I have read with keen interest the culmination of this interesting scholastic debate. The quest for the right phrase of introduction;

1. My Name is …; and

2. My names are.

The fact however that revolves around the correctness of either of the two phrases is relative, and depends on the nature of introduction.

At the christening of a child particularly Nigeria, he or she is adorn with different names spanning culture, religion or ideology. If you were christened Funmilayo, Shola, Ronke and your surname being Fatai

The right introduction in the context one of your name and your surname is:
My name is Funmilayo Fatai.

The right introduction in the context more than one of your names and your surname will be:

My names are Funmilayo Ronke Fatai, based on the fact that you made mention of at least two of your names


Note however it becomes wrong if you introduce yourself as;

My names are Funmilayo Fatai Adewale, where the last two names herewith represent your surnames and not your names.


i guess that helped!!!

ofcourse 'my name is' is d right phrase

If by placing coma after each name makes "my name are" correct,.. how then do you manage the situation while speaking?...CRAP

Actually, when i started dis topic, i assumed d only answers i'l get is 'my name is'. Pls, dnt disgrace d nation by referrin 2 urself as 'are'. My name is Eke Christiana Nzie.

"My name is" is the right thing to say.

Uniquexty: Actually, when i started dis topic, i assumed d only answers i'l get is 'my name is'. Pls, dnt disgrace d nation by referrin 2 urself as 'are'. My name is Eke Christiana Nzie.

if you know d ansa, why bother peeps...rubbish!

My name is.............is correct

Both are correct if well used. My name is Ole Ole Obo. My names are Ole, Ole and Obo. Hope you got that

eedriyz: Both are correct if well used. My name is Ole Ole Obo. My names are Ole, Ole and Obo. Hope you got that

guy, whc one be ole and 'OBO'
na wao 4 dis ur name o

^lwkmd4h

"My names are'' is definitly wrong, cus 'I'am a single entity, "is'' is a singular verb........

iykmora:
if you know d ansa, why bother peeps...rubbish!

hey, dats not the atitude of a well mannered fellow. Did i beg u 2 contribute. Pls change ur atitude and be civilized. Thank u

Yield:

Well, technically, upon meeting someone you don't bombard them with all your names!
The average individual would just say their first and last and that should suffice.

Who be this Olodo wey no finish primary school nah

my names is blablabla
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Uniquexty: Intelligent pals, if u want to introduce urself, do u start wit 'my name is....' or 'my names are' drop ur answers and reason

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abhosts: Any 5 year old that has seen a James Bond Movie should know that "My Name is" is correct, but Nigerians really have a funny way of coming up with their own English. Even Lawmakers make this blunder frequently on TV.

dat's very true bro. n dey get away wit it, GEJ is very gud at seting up committees, perhaps he shud set up one to check on dose involved, atleast if one person is punished for saying ''my names are'' odas wil learn. I'm surprised it has suddenly become a debating factor. ''my name is'' is obviously d corret usage n notin more. If nt selfishness n greed why wud a person hav to call his 1st name, d one given him mayb by his grandma or whoev a. Some nigerians are so selfish wit names n dats why dey hav lost consciousness of d coret usage thereby robing d Queen's Language off its potency.....mean no offense, just some hard truth....ope we get on with it. Much Luv to whoever cares to knw. Thanks!

inob: My name is correct simply because its a compound noun,no case.

How is it a compound noun? Compound noun is two or more words put together to form one, like brother-in-law,software,etc. This is a simple sentence with possessive pronoun,nouns and verbs.

HELLO! English Language is not our language though Nigeria has chosen it as her lingua franca,whichever way we view it,there's every tendency to witness flaws while we communicate with one another. Moreso,this issue has become controversial, my opinion is that of concordance,if u use 'name' as a grammatical rule demands, it shud attract a singular verb 'is' nd if 'names' it shud go with a plural verb 'are' As a matter of fact,I prefer using ' My name is Ojinwayo, Dubem Kelvin'

HELLO! English Language is not our language though Nigeria has chosen it as her lingua franca,whichever way we view it,there's every tendency to witness flaws while we communicate with one another. Moreso,this issue has become controversial, my opinion is that of concordance,if u use 'name' as a grammatical rule demands, it shud attract a singular verb 'is' nd if 'names' it shud go with a plural verb 'are' As a matter of fact,I prefer using ' My name is Ojinwayo, Dubem Kelvin' cos ur name is either ur whole name or one part of ur name.

Both are correct, take it or leave it.

iykmora:
if you know d ansa, why bother peeps...rubbish!

she just taught nigerians on nairaland the basics of rudimentary english. Lol. Its rampant today to hear of such simple but highly confusing blunder. But here is an exemption.

my names are, Emma Cosmos and Emyo D Cosmoe as my pen name.

