saintobi1: Firstly thanks to MOD for behaving properly nowadays (i attribute it to the ban-if-you-wish-revolution which is a continuous success). Such threads in the past suffered in the background

nssukka:it was originally called nri-ka i.e nri-nke-ka (greater nri). But a stronger hamlet took over,and its culture and language expanded and it was renamed nsu-ka i.e asusu-nke-ka (greater language).
Bonny - ubani (wealth of ani) was the original name. The early europeans probably asked about the name and when they were told, thought that it sounded like bonny which means 'good'.
Lagos is a portugeese name. Even some locations in the present day portugal goes by that name. The early explorers gave it that name and transcribed it on their maps which the later explorers consulted.
Onitsha - aniocha i.e ani-ocha (bright land? ,white land?)
umuahia - oma ahia . Oma is square, ahia is a noisy bird, an equivalent of sparrows

later

ifyalways: Much ado about nothing,IMO.

We should then be ready to change nearly the whole cities as most of the city names are corrupted.and that includes Nigeria.

Naijiria. . .Igbo man.
Nayeria. . .Hausa man.
Naijeria. . . Yoruba man.

odumchi:

He's referring to having them changed to their Igbo spellings. In the Igbo language, for the most part, things are spelled exactly the way they sound. For example, Owerri would be 'Owere' and Nsukka would be 'Nsuka'.

Ezeagu, I think there's a need for change also, but that would definitely require a large amount of resources.

Here are some more places that need to be changed:

Enugu to 'Enugwu'
Igbanke to 'Igbo-Akiri'
Igbuzor to 'Igbo-Uzọ'
Anambra to 'Ọmambala'
Orlu to 'Ọlu'
Ogwashi Uku to 'Ọgwashi Ukwu'
And possibly Arochukwu to 'Aruchukwu'

1 shortblackboy:
so u will prefer it to be called the name the ibos used to refer to the town so that they will start claiming bonny island as their own abi

ijaw citizen: Igbo people should pls keep Bonny out of this. The ancerstral name of the town is Okolo-ama named after the abundance of a particular coastal bird in the town, and thats the name the natives & neighbouring Ijaws still refer it to. Thanks for ur concern, but non required. Shalom!

ezeagu:

Benin City to just Benin. Owere being spelt Owerri not only makes no sense since people pronounce it as Owere, but ignores the changes in orthography since 100 years ago.

BlackBaron: Lekki maybe - Most don't know it was named after a Portugese slave trader called Mr. Lecqi.

Some may disagree...

PhysicsQED:

Ok, I now understand the basis for changing Owerri's name and some of the other ones you mentioned. But on the 'Aw' vs. 'O' thing, isn't it likely that the 'aw' is there to indicate which kind of O sound the word uses? If Awka was changed to Oka, isn't there a possibility that outsiders might mispronounce it as 'oh-ka'? (Where the O is pronounced like the O in 'throw' or 'so')

On Benin, there used to be a Benin province and a Benin division in colonial times so it was probably necessary to distinguish between the city and the larger area that the city was in for a long time by saying 'city,' kind of like how there's NY state and New York City in the U.S. The 'city' part could be removed now, since there's no basis for confusion now, but I would assume people are used to it and probably wouldn't it see it as such a big deal.

And yeah, I agree that PH should be renamed - probably after a famous/accomplished Nigerian from that city or Rivers state rather than having it retain the name of a pervert and criminal.

bokohalal:

There was Benin City before Benin Province or Benin Division. Benin City was so named by Europeans in the 16th century in comparison to many known towns then in Europe. And just calling it Benin could mistake it for Benin Republic. Let us leave it as it is.

greall1: Abeg next topic.

musKeeto: Front page don dey turn showcase. It attracts you to the shop, but you have to go in(a section) to get things of value.... smh..

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. This is simply putting the cart before the horse. When our people are enlightened enough, things will change.
I mean our president is called GOODLUCK JONATHAN, his wife is PATIENCE, and then there's DAVID MARK... should they all change their names too?

heed101: Can't believe I opened this s h i t. So annoying and coupled with the fact that I ate beans this morning. GusHhhhhh

DANILSA: I think op is simply jobless. What u just typed makes no meaning considering the meaning of a name.

Chanchit: #yawns#

MzFancy: My guy,serzly I don't tink there's any sense in ur write-up

seedord247: Forgive me lord for clicking on this thread.

jude33084:

You are ∂ real slowpoke Yorubas believe Ŧħåϯ Benin is from Ife?

Τ̲̣̣̥н̣̣̣̝̇̇̇ε̲̣̣̣̥ whites gave it Benin city from Bight of Benin ßŮϯ due Ť☺ τ̲̣̣̥н̣̣̣̝̇̇̇ε̲̣̣̣̥ Yoruba tongue, τ̲̣̣̥н̣̣̣̝̇̇̇ε̲̣̣̣̥y could not pronounce τ̲̣̣̥н̣̣̣̝̇̇̇ε̲̣̣̣̥ word ΆŋԂ so called it Ubinu. Tribal bunch of,...

misreal: my brother na wa oh

chrisxxx: How come Ibos are always looking for territories to annex? Na by force to be Ibo?
{The Ikwerres are not Ibos}1000x
We agree we may have same ancestry but it does not make us Ibo just as it does not make Ibo Ikwerre.
You may have the population and for this particular reason of fear of dominating them led to indifference and seeming betrayer during the war.

texazzpete: Much ado about nothing, compiled by a jobless fellow.

