One of the interesting things I discovered during trip
during my trips to Ghana is how the locals name their babies.
Believe it or not, babies are named after the day they
are born. Thus, you can estimate that all the men in this country have just
seven names between them to share. Ditto for the women.
The former UN Secretary – General, Dr. Kofi Annan, a
Ghanaian, is Friday’s child. And their first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,
revered as the father of that nation, was born on a Saturday.
The list of baby names below was prepared for me by
the receptionist at my hotel. She had one word of caution, though – the spellings
were as per her language – I do not know what it was, and it could very well be
different in others – and I do not know what those languages are, either… (BTW,
Ghana has over 50 major languages !!)
|
DAYS
|
BOY
|
GIRL
|
|
Sunday
|
Kwasi
|
Akosua
|
|
Monday
|
Kwadjo
|
Adzoa
|
|
Tuesday
|
Kwasena
|
Abena
|
|
Wednesday
|
Kwela
|
Akua
|
|
Thursday
|
Yaw
|
Yaa
|
|
Friday
|
Kofi
|
Afia
|
|
Saturday
|
Kwami
|
Ama
|
I was chatting with the hotel staff after receiving
this list, when a thought struck me.
Try to imagine a similar practice in Bengal, with a
few million men, each having one of only seven names, like – “Shombar Dey”,
“Mongolbar Kar”, “Budhbar Gupta”, “Shonibar Dhar”… We do have Sundays in our
names, though – Robi Banerjee, et al…
And how would the local telephone directory look like
?
*****
