Why More Nigerians Are Choosing Foreign Names for Their Children
The names we give our children often reflect more than personal taste. In many Nigerian cultures, names carry history, language, family identity, blessings and the circumstances surrounding a child’s birth. Yet more parents are now choosing names such as Jayden, Zoe, Liam, Ruby and Zeus, sometimes without an indigenous name alongside them. Foreign names entered many Nigerian families through colonialism, Christianity, Islam, English-language education and globalisation. For years, indigenous and foreign names existed side by side. Increasingly, however, foreign first names can appear more desirable because they are seen as modern, polished, international or easier to pronounce abroad. There is nothing wrong with any parent choosing a foreign name, and it does not make a child less Nigerian. But the trend raises an important question: why do names familiar to Western ears often feel more sophisticated than equally meaningful Nigerian names? Perhaps the issue is not the names themselves, but the cultural hierarchy we have learned to attach to them.
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