Comments on: Names on the move: Ghanaian names in the Diaspora

By: Jenny Zhang

Jenny Zhang — Thu, 06 May 2010 05:59:24 +0000

Hi, Vera, many thanks for sharing this intriguing naming story with us all. Isn’t it amazing that Ghanaian diasporas who are scattered over the world came to meet by tracing common family/clan names. It struck me that the furthest distance is never geographic distance.
Similar to Ghana, in China, a person’s family name carries a lot message of his/her heritage and history. Traditionally, it was considered taboo to marry someone with the same family name, even if there is no direct relationship between those concerned, though in recent decades this has no longer been frowned upon. In some Chinese families, one of the two characters in the given name is shared by all members of a generation. However, generational names are rarely seen in modern Chinese urban society (one-child policy being one reason). Interestingly, the longest family tree in the world today is that of the Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius (551 BC-479 BC), and he is the descendant of King Tang (1675 BC-1646 BC). The tree spans more than 80 generations, and includes more than 2 million members. Some 1.3 million living members of the Confucius family are scattered around the world today.

PS: I’m very happy to be the witness of your meeting with your transnational family in Canada.

By: Kwabena Omane-Baah

Kwabena Omane-Baah — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:16:06 +0000

This is very informative. A good starting point for those Ghanaians who have always thought about tracing their family roots but did not know how.It is important to note that in Ghana everybody’s name is part of a jig-saw puzzle. Everyone is linked to the next person through a complicated family network. Good job, Vera.

Kwabena, New Jersey,USA

By: Vahid

Vahid — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:54:06 +0000

Dear Vera,

Thanks for the nice post.
It is interesting to note that, in my country (IRAN), too, some family names reveal a lot of information about the specific profession the holders of that specific family name have, from way back, taken in order to make a living. For instance, in Persian my family name has, roughly speaking, two meanings: a. Educating b. Shaping.
Accordingly, my grandfather and his predecessors’ main profession was “making silver wares”. In other words, they used to professionally “shape” silver into different shapes and sizes for the customers. To be more specific, at least in the city where I live, everyone would immediately guess the main profession the majority of the people with “Parvaresh” as their family name have chosen. And this is exactly why many of my students get shocked when they see that their teacher is a Parvaresh!!! They will ask themselves why our teacher has quit his family-related lucrative job and has become a language teacher!!!

Health & Peace,
vahid

By: Britta Schneider

Britta Schneider — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:28:01 +0000

This is really fascinating!

By: Meredith Izon

Meredith Izon — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:06:07 +0000

Hey Vera –
Some wonderfully intriguing insights you’ve offered in this beautifully told story. It does put an interesting spin on global flows.

By: Kylie

Kylie — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:01:41 +0000

Brilliant blog. It makes me envy that you can trace your heritage so easily. I’m pleased now we gave our son a Ga middle name, especially as he’ll be growing up in a different culture.

By: Kimie Takahashi

Kimie Takahashi — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:30:56 +0000

Thanks for sharing this amazing story about (global) community formation through names!

By: Nii Amu

Nii Amu — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:53:53 +0000

Interesting. Will forward you an article I’m just about to finish. It is related to what you have written.
Few corrections though; ofaine is one word. The word is actually mor ko mor ko ( using as inverse c as or) eg na mor ba bie? who came here. The word is not mo. The same applies to nor ko. It is not noko eg. Na mor nor ni? Who’s is it? So who = mor, it or a thing = nor.
In new Ga concepts the hybrid letters dj or dz to mean j is no loner used. J=J. So your word should be ji instead of dji. No need for a silent d.
Onyemimei is one word. However nyemi yoo and nyemi nuu are two words as you wrote it. I’m sure you know why.

Free Ga tutorial for a pretending Grandma, thanks to Aakai and husband.