By Engineer Jacob Kudzai Mutisi
Padare reMaChinda, Let Us Talk About Our Names, Our Identity and Our Heritage
My fellow Zimbabweans, let us have an honest conversation about something we often take for granted, the names we give our children.
A name is more than something written on a birth certificate. A name can carry our history, our culture, our language, our values and the story of where we come from. Yet, increasingly, some Zimbabwean parents are giving their children names borrowed from cultures that have little or no connection to our own heritage.
Names such as Jamal, Kamal, Tamika, Tanisha, Latanya, Imani, Aisha, Keisha, Shanice, Ayanda and Lawanda are increasingly heard among Zimbabwean children. There is absolutely nothing wrong with people from other cultures having these names. But us, as Zimbabweans, why are we abandoning the beautiful names that belong to us?
We have names such as Kudzayi, Tendai, Siyaphi, Velaphi, Hlupo, Vhumindaba and Taurai, Dumisani, Dakarai, names rooted in our languages, our communities and our history.
Why don’t we celebrate them?
There is another category that deserves discussion, names such as Advance, Lovemore, Patience, Kissmore and unfortunately, even names such as Typhoid Eventhough, Beatthem, Godknows have found their way into our naming culture. Some of these names have personal stories and meanings behind them and we should not ridicule the people who carry them.
Do the names we give our children tell the story of who we are?
Then there is the modern trend of combining words and sentences into names such as Tadiwanashe, Kudakwashe and Kudzaishe. These names certainly sound beautiful and carry Christian meanings for many families.
But perhaps we should also ask, are we preserving our indigenous identity or are we gradually replacing it with something else?
This is not an argument against Christianity, modernity or cultural exchange. Zimbabwe has always been a country where cultures, languages and traditions have interacted. Nor is it an argument that every child must have a traditional Ndau, Ndebele, Tonga, Kalanga, Venda, Nambya, Chewa, Manyika or other indigenous name.
It is an invitation to think deliberately about what we are passing on.
Our grandparents’ names often told stories.
A name could tell you about the circumstances surrounding a child’s birth, the hopes of the parents, family history, ancestry, character or an important event.
We risk losing that richness if our children’s names increasingly have no connection to our languages or heritage.
Imagine a Zimbabwe where our children’s names themselves tell visitors something about our civilisation.
Imagine classrooms filled with Tendai, Kudzayi, Taurai, Vongai, Rudo, Farai, Tafadzwa, Munyaradzi, Nyaradzo, Tatenda, Tinashe, Simbarashe, Nyasha, Chiedza, Rutendo, Kudakwashe, Vimbai, Bongani, Sibusiso, Velaphi and Siyabonga not because foreign names are bad, but because we are confident enough in our own identity to celebrate our own.
Our children will one day ask us,
“Where did my name come from?”
What will we tell them?
Will we tell them that we chose it because it was fashionable? Because we heard it in an American movie? Because a celebrity had the name? Or will we be able to tell them a story about their grandparents, their language, their people and their heritage?
There is nothing wrong with appreciating American culture. There is nothing wrong with appreciating British, European, Asian or other cultures.
But admiration of another culture should not require the abandonment of our own.
Let us give our children names they can carry with pride.
Let us preserve our indigenous languages.
Let us teach them what their names mean.
Let us document the stories behind our family names.
And let us stop being embarrassed by being Zimbabwean and African.
A name can be a small piece of heritage carried by one person for an entire lifetime.
So, Padare reMaChinda, Padare reVarume let us debate,
What legacy are we leaving our children?
When our grandchildren look back at us 50 years from now, will they see a generation that preserved Zimbabwean identity or one that allowed it to disappear quietly, one name at a time?
Let us talk.
Engineer Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi
+263772278161