Hi Everyone,

I agree with Hamadi that this debate has preoccupied the minds of Africans
and, indeed, people from most parts of the world, for a very long time. I
also agree that Nkrumah was perfectly entitled to call himself by whatever
name he preferred. As far as I could remember, he was an African first and a
Ghanaian, second. I also remember when Ngugi raised this debate many years
ago, when he changed his name from James Ngugi to Ngugi wa Thiong'o.( Also a
Gambian, formerly called Lawrence Bruce-Oliver changed his to Goree Ndiaye
or something like that). I also heard the response from other African
intellectuals, most notably, Professor Eustace Palmer of Fourah Bay College.
Laurence Sterne in his book, 'Tristram Shandy' also looks at the subject of
names briefly. I am therefore aware of most, if not all, the arguments put
forward by the various schools of thought.


However, the question, for me, boils down to choice. If people feel they are
Gambian first and African second, and prefer 'Gambian' or 'African' names,
they are perfectly entitled to use those names. If, on the other hand,
people feel that they are Muslims first and Gambians/Africans second,(or
Badibbungka first and Gambian, second) what right do the rest of the people
have to tell them that they are wrong? Let us not forget that some of the
Ethnic Groups in The Gambia/Africa may well have Arab origins. As I
indicated before, the question is more complicated than some of us think.


Whether some people think 'Gambian' names have pagan connotations, it is up
to them. I know there are both types of name in a single family.  For
example, one can have both Malick and Saloum in the same family. I do not
believe their parents, or even they themselves, believe for one moment that
one is 'Pagan' and the other 'Islamic'. They say it is 'chossaan'. What some
Arabs and Christians thought about these names is another matter. They are
entitled to their views, even if many of us think otherwise.


I take the point about Mobutu, although I wished he had channelled his
engergies and resources in projects that benefited his impoverished people.
Probably more than any other African leader, Mobutu helped develop these
'foreign' countries by keeping millions of £s in their banks. I think it can
be safely concluded that changing his name and forcing others to follow suit
was simply a gimmick, a publicity stunt. The present President of Zaire is
called Laurent-Désiré Kabila, and one of the rebel leaders is Jean-Pierre
Bemba. Joseph Cardinal Malula was for many years the head of the
(catholic?)church of Zaire, and a/ the son of Patrice Lumumba is called
François-Eméry Lumumba Tolenga. What is the fundamental difference here
between Zaire and The Gambia regarding names?


I cannot comment on the other names Hamadi mentions in his posting, but I
still have doubts about Yassin. If we are to go by the list I posted
yesterday, Yaaseen is one of the names of the Prophet(SAW). Needless to say,
he was not a woman. In The Gambia, especially among the Wolof, Yassin is
sometimes associated with unsavoury language, and is commonly used in
insults or jokes. I therefore find it very hard to believe that it is the
name of the Prophet that is being used in this manner. I suggest Hamadi
comes up with a clarification. I do not see anything like it in his posting.
Cheers.

Momodou


>From: Hamadi Banna <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: COLLECTING TYPICAL GAMBIN NAMES
>Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 14:26:58 PDT
>
>The debate about using traditional African names in lieu of Western or Arab
>ones has for a long time now caught the attention of Africanists,
>intellectuals and politicians alike.  If I'm not wrong the late Kwame
>Nkrumah preferred to go by his traditional rather than his christian
>baptissimal name, if he had one for that matter.  The late Mobutu Sese Seko
>Kuku Wazabanga (whatever in the world that means) prohibited Zaireans the
>use of Western names.
>
>In The Gambia, as in most other African countries people have a tendency to
>use a Western or Arabic name to baptise their children. There is a general
>belief that African names have an echo of paganism tied to them and that
>they should always be superimposed by a "biblical"/Jewish, Greek or
>"Islamic"/Arabic name.  Often it is from the latter category that a name is
>chosen for the new and it is this name that is recorded in the birth
>certificate of the child.  Some christian denominations would even go so
>far
>as to add another name after confirmation.
>
>A philospher once said that a peoples' religion will always carry elements
>of the culture of the founders of that religion.  In pre-islamic Arabia as
>in pre-christian Europe the names that we so commonly consider holy and
>sometimes sacriligious are the same names that were used by the
>idol-worshippers of those eras.  I can bet that Abu Bakr = father of the
>cattle, Al-ahssan = the best or Peter and Paul do not bear more
>significance
>than Ngone, Samba and Demba in the eyes of God.
>
>Whatever the reason advanced for borrowing Arabic and Western names to
>baptise our children (when we have an endless list of our own names is it
>has just been proofed in this List), we cannot ignore the fact a peoples'
>culture is their best I.D. in the arena of nations.
>
>PS.   For the sake of clarification I think that Almami, Alkali, Alpha,
>Asiatou, Boubacarr/Babucarr,  Sana (Hassan), Sainey (Alhuseiny)and Yassin
>are Arabic and not traditional Gambian names.  Our Islamic scholars and
>Arabophones will agree with me on this.
>
>
>
>
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