fact I married a mambwe/namwanga woman and she has been asking me quite a lot about what most lozi names mean.

Aongola means - If they strengthen me, I’ll challenge my enemy to show real courage.