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Many
Afrikātus
answer to foreign
names they do not know their meanings to - you might wonder why all my
three names and last name are completely African? I was born on July first of 1975 at
05:00 am, in the "Athens" of South America Santa Fe de Bogotį, Colombia
as Armando
Mosquera Moreno Jr. I am the first born child of my mother, but at
the same time, I'm the fourth in my father's personal account. Son of the
Lawyer and politician
Armando Mosquera Aguilar and the Fashion Designer
Gloria Elena Moreno Colorado. As an adult, I realized how
significant our African names are to us, and in the assertion of my
identity as an Afrikātus
Afroide I dropped the foreign names I had. With the
idea to reach into my African roots, I adopted a new identity based
on my ethnic principals. This time as
Giunėur Bomani Barūle Mōsi:
Giunėur of Wolof origins this word comes from the Fulani tribes of Guinea, meaning
nothing more than "Son of his father." Bomani Ngoni origins
signifying "A Great Warrior" in honor of the
United States Marine Corps, from which I proudly am a Veteran.
Barūle
Afro-Colombian origins
name adopted in honor to The Great King Barūle. And finally
for the family name (last name), I chose Mōsi
of Swahili origins which means "First born child" in honor
of my Mother, but keeping the first three letters of the last name
I once carried from my father (Mosquera).
For us Africans, names are a part
of our identity. Identity should not be taken as an identification mark,
but as in whom we really are. A name tells a lot about the person who
bears it. This means that a name carries its own personality, an identity
and in fact, a destiny. This is why within the African society much care
and importance is given when naming a child. Africans do not just name
their children carelessly, but take time to study the situation and
prevailing circumstances of that specific moment in life, before they give
a name to a child. There is a belief that names carry along with them, the
tendency of influencing the bearer for good or evil.
It is a generally accepted fact,
that there is a meeting point between the name a person bears and his/her
soul. What this means, is that the name tries to define the bearer,
his/her existence. By the name alone, an intelligent mind can begin to
deduce certain facts about the family of the bearer, the familys
intentions for the future of the bearer, as well as their hopes,
aspirations and philosophy of life. An Igbo man who gives the Igbo
name "Ogadinma" (meaning: it shall be good) to a child; does
not just give the child the name because he loves the way it sounds, it
has a very deep meaning for the family. For the man, this name might mean
that the family is presently undergoing some difficulties, but there is
the strong hope that things shall soon get better. Remember, you cannot
think of having one and same translation for all African names. The
intrinsic meaning perhaps is fully understood only by the name giver.
This is because; meanings can be read into a particular name by the giver,
depending on the circumstances he/she was going in the course of the time
the name was given.
Apart from the fact, that a name
tells a lot about the identity of the carrier, it also immortalizes
him/her. This is because for us Africans, a human being lives on, even
after death. The general belief, is that an individual does not die when
the soul ceases to live in the body, but true death only occurs when a
person is entirely forgotten by his/her people. The easiest way in which
someone can ever be forgotten, is when the persons name is erased from
the family history, so let's keep our loved ones in our memories
alive for ever. Due to the historical background of our
African names, a maximum respect is demanded for them.
By:
Giunėur Bomani Barūle Mōsi |
