By Chukwuemerie Excellence
It is highly unfortunate that I was at the bank yesterday and I by chance overheard someone answering the staff’s questions. The bank staff had apparently asked him what his name was and he confidently answered “CONFIDENT”.
Imagine my shock at this unique choice of names. The first thought that popped into my head was who are the parents of this individual? How agitating is it that a grown man goes by the name Confident? Many of you reading are probably like and so? But imagine if your president was named Confident. How awkward would it be to say His Excellency Confident Ome?
I am of the notion that English names should not be as metastatic as they are. What is wrong with the indigenous names that our people have? Are we ashamed of the names that those before us bore? It is highly unfortunate that giving children English names is now a part of our culture. It is even more appalling that some people now have more than one English name and now brand it confirmation name. Why can’t you take an indigenous name?
Beyond this, my other problem is that if you then choose to give your child an English name then please choose carefully. Remember that a name is a noun and not an adjective. Don’t give children names like Confident. These names will naturally make their peers want to make fun of them. It is also worth noting that you should not give your children names synonymous with Perfect. Such children will feel a need to live up to these very high standards which may end up being counterproductive.
I also believe that children should be able to pick their own English names if that be the case. I know you might have reservations about how this will work but think about how people change names. It will be a similar process and the child will get to choose a name at 18 when he is getting his identification documents.
All in all, I earnestly hope I have been able to dissuade at least one person from naming their child Confident.
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