EFFECT OF VITAMINS C AND E INTAKE ON BLOOD ... - EuroJournals

International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Volume 2, Number I (2006)
It is important to give and keep a good name since names affect/ may affect the personality of
the individual. The most important aspect of personality affected by names is self-concept. Selfconcept
develops as children develop, and is learnt from the verbal and non-verbal messages sent by
significant people in the children’s lives. Parents are the most important message senders, but as
children mature and become more and more independent, the messages of teachers, classmates and
other people all contribute to their developing concepts of self. A person’s name has an impact on the
process of building a self-concept because the name helps one to determine the messages that other
people send the child. Research has established that certain names are generally considered desirable
in our culture and have positive feelings associated with them. This, though, is also true for other
names that are looked upon as being undesirable and carry negative associations. Smith, E.C (1967)
contends that there appears to be a tendency for individuals who dislike their first names to have less
affirmative attitude towards themselves than those who like their first names.
Brender as cited in Smith, E.C (1967) offers several hypotheses about the significance of the
names parents chose for their children. According to Brender, family tradition is an important factor in
the names that the children receive. One of the most common uses of traditional names is to name a
son after a father and then use JUNIOR as part of the son'’ name. However, there are some practical
problems in differentiating between the father and son, especially if both father and son are prominent.
Another naming pattern which reflects the personalities of the parents is the use of names that
are highly fashionable and popular. those that are commonly referred to as fad names.Examples in this
category include the use of names such as Brenda (Brenda Fassie) and many others.
Studies of early American child naming indicate that parents invested a great deal of thought
into naming their children, and that their choices reflected attitudes about themselves and that the
underlying values of their society. Smith, E.C (1967) has observed that 90% of first born daughters and
79% of first born sons an the 17 th Century received either the names of either their parents or grand
parents, thus parent centred naming, virtually assuming that their names will be kept in the generations
to come. Although the focus on first born children probably accentuates the importance of parent and
grandparent centred naming, Smith remarks that there has been a shift from parent centred naming to
familial names. Parents who relied on familial names saw their children more as members of lineage or
family and that later conceptualisation of children was associated with the society.
On the other hand, child naming can be seen as one of the most frustrating tasks in becoming a
parent. This, perhaps, holds for those parents who adopt children internationally. Ball-Gisch (1998)
asserts that adopted children, unlike biological children, come to the foster parents with their own
culture, heritage and a name that the foster parents must come to terms with, in one way or another.
Apparently, not much research has been done on names in the context of African languages,
generally, and Xhosa names particularly. However, Neethling, S.J. contends that African names are
gorgeous, charming, melodic even to the ears of the English speaking. In Africa the birth of a child is
an event of great importance. Great significance is attached to the naming of the child. The hopes of
the ancestors, the status of the family, current occurrences, celestial events, expectations, wishes,
prayers, feelings etc determine the names that are given to children at birth. It is also common that a
child is given a name before birth.
Of the five participants that were used in the study, four were females, four were married and
all of them were born in the fifties. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. One can
assume that the data collected can be expanded in all respects should more data be available and also
that there could be new categories of reasons behind giving a particular name to a child.
Ndimande, N (19980 cites Olaniyan, R who observes that Africans are not easily detached from
their history and culture. And as such preserve their history and culture in many different ways. Xhosa
names are one of those sources that carry the historical imperatives of the Xhosas, their religion and the
relationships among them. Furthering her argument, Ndimande, N (1998) cites Wa’Thiongo 919940
who acknowledges that language embraces the culture of the people, it is a mirror of the society that
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