Nigerians, it is...my name is Emma 'Ogiri' Cosmos.

I used 'are' above because it is two set of names!

Well,the Enlish language is guided by laws which tym and space would‘nt allow me to fully expand on. But in order to be precise,‘my name is‘ is grammatically logical and correct.Now name takes a singular form rather than plural with regards to person.Hence u hve a question ‘what is your name‘ my name is Friday Victor‘.Do u then ask what are your names to a person? No! U only ask more than one person ‘what are your names‘.lnternational exam bodies like WAEC frowns at using ‘my names are‘.
So pals it is ‘my name is‘.

''My name is...'' is the correct language. In a formal setting, a name presupposes your first and surname. When you introduce yourself formally, you must call your full name, your first and last name.

Take this from someone with a background in grammar. Both expressions are correct at the level of syntax (structure of language). At the level of semantics (meaning ) 'my name is' means that whatever follows is your formal identifyer, if you say your name is Seun Obi Garri, it will be wrong for anyone to call you Seun or Obi or Garri separately. This is why you hear expressions like 'my name is Seun Obi Garri, but you can simply call me Garri '. Or when you give a string of names, the other party will ask; 'can l simply call you Seun?'

On the other hand, 'my names are' implies that it is correct and formal to identify you by any of the names that follows, ie each of the names you then give. eg lf you say your names are Kehinde Obi Musa, any of the names can be used separately to identify you.

But of course language is only a tool of communication, as long as the parties involved make meaning to each other, well and good. Feel free to use whichever one floats your boat.

Pls if u're one of those that use to say, my name are; pls and pls stop saying dt, Its a bad english.

"my name is" is certainly the correct way to say a name. A name is a a noun used to identify an object, person or and idea. Now because, there are so many people on planet earth and all of us need to identified individually, three, four or five lineage names were employed to specifically identify a particular person. The name of A Toyota brand of car would have surficed for every toyota that left the manufacturing line of toyota. But to specifically identify each car type, Toyota Camry SE or Ce 2007 was now used. So the name of the car is therefore Toyota Camry, SE 2007. The names of the care would therefore be Toyota camry SE 2007, Toyota spider and Timaya car! When your names are, it means you can be identified by one of those names specifically. So the person who says that he names are atim okon udo, implies that if you call her atim everybody would know u r tuking about her specifically and if you call her okon, it would still refer to her specifically etc and offcourse this is not always the case. Because if some gives his namees as Atim Udo Okon and you were to go to his street and ask for Udo, people will certainly not be able to identify her as the Atim they all know. This is my take on this matter.

walestrings: i feel both are correct depending on what follows eg. my name is David and my names are David Olawale,i think both are correct. this is the rule of concord.

hahaaah

All are correct.. If I am asked! What is my name? I will answer sensitively DAT my name is Alfred which I am identifying my self singularly because your question is singular, bcox I was asked wat IS my name.. But if I am asked what are my name's, names? I simply say Alfred Adamu John because it is plural and your question is plural.. I don't think if any person can prove me wrong no matter how logical you think English can be manipulated.. But always answer question the way its been asked. Best regards.. I got my job as a bank manager with this idea of mine which is very simple and unique.

Seeing am a single entity anyone who wants to knw my name will simply ask"what is ur name?" not "what are ur names?" and my answer will be my name is Chika Omalicha Okechukwu.

Christian>>> In the context of introducing yourself you should use the singular form. “My name is John Michael Smith.”

Even if your full name consists of more than one first name as in your example (“John Michael ”) it’s still treated as a singular object. The difference between the singular and plural version depends on the context. For introduction, there is no need to emphasize the number of first names since this would force an interpretation that you go by different names in different situations or that you have different identities, etc.
A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. When a name, whether it is a person, building, or organization, or something else, points to a particular person, building, etc., it is called a proper noun. Some proper nouns are only one word: Mike, Albert, Snickers, Pepsi, etc. Sometimes two word or more words can be joined together to form a compound noun. There are rules for how they are joined together, which is another topic, but here are several compound nouns (remember they act together to make ONE noun): prizefighter, beach ball, newsstand, news room, sister-in-law.

When a compound noun is a proper noun, it too is still considered one noun, even if it spans multiple words...Sometimes a person will go by an 'alias' which is like a fake name, or a substitute name, used instead of the person's real name. So, here you can use "are." My names are Wilbert Brown, Martin Thomas, and Andrew Welch. My real name is Wilbert Brown. Martin Thomas is my "pen" name I use in writing fiction novels, and Andrew Welch is a business name I use occasionally. If I said "My names are " Onuoha Uchechukwu Christian Omodara" it would sound as if I had two or more identities