What’s In a Name?

My name is….

“I have some phone interviews to conduct as we need the mechanics positions filled,” said my supervisor in the transportation motor pool department where I had just started working.

“How did the interviews go?” I asked after he had finished interviewing the applicants.

“Very good, the applicants were well qualified and had years of experience but there is one whose name stuck out to me,” he said.

“The name, why the name? Was it a female mechanic?” I asked.

“No, not a female mechanic. It was his name that made me look deeper in his credentials,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What was his name?” I asked, intrigued.

“His name is Jesus. He was quick to pronounce it as Hesus, but it reads Jesus. How can you deny Jesus a job? I mean, he is qualified…” he said with a chuckle.

Up to that point, I had never heard the name Jesus out of the Christian and Bible context and so when my supervisor and I had this conversation years ago, we laughed. This got me thinking about names and their origins, culture, meaning, and titles on which they are bestowed.

Recently, many years after the conversation about the applicant Jesus, our son came home with a class mission statement on which the teacher had each student sign their names. On the list was the name Jesus. Our daughter quickly pointed out that her brother had Jesus for a classmate. “He is not Jesus; he is Hesus,” my son said.

What’s in a name? What does your name mean? Do names give character to an individual? There’s a wide variety of names depending on a person’s culture and where he or she is born. A name is one of the identifiers of whom an individual is. A name gives an identity to a person’s gender, family, religion as well as the cultural affiliations. Very seldom do we choose our own names as they are bestowed to us by our parents. Depending on the culture in the African context, children are named after their ancestors, or the weather condition at the time the child is born. Others are named after clan names, for example the Kikuyu of East Africa, Kenya where I am from.

Names are powerful and can signify change. In Christianity for example, there is a name change that the person is assigned to. Abram’s name changed to Abraham a re-direction that he would be a father of all nations, Saul’s name changed to Paul from one who persecuted the Christians to one who was transformed to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the gentiles. A woman’s name changes to signify that she is now married. In history and where names are shared, names identify two distinct people for example, Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr. whose purpose and struggle differ fundamentally.

When names are given a title, you can usually decipher an individual’s career path. For example, ranks in the military tells us the responsibility level of an individual. Degrees after a name show whether the person is a doctor, a pastor or an academic. Titles also assert the social ties within the community and conveys the respect to an individual especially that is tied to their wisdom. For example, why do people say listen to what your grandmother says? It is because grandparents have lived longer, and they know from experience what not to do. Culturally, there can be social ties for example, in the Kikuyu community, Cucu (sho-sho) means grandmother and Guka (goo-ka) means grandfather or in Spanish speaking areas, Abuela for grandmother and Abuelo for grandfather. In addition, parents also have titles as mothers and fathers and are referred to as Mama (mom) so and so or Baba (dad) so and so. For example, my mother is Mama Shiko and my father is Baba Shiko. Most often than not, people may not even know their given names because referring to their names is deemed disrespectful. However, in America, grandparents’ titles are chosen and vary from family to family. The title granny often is referred to as, Nona, Mawmaw, or Maka, for grandmother and Papa, Pawpaw or Pops for grandfather.

My name is Shiko. Everyone, including my grandmother Cucu Julia called me by this name when I was growing up. It is a nick-name for Wanjiku but as I grew from a toddler to a girl and to the woman I am today, the name stuck and nobody calls me Wanjiku. My true authentic self is in Shiko. When I got married, the wedding invitations bore both our names, of course. Being from Kenya, my husband’s middle name would be my last name. And so, almost all the wedding gifts and cards we received on our wedding day were addressed as Mr. and Mrs. Clayton. My name is Shiko Clayton.