Naming Children​—the African Way

By “Awake!” correspondent in Rhodesia

FRIENDS of ours named their baby daughter Do Not Fear. You may think, “How peculiar!” But before you feel sorry for her, let me explain that her parents are African, and they speak Chishona. In their tongue Do Not Fear becomes Musatye, a very pretty name if you pronounce it correctly.

Now, shall we try Musatye again? Moo-sa-chke. If you repeat it several times, it will be in your ears like the call of a bird.

Without doubt, among our many readers are those who have bestowed upon their children Bible names such as Sarah, Naomi, Daniel and David. These are easy to pronounce and never old-fashioned.

In ancient Israel names were usually given because of the meaning they conveyed. And this is true to a considerable extent in Africa today. You will find it interesting to know the whys and wherefores of naming African babies.

Parents Speak

At hand is a letter from the Chishona-speaking parents of Musatye. Both father and mother are dedicated servants of Jehovah God, and they devote 150 hours a month to preaching to others about the wonderful purposes of the true God. This is in addition to caring for their family of seven. Dennis, Stella and Reuben are their first three, but three of the last four children were given Chishona names: Musatye, Vimbai (wē-mbī) “Feel Confident,” and Kurirai (koo-rē-rī) “Overcome.” The fourth was named Witness. The parent explained:

‘When we were naming our last four children, we did so with the thought of encouraging ourselves as a family in the Christian faith. For example, when calling Witness, the family as a whole would know that we are Jehovah’s witnesses. When calling our girl Musatye, the family as a whole would know that we must not be fearful of those who kill the body and are not able to kill the soul. (Matt. 10:28) When calling Vimbai, the family would know that it should be confident, loyal to Jehovah and his organization. When calling Kurirai, the family would know that we should overcome difficulties put on us by the Devil and by other enemies of Jehovah and his organization.’

If Musatye’s father were to call these last four children one after the other, he would practically be giving a sermon, and a stirring one at that. Another happy thought is that this family has gentle reminders every day of what they want to be or do. Surely these are good reasons for giving thought to selecting fine names.

The mother of another family writes that having only sons is not as bright a picture as having both sons and daughters, and she reflects this attitude in her choice of names:

“The first girl in my family is Chiedza [chē-edzä]. Chiedza means ‘light.’ I named her Chiedza because I wanted children of both sexes in my family. I had already given birth to two boys, so when I gave birth to a girl there was light in the family. The second girl is Tsitsi [tsē-tsē]. Tsitsi means ‘kindness.’ I named her Tsitsi because Chiedza was the only girl in the family and had no partner to play with, so it was kindness for the second girl to be born into the family.”

Say Them Aloud

In the four main dialect groups of the Chishona-speaking people there is a wealth of pretty names. You are sure to enjoy the following selection if you read them aloud.a

Tendai (te-ndī)​—“Give Thanks.” One man named his son this because, though he loved his four daughters, he was thankful that his fifth child was a boy.

Ngoni (ngō-nē)​—“Mercy.” An appreciative couple bestowed this name on their second child because they considered it a great mercy to have another son after the death of their firstborn.

Chipo (chē-pō)​—“Gift.” Farisa (fä-rē-sä)​—“Make Happy.” We have met many Chipos and Farisas, but I was most impressed by a mother who had four sets of twins and seven other children. Would you be made happy to receive your fourteenth and fifteenth gift of children? She was. She permitted me to hold these two beautiful, velvet-skinned babies, and I shared her happiness.

Rudo (roo-dö)​—“Love.” This name is found in every Chishona-speaking community, and its popularity is equal to that of John and Mary among the Europeans. In view of the fact that God is love, and that Christians are commanded to love God and love their neighbor, it is little wonder that Rudo is one of the favorite names. As with many other African names, it is one that can be given to either girl or boy.

Deeper Meanings

The significance of names is not always readily apparent. A long list of events or perhaps the family history will be recalled by a name given to a baby. For example, the names of the children of a friend of mine intrigued me, and I had the meanings all worked out in my mind. However, see how wrong I was, as pointed out by the father:

Hatina (hä-tē-nä)​—“We Do Not Have.” Since she was their firstborn I reasoned that the parents thought, “We have no child but this one.” But the father explained: ‘It is the African custom to desire big families and many relatives, but of my paternal grandfather’s family of ten only three lived. Of my own father’s offspring there were only two. Consequently at the birth of my daughter I said, “We do not have relatives.”’

Tapfuma (tä-pfoo-mä)​—“We Are Rich.” My thought: “They have two girls and now a son so they are rich.” But that is only a small part of why the father chose this name. His reasons: ‘I came from a poor family and had very little education, and yet by the time my third child was born I could count my riches like this: As a watch repairman I worked and bought a motorcar; we have a son as heir; and, most important, we have the privilege of prayer and a knowledge of God’s truth that puts us in line for eternal life. Thinking of all this, I then said, “Now we are rich.” That is why I named this boy Tapfuma.’

Netsai (ne-tsī)​—“Trouble.” This word can also mean “Weary.” To my way of thinking, four children in six and a half years would cause the mother to be weary. But the difficulties that prompted the name were not attributed to the child. The father said that his wife had been dangerously anemic, his mother ill and his firstborn, Hatina, sick also. Since the child came into the world during a period of trouble, she received that name, but not as a disparagement to her. Did you read Netsai aloud? Lovely, isn’t it?

Names in Other Languages

As you may have noted, parents sometimes use English words to name their children. For example, some children grow up with names such as Gift, Precious, Shepherd and so forth. An African teacher said concerning his son: “I named him Blessing because I felt that it is God Jehovah who gives good gifts [Jas. 1:17], so the child came to me as a blessing from Jehovah.”

Many African marriages end in divorce if there are no children from the union, and having only one child seems disgraceful to a great many of the people. But not so with this man and his wife of the Nsenga tribe who, for ten years of marriage, had only one child, Samuel. To their second-born son they gave the name Lundu (loo-ndoo), which has two meanings, “calm” and “delayer.” This well describes their quiet, untroubled, calm married status during the ten-year delay between Samuel and Lundu.

The Cinyanja-speaking people living in Rhodesia are from either Zambia or Malawi, and they too select interesting and sweet names for their offspring. To mention a few: Chisoni (chē-sō-nē) “Compassion,” Chifundo (chē-foo-ndō) “Mercy,” Chuma (choo-mä) “Rich.” A circuit overseer of Jehovah’s witnesses expressed his view of being father to twins by naming them Madalitso (mä-dä-lē-tsō) “Blessings” for the son and Chimwemwe (chē-mwe-mwe) “Joy” for the daughter. These parents occasionally address the twins by the English words as well.

To give your child the name of a person of faith in the Bible is certainly commendable, especially if you know the thought behind it: Sarah, “princess”; Naomi, “My Pleasantness”; Daniel, “God Is (My) Judge”; ‘David, “Beloved.” Like those Israelites of old, we see many of our African friends also giving their children names with thoughts behind them. It can be a delightful way of selecting a name. And Do Not Fear is an encouraging thought and quite an acceptable name for a little miss if you say it in Chishona, Musatye.

[Footnotes]