I have listened to countless sermons about the importance of the names we give to children and how those names follow them down to their destinies. I have followed my pastor bosses to various naming ceremonies where they taught about the importance of names to guide the parents to give the newborn baby, a good name. I even handled naming ceremonies as a representative of my bosses, where I taught the importance of names before the babies were finally given their names.
But recently I've been thinking about it, I think we(Africans or Nigerians) place too much importance and deep meanings on names. Things like:
"The name you give your children determines how well they do in life"
"Bad names attract evil things"
In my part of the world, you can't dare to name your child "Judas" and that's because Judas in the bible has the attribute of betrayal. Meanwhile, other developed countries can comfortably name their children, Judas and they'll live well with a bright future.
Rihanna gave birth to their baby and named him RIOT. Imagine if the naming ceremony of the baby were to be done in Nigeria and the family of the baby called out the name to be RIOT. The pastor in charge will angrily refuse to continue until a 'godly' name is called. Yeah, I can imagine the scene and the tones of disagreement and how the pastor will pick up his bible and leave the scene when the parents of the baby disagree.
Just like it's commonly said on social media, with the kind of environment and wealth surrounding the baby named Riot, he will have a better life than the baby named 'Peace' in Nigeria.
So where's the significance and forcing of 'decent' names on children???
Thanks for reading.