A friend some time ago went to the Bolga Birth and Death registry to get a birth certificate for his son. When the officer asked for their son’s name, he provided the name as Anaba but the registry officer wasn’t satisfied. He further asked my friend for Anaba’s English or Christian name. My friend informed the officer that there will be no English or Christian name to add. The officer argued that they needed to add a Christian name, but my friend stood his grounds, and the officer, after much hesitation, conceded and did as my friend wanted.

According to psychologists, a person’s name is the sweetest word in any language. It’s the code word that draws your attention no matter where or what situation you find yourself in. It’s not just a code word, but what defines your identity and identifies you in a pool of individuals. While it may be true that a person’s name is the sweetest word, it can also become the word they dread hearing. The thorny issue of names among the Frafras in particular (for this discussion) and Ghana or Africa, as a whole, have become a point of discussion online and offline. I want to give this issue a more critical perspective to guard us in our discussions on this topical issue.

Although Frafras are sedentary people, there has also been great waves of migration with people moving outside the geographical areas and others coming in from other areas. During Acheampong’s “Operation feed yourself”, there was a planned migration scheme which encouraged Frafras (and other ethnic groups in the Upper East Region) to move to areas such as Damongo where there was enough and vast farming land. Throughout Ghana, Frafras are noted for their hardworking and dedicated attitude to work, but the land area within which the Frafras inhabited underutilised their capacity. This was therefore a great opportunity for many Frafras who moved to Damongo, the majority settling there permanently while others moving on from there to areas around and within Techiman, Kintampo, and Kumasi.

Aside from this planned relocation, the search for education, work, family, and a better life has led many people to migrate to different parts of not just Ghana but other places all over the world. The extent to which they keep in contact with families back home varies significantly and individually so that any categorisation becomes difficult. What is also worth noting is the difficulty in distinguishing Frafras who will name their children with Frafras names from those who will name their children only Christian or Muslim names. Based on my observations, Frafras who are Muslims are less likely to give their children Frafra names than Christians.

However, this ambitious approach which I propose will help you to determine
whether a Frafra man or woman (or any person for that matter) living far away from home will give their child a Frafra name. I will present two general categorisations to help us understand the intricacies involved.

The first categorisation is borrowed from the evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Genes. In this book, he defines two types of genes: the altruistic and the selfish gene. The altruistic genes are those willing to take necessary action for the good of the group even at greater risk to themselves, their loyalty to the group interest surpasses their comfort.
Like the bird calling out to the rest of the approach of danger while exposing itself to that danger. The selfish gene however self-explanatory will take only action necessary for themselves. It’s true in the animal kingdom as it is with humans.

This first categorisation, however, is not satisfactory because genes are not
the only determinant of the individual and whether they will give their children a Frafra name. Many other factors such as the environment have proven to significantly influence the individual in many ways. This brings us to the second categorisation and in this, I will divide Frafras into two main groups
Those who live in the Upper East Region and those outside the Upper East Region. For those who live in the Upper East Region, children almost always bear at least three names: English name, birth name, and surname, though as many young people grow up, they tend to abandon their birth name and use the English name with their surname. There are also some like my friend who doesn’t
give their children English names at birth although this doesn’t stop the children from eliminating the birthname eventually.

For Frafras outside the Upper East Region, there are still different variations: those in the north, those in the south, and those outside Ghana. Those living outside the Upper East region but within the northern part of Ghana often retain in most cases three names or the two names, quite similar to those in the Upper East Region. Those in the south of Ghana have various dynamics that annuls any generalisations. Some were born and bred there and those who migrated to the south in their youthful days or due to work or family or school. In this case, we can further divide this into those highly educated and those who have little to no education. When it comes to naming children, my observations are that some Frafras, with little to no education, have no issue with naming or calling their children with Asante names. However, this is rare with educated Frafras living in the south. Some of the educated folks living in the south only give Christian or Muslim names to their children while maintaining their Frafra surname.

Sometimes children are given Frafra birth names, but depending on the day of birth in the week, it often happens that neighbours may start to call children by the day of the week they were born and eventually this sticks for a long time so Frafras eventually assume these names. Therefore, when you see a Frafra called Kofi or Kwaku, there will be another name which for these kids has become the sound they would rather not hear. If you observe Frafras who have Asante names, for instance, are usually related to the day of birth in the week. In this instance, even if the child has altruistic genes, it might become misplaced or rendered inactive which might be triggered later or never or passed on to his grandchildren. What I find as a bit strange and difficult to understand is when I see a Frafra
whose name is John or Ahmed complaining bitterly about another Frafra whose name is Kofi. Is it because one is a Ghanaian and the other is foreign?

Those who live outside Ghana can be further divided into many groups. Those in Burkina Faso assimilated to the French system of colonialism with emphasis on indigenous awakeness. These Frafras hardly abandon their local names but it also varies. Some Frafras have traveled outside for school, work, or green pastures. Religious affiliation invariable influences the naming of children but some do add a Frafra birthname which in most cases is abbreviated to an initial such as A. This phenomenon is not limited to only those outside the country but observable among educated folks
Aside from environmental factors, gender dimensions also play a factor in the naming of children. I know of instances where a friend wanted to have only a Frafra name for his daughter but his wife added a Christian name anyways and this can some times be the other way around too.

Finally, the institutionalisation of adding a Christian or Muslim name to children’s names as experienced by my friend is one of the most driving forces in the abandonment of Frafra names. It’s not just the Birth and Death Registry.
At the regional hospital in Bolga and many other maternal clinics, when babies
are born, some nurses do insist as the Registry officer did, for parents to add a Christian or Muslim name.

Written by: S.A.A.