ABSTRACT
Ladzekpo (2001) notes that an African personal name offers insight into one’s cultural origin. It may personify the individual by alluding to a story about the family or the immediate parents of the bearer. It signifies the values, beliefs, convictions, traditions, hopes, fears, and conceptions of the whole group. In Africa a child is given a name with a deep-rooted meaning. In the fashion handed down through generations, a name is selected after careful reflection and consultation and with the hope that the child will grow up in fulfillment of the name provided. Many Africans will seek guidance from ancestors or spiritual entities by consulting with a diviner about the proper name for a child. Some families may consult the naming traditions of Christianity or Islam or baby name books, while others may find such European or Arabic names offensive. Surnames or clan names were originally personal names that have since been adopted by the people descended from that particular clan.
