Breathing Room

The Namesake

I recently finshed reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. This book was meaningful to me because it follows the story of Gogol who goes through life disliking his name, along with having the responsibility of being the first generation American born Indian (his parents are from Calcutta)in his family.

The story resonated with me because for years when I was much younger I disliked my middle name with a passion. I've always loved my first name which is just as different as my middle name but it took some time before I grew to accept my middle name which I now love.

I have an African name that was given to me by my dad. He named me and my brother and sisters -all of us eight days after we were born. My first name origin is Yoruba and my middle name is Ibo. Whenever I come across African people (and I do often) many recognize my name and always ask where my parents are from. I seem to disappoint them when I tell them they are both from the states and no one in our family is African. They then want to know why we were given African names.

My name means 'Honor has arrived with a blessing'. My middle name is Ngozi which specifically means 'A blessing'. I'm not sure why this name used to bother me so much. I literally hated it. At times I was caught up in its meaning and feeling like I had so much to live up to. People couldn't pronounce it (they still can't nor my first name) and I think, for me it was a lot to handle already with having a different first name.

In The Namesake following Gogol through his life and seeing his thoughts about his name and his dislike for it really brought past memories of mine when I was in elementary school and I hated telling people my middle name.

I remember when I met a girl when I was about 10 and she was the same and Ngozi was her first name. I recall being shocked. I couldn't believe she had that as her first name and I was secretly thrilled that it was only my middle name.

As I grew older I'm not sure where the change came where I came to love my full name. It may be that people take the job of naming their children as a sort of game. Many of the names I hear today are just terrible. My mom personally knew twins named Orangejello and Lemonjello (pronounced oran-jello and lemon-jello). I kid you not - she taught them when she was a teacher.

I think they need to have a name counselor in the hospital. In any case I take my name and its meaning very seriously and I appreciate the fact that my dad did as well and I work to live up to its meaning every day.