by Jimanze Ego-Alowes
We were out at the remaindered or secondhand book market around the Mile 2 motor park terminal. And here was a lady, looking like a young mother, calling out, Chimamanda, Chimamanda. And her voice suggested she may not be Igbo. So, I had to ask the bookseller, Mr. Damian, if he knew the lady and whether she is Yoruba or Igbo.
Apparently, the lady was also a local business owner in the Mile 2 market. The bookseller confirmed she is not Igbo but Yoruba. So, I asked is Chimamanda the name of her daughter? Damian said no. Chimamanda is the daughter of another local shop owner, who is an Igbo woman. (I was wondering if the Chimamanda charm, as a name for girls, has been imported into Oduduwa world, to preempt ourselves).
Of course, in my neighborhood where I live, there is Chimamanda. And the mother in love with the child or the name, or its associations to a heroine, will always call out Chimamanda, Chimamanda. Well, before Ms. Chimamanda Adichie, I had never heard of any older persons, male or female, bearing the name. It appears to us that Ms. Adichie, is likely to be the first of the gals to bear such ‘new names’ and almost certainly its first populariser. Of course, names are like currencies, they are minted and come into use. After their ‘length of days,’ they go out of fashion, exhaust their favour and are discarded. It is, perhaps, only in Japan, if all we hear is correct that names, especially family names, are ‘gazetted’ and can’t be tweaked. If, for instance, you chose to change nationality and be Japanese, there is a list of names from which you must choose, to be surnamed in Japan, we are told.
If we left the Japanese to their ways, our conjecture is that the naming of children Chimamanda in Igbo land, is likely in tribute, and for a sense of wished for achievement, ala Ms. Adichie, by dotting mothers on their wards. So, Chimamanda, as a name does not only mean ‘my god will not fail me’, but also that the little toddler grows up to be as achieved and famous as her ‘mentor’, Ms. Adichie. And the little girl in my neighbourhood is not the only Adichie we have seen or encountered. We have, one can estimate, met or heard about half a dozen such Chimamandas. Apparently, Chimamanda is the hottest new name for a new chic in Igbo land. And that is quite an achievement for a gal who set out to pen novels.
Thus, we can say that Ms. Adichie is not just a literary star, she is a full service cultural icon. And this her status of a cultural ambassador for new mothers and their gals, is in ways that may not have reached her. And here, we are speaking of mothers who are not literary buffs and may not have read any of her works. Some, I suspect, may be functional or plain illiterates, but the echo, Chimamanda, resounds so much it is heard and adored all over Igbo land.
Well, if she doesn’t know, she is the folksy hero, it is not, perhaps, her fault. She, we are told, lives out her charm abroad mostly, and in Nigeria, sometimes. And that Nigeria, I guess, is in gated neighborhoods, judging from her present economic and social status? I am not aware those snobbish types who share gated estates as her neighbour, will fall over themselves to elect Chimamanda as a model, a cultural model. As a literary model, may be yes, but as a total cultural guide and avatar, well, very well, we can’t swear to that. They have their priorities and, we hazard, egos to match.
But the point is that ordinary Igbo women are honouring her in ways that should be noted. She is to our understanding, the most influencer name bearer since General Chukwuemeka ‘Emeka’ Ojukwu. After Ojukwu, Emeka has become something of what Kim is in Korea. It is now our staple name and a salute to the heroism of Biafra for which we fought like the Greeks at Salamis. Perhaps, that the Greeks won accounts for the continuance of Western civilisation. Perhaps, again, that Biafra lost foreclosed on Black, okay Nigerian civilisation? Or what do you think, dear reader?
And this all reminds one of the name Chinweizu. And now we have a nephew named Chinweizu. He is all grown up now and is become something of a plutocrat or an aspiring one. Perhaps, it is that daddy didn’t tell him he was named after or in honour of the cerebral Chinweizu, author of the magisterial The West and the Rest of Us. In the years his father was a young married man, Chinweizu was the rock star of intellectualism for many a Nigerian. And to pay tribute and show appreciation, the man named his son the charmed name Chinweizu – which may be translated, all wisdom belongs to God.
But the young father did not think of God or wisdom when he named his son. He only thought and adored his hero. But the new Chinweizu is not wanting in on the academia. He is now a banker, a future billionaire and industrialist. But however it goes, the deed is done, the statues made. Even the day he becomes the billionaire he is set to be, he should remember he is a living tribute of the fineness of the mind – a representative of a fine mind at work. And as the new Chimamandas grow, into whatever else, let them also remember it is for the lady, who is a mind worker and wonder, that they are named.
Jimanze Ego-Alowes is a columnist at Daily Sun, where this article was first published.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
