What's in a name? A rose by any name will smell just the same. So said someone I have no intention of mentioning. I will not mention his name because I do not agree with him. In fact I will call him, or rather, spell his name phonetically since that is the way we spell Kiswahili words. So I will just call him SHEKSPIA. Neat, eeh?

Why do I disagree with him? Simply because he did not have Africans in mind when he said that. In Africa, a name is everything. It has a meaning and connects you to your roots. So if you are called Agboola, we know where you come from. Same with Chinyere, Kano etc. And this is very important.

But we now have a breed of Africans who reject their roots. They do not have African names at all! Just imagine. Someone is actually called Rita Dominic, or Nobert Young. Others just link funny titles and end up with Godblessing Mydevil. And these are someone's names!

I am not ashamed of being caled Lipuka. Lipuka means explode in Kiswahili and I am proud of it. It may actually mean something different in some Nigerian language, but it is a truly African name.

So can someone tell these Africans who hate their African roots by rejecting their names that they should just leave the continent to us who are proud of our roots? And while we are at it, let us remind these people of a song by that Soul singer James Brown, 'SAY IT LOUD; I AM BLACK AND PROUD'