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. _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------