Naming Ceremony

This post is SPECIAL for all of my out of town friends and family. There are a lot of you! I am overwhelmed to have so many beautiful people following my pregnancy and interested in my progress. I thought I would share a quick blog about what exactly a naming ceremony is, since it is not part of our English/American culture.

First, for a bit of a history lesson. My husband, Oladapo, is a native of Nigeria, of the Yoruba tribe. The name of his tribe is also the name of his tribe's language, Yoruba. You can always tell by someone's name what tribe they belong to. In Dapo's immediate family, their names begin with or contain the phrases "Ola", "Olu", "Ayo", such as Oladapo Olufemi Temitayo, Olakunle, Olamide, Diekolola, Olabambo and Kayode. My son, Olujimi Ayomide Toluwani, is named likewise.

When we married I always told Dapo we lived in America and should name our children accordingly, so they wouldn't be teased or made fun of. However, when I became pregnant with Jimi my heart changed, and I wanted my husband's children to know where they came from and had only a few restrictions on what I was willing to name them. For instance, if I couldn't pronounce it properly, the name went out the window. There are a few names that I can't say right because of the language.

I was elated when I found Olujimi was a name, and that he would go by Jimi, because what American has never heard of Jimi? Right? We all know or know of a Jim, or a Jimmy, or a guitar shredding Jimi. It just so happens my dad's name is Jim, short for James. So we kind of accomplished two goals with one name; bestowing a traditional Yoruba name on my son while making it an American name as well. I am happy to say that this baby will also have a Yoruba name while also having an English name. We finally settled on her name shortly before Christmas.

Which leads me to the announcing of the name. In Nigeria they have what is called a naming ceremony. It is similar to our baby showers in that the families that come bring gifts, and similiar to a baby dedication as well.

The ceremony is performed 7-9 days AFTER the birth of the baby, and the entire community is invited. Any of you who know Nigierians know they like to party. And party all night, usually! People come and bring gifts to the parents of the child, and then an officiant will announce the baby's name, then introduce the baby to certain elements that the father picks out. Naming ceremonies are done a little differently by pagans than by Christians, as in a Christian naming ceremony you would not introduce the baby to the god of iron, but you might if you were a pagan who believed in this deity. We are obviously only interested in the parts of the ceremony that are going to glorify God.

We are introducing the same elements to this baby as we did to Jimi. They are water, salt, honey, fruit wine, the Bible, and money. Each element is given to the baby to taste, except for the money, it is given to the baby's hand to grasp. It is believed that she will make good use of money, and not for evil if she does. You are sort of decreeing things over her life with each element. For example, with salt: when any person is said to be as salt to his people, it means he brings joy, happiness, and even sweetness where there is bitterness.

It will open with a hymn, name and meaning announcement, have the element introduction, then a part of the program that is like a baby dedication, close with prayer and then the party begins. They feast and make merry till the wee hours of the morning.

In Nigeria, this is the custom and the way things are done. Here, however, our custom is that you don't leave the hospital until you have a birth certificate with a name on it! So, obviously she must be named, just as Jimi was, before leaving the hospital. And, we will likely announce her name unofficially in correspondence when she is born, just as we did with Jimi. Then, as many of you as we are able to cram into our house will come and party with us on February 8th and hear the official name!

Feel free to ask more questions, I'll update this with answers.