So apparently it is not cool for Nigerian cities to bear names that were given by the colonial masters, yet the OP writes his objection in English, a language passed down to him by the British...and he does not see the irony!!

If the OP does not have work to do, let him break Egusi!

Redhot111: so na d "city" wey follow my town, na im dey pain u? I suggest u change ur name 1st, wen can den call 4 a sovereign national conference since it pains u dat much

ijaw citizen: Igbo people should pls keep Bonny out of this. The ancerstral name of the town is Okolo-ama named after the abundance of a particular coastal bird in the town, and thats the name the natives & neighbouring Ijaws still refer it to. Thanks for ur concern, but non required. Shalom!

gandkiss: HOW THOSE ALL THIS AFFECT THE PRODUCTION OF G**** FOR THE HUNGRY MASSES.

tlops: Na this kain over-sabi na im make Nigeria dey where we dey.

Seriously,I am not a garri-movement fan but this is the kind of situation where garri related questions should be asked. IMHO.

texazzpete: Much ado about nothing, compiled by a jobless fellow.

So apparently it is not cool for Nigerian cities to bear names that were given by the colonial masters, yet the OP writes his objection in English, a language passed down to him by the British...and he does not see the irony!!

If the OP does not have work to do, let him break Egusi!

ijaw citizen: Igbo people should pls keep Bonny out of this. The ancerstral name of the town is Okolo-ama named after the abundance of a particular coastal bird in the town, and thats the name the natives & neighbouring Ijaws still refer it to. Thanks for ur concern, but non required. Shalom!

PhysicsQED:



Ok, I now understand the basis for changing Owerri's name and some of the other ones you mentioned. But on the 'Aw' vs. 'O' thing, isn't it likely that the 'aw' is there to indicate which kind of O sound the word uses? If Awka was changed to Oka, isn't there a possibility that outsiders might mispronounce it as 'oh-ka'? (Where the O is pronounced like the O in 'throw' or 'so')

On Benin, there used to be a Benin province and a Benin division in colonial times so it was probably necessary to distinguish between the city and the larger area that the city was in for a long time by saying 'city,' kind of like how there's NY state and New York City in the U.S. The 'city' part could be removed now, since there's no basis for confusion now, but I would assume people are used to it and probably wouldn't see it as such a big deal.

And yeah, I agree that PH should be renamed - probably after a famous/accomplished Nigerian from that city or Rivers state rather than having it retain the name of a pervert and criminal.

chrisxxx: How come Ibos are always looking for territories to annex? Na by force to be Ibo?
{The Ikwerres are not Ibos}1000x
We agree we may have same ancestry but it does not make us Ibo just as it does not make Ibo Ikwerre.
You may have the population and for this particular reason of fear of dominating them led to indifference and seeming betrayer during the war.

ezeagu:

Benin City to just Benin. Owere being spelt Owerri not only makes no sense since people pronounce it as Owere, but ignores the changes in orthography since 100 years ago.

Abagworo:

And many were mad when Ikwerres corrected some of the spellings to their immediate dialect. Owerri is not pronounced Owere as many non-indigenes would want to believe. There is an emphasis on the OweRree. Oguta is Ugwuta.

Leobreezy: Changing d names of towns won't ameliorate living conditions there, so whats the essence??

kutchs: Some Nigerians can be very hypocrital most times. See people here advocating the change of Lagos to Eko yet they were the very people who insulted, abused and accused for changing the name of Unilag to MAULAG. Make una shift make I pass pass.

odumchi:

He's referring to having them changed to their Igbo spellings. In the Igbo language, for the most part, things are spelled exactly the way they sound. For example, Owerri would be 'Owere' and Nsukka would be 'Nsuka'.

Ezeagu, I think there's a need for change also, but that would definitely require a large amount of resources.

Here are some more places that need to be changed:

Enugu to 'Enugwu'
Igbanke to 'Igbo-Akiri'
Igbuzor to 'Igbo-Uzọ'
Anambra to 'Ọmambala'
Orlu to 'Ọlu'
Ogwashi Uku to 'Ọgwashi Ukwu'
And possibly Arochukwu to 'Aruchukwu'

Antivirus92: Alot of work to be done! Let's not blame the whites now,we are now the architect of own problems especially ndiigbo. Nwogu is now wogu,arochukwu is now arochuku,chukwu is now chuku,igbo is now ibo,okonkwo is now okonkwor,ofo is now ofor/ofoh etc. The day somebody will dare call me ikechuku,that day i give the person a befitting death

berem: So what will Seun change Nairaland to cos Naira might be an european name!
Btw what's the meaning of naira and kobo?

odumchi:

Aside from the 'Nwogu' reference, everything else is actually the other way around. In the early part of the colonial era, most Igbo words that had the 'gb' and 'kw' dipthongs were written as 'b' or 'k'.

However, I also believe that in Igbo (like many other languages) people often choose to stray from the standard spellings of certain words. For example in English, 'Jesse' can be spelled as 'Jessie' or 'Jessey'. In Igbo, 'Chidinma' can be spelled as 'Chidimma' or 'Chidinma' and 'Okafor' can be spelled as 'Okafor' or 'Okafo'.

Sagewood: Please post and discuss meaningful topics. Much Ado About Absolutely Nothing!
The French, Americans and British borrowed heavily from Latin and Greek when these
languages (Latin and Greek) were widely used by the so- called educated elites.
Nothing remians the same, people and languages evolve, so do the names of cities, towns
and countries.