Abstract
In this paper, we examine new trends in Yorùbá personal names that are first names among Yorùbá Christians. The data used include data drawn from previous studies on Yorùbá personal names, the lists of names of the candidates of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board of Nigeria the lists of staff of three Nigerian universities, some attendance registers of pupils in nursery, primary and secondary schools as well as participant observation. We show that the European or established Churches and the newly founded autochthonous Nigerian Churches have different influences on Yorùbá naming system and tradition-based Yorùbá personal or first names. We also indicate that, at present, there is a complete cultural shift from the use of tradition-based Yorùbá personal names as first names to the use of biblical or Christian names and that this new dimension is as a result of the influence of western culture or civilization and the newly founded churches in Nigeria. We further show that the activities that are shrouded in fanaticism, flavours, modernisation and especially names that endear the Nigerian believers to one another are meant to prove that the newly founded autochthonous Nigerian churches understand the Bible teachings better than the European churches and that name modification or name change is inevitable when there is acculturation.
Highlights
The introduction and acceptance of Christianity in Yorùbá-dominated areas of Nigeria can be traced to the desires and efforts made by the Yorùbá slaves that were granted freedom from England and America after the abolition of slave trade in 1772
We showed that before the advent of Christianity previous studies on Yorùbá personal names indicated that the names were drawn from home context (HC)
In our present study, we showed that when the European-led Christianity was embraced by a number of Yorùbá people, new dimensions were introduced into the Yorùbá naming systems
Summary
The introduction and acceptance of Christianity in Yorùbá-dominated areas of Nigeria can be traced to the desires and efforts made by the Yorùbá slaves that were granted freedom from England and America after the abolition of slave trade in 1772 (cf. Àyándélé 1966; Peel 1968; Odùyoyè 1969; Òshíte ̩́lú 2002; Je ̩́ge ̩́de ̩́ 2008). The quest for the establishment of mission stations in many towns and villages in Yorùbá land led to a phenomenal rise in the number of Missionaries of various Denominations coming from Europe and America into some Yorùbá major towns (cf Odùyoyè 1969: 1–22). The result of this was that Lagos, Badagry, O ̩̀ yo ̩́ , Ìbàdàn, Ìje ̩̀bú-òde, Sakí, Ilésà, Ife ̩̀, Oǹdó and Èkìtì land became the strongholds of Christianity by the first decade of the 20th century. We will show that the European or established Churches and the newly founded autochthonous Nigerian Churches have different influences on Yorùbá naming system and tradition-based Yorùbá personal or first names
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